Why You Can’t Trust Real Estate Agents When Selling A House

Obviously, there are 2 sides to this whole conversation. Now, it is my turn to let the truth be told in the middle. First i will say, I do agree with the some of those passionate Realtors above. I know what they do and how hard they work. I do agree that selling a home with a good, experienced, competent, honest Realtor will make you more money. There is know doubt about it. They will keep you from panic selling, bump your buyer agent or buyer up even when you said you would take it, protect your interests like their own, show you simple tricks to put more in your pocket, and many more things i do not have time and space to mention.
However, the problem with the Real Estate industry is just like every other profession, but …gets noticed and brought to our attention more often in this one. It truly is the fact that there are so many individuals doing this profession that really don’t care. They do not educate themselves more than what is required, nor do they care to give you advise nor ever learned how, they work as little as possible, they it part time, some are even just plain unethical and greedy, some really just pray it closes for their hopeful paycheck. These agents do nothing to prevent negative transactions, constantly have deals fall apart without an itch of bother to them outside their own financial loss. Then, also their is the young newbees, that were thrown out to the field with little or no training. Its not that these agents do not care about their client, its that they know very little to help. Or worse, theyy could put their client in harms way and lose market time due to their ignorance.
Unfortunately, this is usually more than 2/3 rds of the industry. Think about this though….in your own profession or those you have experienced…isn’t it the same? Those that come to work with passion to make a difference and those that just do enough to get by.
So those of you that had the bad experience or felt you received a raw deal from an agent, chances are you probably got one. The odds are really against you. I bet you……you probably went with the cheapest firm in town, or someone you knew, or you never did any homework before choosing your Realtor. Shouldn’t you be, are maybe your are….very particular when it comes to picking out your IRA broker/investor, your surgeon, your dentist, your contractor, your baby doctor, your cleaning lady, and so on. But because of maybe you possible lack of knowledge and not thinking about it this way, you were not selective in your choice of Agents. If you paid attention to the passionate agents above and realizing that their work ethic granted them the ability to not be pounding the pavement for a new client. 90 percent of their business is through repeat or referral. What kind of impact are they making on their clients…..when their being sent their family, friends, and coming back years later to look up that same person. These are the individuals that make a difference in any profession. And, i bet you, no matter what they choose to do…they will go at it with passion and be granted success. These Realtors do not come by cheap, they are not the least expensive but they may not be the most expensive either because its in their blood to carry compassion and not greed. They just believe they should earn more than the ones that shouldn’t be in that business.
The reason i know this ….is i am a Realtor that is just about to leave the business to go to do something else that i have a different passion for. This profession was my third….and i was very successful with all of them. It is this business that frustates me the most. It is those agent that give the best a bad name. It will be my clients that i will miss the most not all my peers. I have the utmost respect for those agents that i had the privilege of working with that i butted heads with on so many occasion because we took out fiduciary commitment to our clients almost too serious, and battle out every detail in our clients best interest. It will be those whom shared the same stories of sleepless nights because a family was all packed ready to move to their dream home until a snag arose from the lender side. It was those times our personal lives were put on hold working together and not resting until we overcame what needed done to close, where we make picked up the ball where someone dropped it elswhere to get it done. WE MADE IT HAPPEN….we didn’t sit back watching and blaming. My hats will be off to those agents! Because of their pride and respect for what they do, they had to show they were better than everyone else. They had more knowledge, they had more drive to get that knowledge, they carefully took their time on every decision to make it the right move for their client not just doing enough to get by. They took great pride in getting that look of awe from their clients when they pulled the impossible off. The took pride when they told their clients “NO” we are not going to take that offer…we can get more …and they did! Also, the pride these agents feel when their clients time after time say …”what ever you think is best” “I trust your judgement”….because THAT is something those agents earned. Knowing people generally do not entrust someone with that kind of power, but they do for you. They must feel they are truly being looked after.
These Agents evoke that special bond with buyers or sellers to where they confide to them what thier rock bottom is or what they can afford max. These agent pride themselves almost egotistically, to go to work in negotiations and only to bring back much better results than their client ever expected. These agents at times even worried if they almost pushed to hard for their client that they could have lost the sale.
These agents want to feel like they earned their keep!!!….and FOLKS…and especially you MIKE HOLMAN…Its too bad you never found yourself a an agent like that. I know quite a few of them and they are all very busy. I believe you just had one or two bad experiences. Then you already made your opinion and never looked any farther, other than for more of the faulty ones to support your belief. You just believed and will always believe because of your ignorance to open your eyes….that… they (agents) are all the same.
Mike…you just ‘Stereotyped’. Your writings just presumed judgement on all. Assuming with no exceptions!
All Agents are all the same!…is what we all were to perceive. Its a good thing we weren’t talking about a color…you may have been considered a racist! I ask you …Is it not fair to knock any profession, (or gender or race) because of your experiences? Is this irresponsible in your writings? Isn’t this how unfair beliefs always started….with someone with the power of the pen portraying the bad in a whole group? Is there not good attorneys and bad? Good doctors and Bad? It is because of you bad experiences and how people like you portray us after is one of the reasons i am leaving this business.
You could have just worked in your experiences and what to look out for. Instead of trying put the fear of God in everyone so they can be against a certain kind. Hmmmm…what a thought!
Maybe you could have even expounded some kind of outrage of how many brokers let anyone become an agent. Protesting as i do, by demand more requirements to become a Realtor. More education, more training, mandatory apprenticeships, and etc…making it more difficult for those whom are just looking for a pastime to join the field.
And…Mike…FYI….the greedy ones without compassion…….??…don’t worry, they usually work themselves out of business. Without referrals they get tired of chasing down new business for years and earning the bad reputation amongst their peers. Your article could have had a more positive spin ….with some more investigation on your part.
But again, like i said…..not all members of a profession dare to go that extra mile….that includes writers

