[quote=sdrealtor]JP etal,
Client control does not pertain to what or whether they should buy but rather their performance according to the terms of the legal agreement they have signed once a legal agreement has been reached.[/quote]
I agree with this, sdr, and by the same token, with buyers, the Buyer-Broker Agency Agreement will be the first “legal” agreement they enter into with me because it will be executed before I do any business with buyers.
Buyers quickly become “mesmerized” by “cosmetic enhancements” and I have saved more than a few of them from making a bad purchase mistake that would be difficult to recover from because I remembered something terribly wrong with that address, block or complex from back in ’92 or ’87 (or whenever) and complete an up-to-date due diligence on it for my buyer. Most of this stuff is typically NOT disclosed by the current seller, whether they knew about it themselves or not. Any other agent would have just let them purchase and collect the commission. Look at all the recent agents that put their buyers in “exploding loans” just to make a commission! Most per probably so ignorant, they didn’t even understand the loans themselves.
A relatively-new (lic. under ten yrs.) agent can’t possibly know that certain corner or side of a particular block all had cracked slabs at one time, an entire family was murdered in a property, a Shell pipeline runs under that street or that septic tank hasn’t worked property in x years and needs to be dug out unless you have specialized area-experience and a memory like a clock to go along with the exp. I have been in so many addresses at one time or the other, I can remember things about a particular property once I come back to it, even if the property looks entirely different now. An agent can’t “buy” this experience or learn it it class and the beauty of this is that it is all in my head (except for my actual full-size and letter-size plat map archives) which come in VERY HANDY at times – LOL!
[side rant] I’m a firm believer that agents should only stick to areas they are intimately familiar with and farm out clients to other agents for a “referral fee” upon close of escrow. For instance, in the past, I have “farmed out” buyer-clients who wanted to shop in PQ to an agent I personally knew who grew up and worked in PQ as I would be doing a disservice to those clients stumbling around those sts. on their “behalf” with a Thomas Guide, not being familiar with the the tracts and floor plans, etc. I also never wanted waste a lot of time and gas driving up and down the fwy long distances to do business. In other words, if an agent doesn’t know who owns that corner store or what the names of their watchdog and son who works the late shift are, they have no business working in that ‘hood, because there are plenty of agents who do. I believe a tract-area agent should be able to picture a certain street in their minds, note what business is on the corner, if any, yr. of construction, types of roofs, recent complete remodels, name of builder and no. of floorplans, which are prem. lots, which sides of the st face upslope/downslope, etc. ALL FROM LYING ON THE COUCH OR ON A TOWEL AT THE BEACH. If they can’t do this, they don’t have enough inventory knowledge and experience in their area of specialty to be “practicing” in it and should become an assistant to or work under an agent or “Broker-Salesperson” that does, in order to get that experience. [end of side-rant]
Yes, I believe, with first-time buyers and sellers especially, the agent needs to have a firm control of their clients and all aspects of the showings and escrow. Many, many sellers DO NOT understand that they will need to change the way they live while their properties are marketed in competition with cleaned and repaired bank-owned properties. This “control” keeps the agent from “spinning their wheels” and wasting a lot of time with unmotivated principals.
Sure, a buyer can choose between a “cute” 20 or 30-something miniskirt or get me, for the same commission arrangement which doesn’t require they pay anything out-of-pocket. But if my license was activated at this time, my services would come with a 90-day Buyer-Broker Agency Agreement chained to their ankle. It’s a free country. Take your pick.
Oh, and BTW, I DO have some short skirts that still look great on me, but haven’t worn them in years :}
