It’s an institutionalized racket full of professional pick-pockets and it’s ridiculous for an agent to try to assert they’re not first and foremost in it for their own benefit. Anyone out there doing it pro bono? Yeah, I thought not. In what other enterprise can you claim a substantial percentage of someone else’s hard earned wealth with the same small investment, education, effort, and expertise? All it really requires is a license and chutzpah. I look forward to the coming day when there’s an effective web site to match buyers and sellers and we see the rank and file horde of real estate agents and companies go the way of their travel brethren, who actually made life more enjoyable.

It’s a one bedroom house. Listing says 2 bedrooms. It was a former grow op. That is not mentioned on the listing even though by law it must be disclosed.

Listing price is $399,999. 4 Bedroom on the same block is $349,000. I did discuss with the daughter that the house had been priced by numerous agents and that all fell below the original buying price because the original owner paid too much and that was before it was a grow op.

So this poor lady will go on paying heat, electricity and taxes for months and months just so this piece of dirt can display his sign on her front yard.

That is why I hate some real estate agents.

If you are looking in a 97% list to sale ratio market and trying to make a 70% offer on a turnkey house in an affordable price range . . . you may not win.
If the average days on market are under 60, you are buying in a seller’s market and can expect multiple offers. Sometimes winning in a multi-offer situation has nothing to do with the price and everything to do with terms. VA financing, for instance, requires the seller to contribute. A conventional loan does not, necessarily. So both the same, lower net to seller with the VA. REO properties, it is ALL about net to seller.

If you are buying with your ego and looking for a deal, not a house, maybe you don’t need to move until the market turns.
If the deal doesn’t make sense to you, don’t do the deal.
But don’t blame your agent for your expectations, and if you don’t reveal those expectations as the author wants to advise you to withhold information and motivation from them . . . well, most agents are not psychic.

Granted, there are lots of lousy real estate agents in the world. You can’t imagine what the brokers have to deal with!
Worse, many of these rogue agents end up doing a LOT of business. That’s because they DO promise without delivering, panic sell and then shirk their duties. So it would look like they are great until you find out.

“May we contact your last 6 buyers who closed this year?” is the best question to ask a prospective buyer’s agent.
THEN, you can find out what to expect during the transaction. Ask those clients if they felt pressured. If they were communicated with clearly. If they were informed timely. If they felt fairly treated. And if they would use that agent again.

Also, you can go online to the your state’s department of real estate and see if any ‘consent orders’ or disciplinary actions have been taken against the agent. You’d be amazed at the criminals doing business in your town.

Finally . . . what does a real estate licensee do that earns them a commission? It’s not what they do, but what they have.
THE LICENSE. If you don’t want to deal with agents, get a license. Pay to maintain it. We have to do 24 hours a year of continuing education in AZ . . . pay local, state and national dues . . . this is a super expensive business to be in. Many of my investor clients DO have real estate licenses. Inactive ones. Because they figured out that it IS a lot of work and time and money to be all in. But go for it.

Educated consumers without an ax to grind will solve a lot of the problems lamented here.

BTW . . . I would say for every property I have helped a client buy, there have been at least 3 or 4 I have strongly advised they do NOT buy for they will be overpaying if they do. Ask your prospective agent if they have ever stopped someone from making a deal. See what they say.

Generally the way it works in my state is that the seller pays both the listing agent and buyer’s agent from the proceeds of the sale, so please don’t generalize all agents as greedy and so on. The first year in this profession I only mad one sale but I continued to work at it because I love what I do. If it were for the paycheck I wouldn’t have kept at it beyond the first 6 months.

just some food for thought.

And just a little bit more information Rachelle, Realtors are required by law to take continued education courses all throughout their career to retain their license. I have met some people that have been in this business for over 20 years and they still blow me away with the knowledge they have of their chosen profession. So please, give me a break and do YOUR research before you go cutting down people who might actually just really love what they do.

And here is a tip for all of you out there who are having problems with your Realtor:

1. If you don’t like your Realtor; fire them. They are a general contractor and if they are proving to not be what you want; stop working with them right away. You don’t have to buy a house with ANYONE you don’t trust. If your ever in doubt about if you can fire your Realtor or not contact their broker. If your not happy with the service you are getting you shouldn’t have to continue that service.

2. Realtor shop: open houses are a great place to find experienced agents around my area. You can go to several open houses in a day and meet a lot of new agents. It’s a great opportunity to see what they are all about and if you click with them or not. usually you can find the weeks open houses in your area by checking your local paper.

finding a good realtor is like buying a new car, the ones that pick the realtor that LOOKS good much like a pretty car end up regretting their choice when the road gets rough but those who do their research, test drive, and so on end up with an smooth ride and great experience.

I finally found a unit I liked and made an offer that was accepted. First, I thought I was hiring AN agent, turns out they came as a hubby/wife package deal – except I don’t like the hubby. Oh.. and did I mention that he answers her e-mails? Second, I don’t like the idea of “in-house” lenders and title companies. I chose to go with someone not affiliated with my realtors for both the lender and title company. My realtors have chosen not to help with either of these and it would seem I am on my own in regards to these entities. The sellers realtor will not help either so here I sit on the couch fretting and writing on a blog about how sucky my realtors are. Thirdly, they have complained the entire way about my choice of lender and title company and about how bad they are – yet the realtors haven’t been in contact with them and left me on my own to fill out every piece of paperwork that came from the lender and title company and left me to get it all back to them as well. I am an e-mail, scan, fax, fed-ex queen. Did I mention how my realtors suck?

At this point I feel that I did not need an agent. I have done all the work. I found the unit online, I got the inspection done, I did a follow up inspection with an electrician that I hired. I found my lender, I filled out all paperwork with the lender, I hounded the lender underwriting until they were finished, I scanned and faxed everything they needed and asked for without any help from my agent, I filled out all escrow and title docs by myself and returned them to the out of town escrow company – without my agents help, and I emailed everyone to check up on how every thing was going thru out the entire process. Every once in a while my agent would email to say how smoothly every thing was going. choke choke cough gag. It has not gone smoothly and when I finally talked to my agents about how absent they had been they said it was my fault because I didn’t choose their lender and local escrow company. My agents are wasted spaces of time and air.