Worst real estate experience we have ever had! We have bought and sold, many times, but have never been pushed so hard into accepting the first offer before, ever! It is a really hot market where we are, and people are getting full prices for their homes. We are very unhappy with the way the realtor treated us, and will never do business with again or recommend him to anyone! We lost over $5000 in the deal and put tons of money into the place, improving it.

I have bought 9 properties in the last 8 years.

My strategy is simple. ALWAYS approach the selling agent directly. Make it clear you will use them in the purchase.

They start to salivate. They get BOTH ends of the commission. They are way,way,way more likely to encourage their client to take a lowball offer.

I will save several thousand dollars. The agent gets more thousands in their pocket. The seller is the one losing out.

Re commissions. It’s a joke. An agent has almost no incentive to sell your house at a market value…none. Their commission percent diminishes and they are not going to risk listing 15 thousand commission to earn another 200 of getting you another 10 thousand final price.

Here is a way to maximize your return. Offer 0 ( yes zero) commission up to a reasonable selling price …what you would accept. Then offer 50% ABOVE that. A motivated broker will scramble and work his hardest.

I have a great idea… why don’t we abolish all Real Estate Agents all together. We’ll let all the geniuses list their homes for whatever they think they’re worth. Lets watch them sell a home for considerably less than market value. Then lets watch the neighborhood follow suit by getting less and less for their home. Real Estate Agents made the marketplace and are responsible for keeping prices at a proper level for their respective locations. This has been done over years and years of hard work. Or maybe you can listen to some a*shole spew out their advice to the world because of his never ending accumulation of knowledge. Remember, everyone has an opinion, in the end it’s yours that counts.

I just read this (IDIOTIC) article by you, #Mike Holman on using a Realtor! WHAT a CROCK and completely slanderous against an industry! I don’t know what STATES most of these incidents happened in, but in TEXAS we are held to a very high standard and my REPUTATION and my license are more important to me that to participate in activities as describe by most in these negative comments. Too bad you can’t be sued for slander but in this GREAT COUNTRY even IDIOTS can voice their opinions. And you know what they say about opinions!
By the way Theresa, what happened to “buyer beware” and taking some responsibility on yourself for the choices you make? AGAIN, in TEXAS, we have option periods for you to have inspections so that you know UP FRONT what is wrong with the house. During that option period, if you find issues like this that the seller is not willing to take care of, YOU WALK AWAY! AT NO TIME, do I as a Realtor, become part of the decision making process about condition issues of a house YOU are buying. YOU as the buyer contract the inspector and YOU as the buyer make the decision as to what repairs are needed before you close on the deal. As a REALTOR, I can advise you on professional repair people to call and get estimates or do the repair, but I DO NOT MAKE THE CALL of moving forward with the purchase. IN A LOT OF SITUATIONS, if the loan is FHA, USDA OR VA, if this type repairs/conditions are not addressed, repaired/replaced BEFORE CLOSING the house become NON-FANCIABLE and YOU are not held to the contract….meaning you MOVE ON!
Really, people….get a clue about what a TRUE PROFESSIONAL does and the VALUE we can bring to the table. Would you go to court and defend yourself in a murder trial, would you operate on yourself, and in 90% of the situations, would you BUILD YOUR OWN HOUSE?

Let’s face it.
1) Real estate agents are basically used car salesman.
2) All the people writing negative comments on here ARE real estate agents trying to sadly defend themselves.
3) I’m sry, but with Technology today, real estate commissions are no longer warranted. Ur GETTING PAID THE SAME COMMISSIONS AS AGENT WERE BEFORE THE INTERNET.
Like gimme a break. I’m sure there are some circumstances where that commission is earned, but more times than not its just sleazy sales tactics and bullying.
I’ve sold over 15 properties so I know.
Discount brokers are the future!!!

Really?

The last two homes my husband and I sold we used real estate agents. In Florida the agent was a broker who owned the agency. In Ga. we signed with an agent from a top firm after interviewing 5 others. Both times, the agents bullied us into a lower listing price. Some of the comps were mobile homes or did not exist ( we could never find the home in tax records or driving around). The agents never updated us, we could never reach them and twice they asked us to show the house because they are busy and to make sure we keep silent during the showing. Things were missing from the home, one was a large wall hanging. Police would not do a report because there were no signs of forced entry. The broker did a “agent caravan” with good at our large waterfront Fl.home. We came home to open doors, salad dressing all over the floor in the kitchen, toilets with cigarettes butts floating and several lights on. You could see in the Master some had been laying in the bed. When I complained the broker told me a few agents had too much to drink and things (?) kinda got out of control but she left me some cake in the refrigerator. Both homes sold below what we wanted.
Both homes within 3 months were back in the market for $63,000 and $48,000 more then sold for, one in 2008 when the market was going down . We were fools to use the agents.
Cautionary advise: never listen to the “list your home low and create a bidding war”. If the only offer you get is the low price, you owe the full commission. My g\f fell for that line with her condo. After signing the agreement for $17,000 less than others had sold for the agent stood up and yelled SOLD!!! Yes, the listing agent bought the condo at the reduced price. Maria dropped out of school 3 months later, reason, her husband and her could not afford the house the wanted. They were counting on the money from the sale of the condo. Also, Marie’s husband went into a deep depression. He was from Cuba and worked very hard for the money. He drove to a remote area and took his life.
Maria now had to work full time, she rented a small apartment . She took a job at J C Penny and her dreams of being a nurse are on permanent hold. My husband and I tried to help, we paid an attorney but he said they owed he commission. I guess the upside is the agent sold the property fast, I Don’t Know How Agents live with themselves.

My boyfriend and I are first time home sellers and cannot get rid of the feeling that we are being taken advantage of. No one in my family has ever owned a home and at first I thought that this was going to be a really wonderful experience like on HGTVs “Buying and Selling” (Spoiler alert: ITS NOT). We have a 1953 Cape Cod which we are restored to PRISTINE condition. Weve done the renovation work to ensure that it has all the bells and whistles like granite countertops etc., while still maintaining its character and charm. Needless to say its the best house on the block and a quick look at the photos on the internet compared to comps in the neighborhood confirm this. The problem? We spent too much on the renovation of course and are going to lose $19,000 because what we put into the home improves the function and look but does not increase the market value or appraisal of the property. Whatever, we have come to terms with this. We bought the house 9 years ago for $124,000, did at least $20,000 in renovations last year before we decided to relocate due to a job change, and listed it on the market for what our realtor said was market value $125,000. We explained all of this to our realtor. She SAW the property and knows what kind of condition it is in, she KNOWS what we paid for it and how much we still owe, and she UNDERSTANDS how much money we are already losing on this deal right off the bat if we accept a deal at list price.

Well after being on MLS an hour we had been pressured to accept the first offer that came in (which was $10,000 less than list price). We refused and said that we would hold out for list price. Well what do you know, the buyers came up to list price almost immediately. While we feel like we should have waited a bit to see if we could have drum up some more offers to possibly increase the price, or at the very least listed at a higher price, we went ahead and trusted our agent who let us know that “this is one of the best offers you could hope to get”. The troubles started almost immediately with the buyer wanting us to pay $4,000 closing costs in addition to a bunch of other costs throughout the contract. We said that we would not pay that much and that we were willing to pay $2,000. She came back and said the buyers agent would not agree to that and they have increased their offer to $127,000 but still want to keep the $4,000 closing costs– “its the same thing” she tells us. (Actually its not the same thing because agents get paid out of a percentage off the purchase price. So while the deal looks the same, it isnt because we are going to be paying higher agent fees to herself and the buyers agent so they are the ones profiting there not us). Whatever, we want to move quickly so we go with it.

The home inspection comes around and the buyers agent give us a bunch of non-sense repairs “fix Rolex wiring on the outside of the house” (pro-tip there is no such thing as Rolex wiring, its called ROMEX and a licensed home inspector should know this), “increase water pressure in bathroom faucet” (its a waterfall faucet and the water comes out slower than most faucets to make the water look pretty for decorative purposes), “replace missing chimney cap” (we dont have a fireplace so the chimney is just a furnace exhaust and its not missing its chimney cap, it never had one because they are know to create drafts). We already paid for and are offering an expensive home warranty so we were shocked to see such a long list of repairs that they wanted done by closing (when we bought the house we didnt ask for a thing to be repaired because we didnt want to take advantage of anyone and risk losing the sale but I guess we were in the minority with that mindset). We reached out to our agent and told her that we were not willing to pay for those repairs because they dont even make sense, expecting her to agree with us, and much to our surprise she didnt! She told me that we could not risk this sale not going through because we would have to start all over again with another buyer and “no one wants that do we?”. She wants ME (not the buyer) to get quotes on how much these idiotic repairs are going to cost, and for the ones that are non-existent (the Rolex wiring) wants me to get a statement from a licenses electrician that there is no such thing and that the inspector was confused. I told her that I felt like I was being asked to sacrifice my home with all these new expenses and was not willing to do so– we already didnt make any money at all on this sale! I told her that I wasnt worried about the sale not going through because if the buyer wants to walk, I welcome it and would like her to reach out to the sellers agent asap to let them know we wont be doing any of the repairs and that if their buyer thinks these repairs are a deal breaker that she should let us know now so that we can relist it asap. She straight up wont do it and is insisting that I reach out and get the quotes from the contractors first. Now I am supposed to waste my time calling contractors and getting repair quotes for things that I do not even plan on paying to fix. Isnt it customary that the buyer be the one looking up these quotes to ensure that I do not hire the cheapest shoddiest licensed contractor that I can find? Am I missing something or are things seeming a bit suspect here…..

You have to be careful out there. Of course a selling agent is wanting you to sell your house ASAP so he/she can get their commission and move onto the next home. But don’t let anyone pressure you into selling YOUR home without your approval on anything!!! You are the client, and you are the one who can walk away if you don’t like the way some agent is doing business. If he/she are pressuring you to list your home quickly, or using unlicensed painters to complete a job because it will move faster to market, you have to be the one to take a stand. For every pushy agent out there, there are ones who have the knowledge and expertise to work with you and sell your home the right way. If you smell BS along the way, dump his ass and move on to a better agent.