You don’t expect a car salesman to give you the real history on a car. You don’t have that expectation because regardless of what comes out of their mouth you know they are an advocate for selling that car.
Knowledge is power, and the best realty agents know the key to increasing their customer satisfation and build their reputations is to empower those clients with as much knowledge as it takes for them to feel comfortable with their decisions. Different people have different needs as far as what it takes to get to that comfort level.
As an example, if I wasn’t in the business myself I would still be a pretty cautious buyer. Not so much as a negotiation fanatic but in looking before leaping. You should see what my wife and I go through before we buy furniture or when I’m buying a car. I very much want to know what it is I’m getting, much more so than worrying about the price.
I’d want to check out the schools if I still had school aged kids, I’d want to check out freeway access and commute times, I’d want to see some sales data and drive by them to get a reading on pricing, I’d want to look at the structure and get a home inspector of my own choosing. I don’t need or want to be told; I need to be shown where I can find the information I’m seeking so I can see it for myself.
I’m pretty sure that if faced with a buyer like me, sdrealtor and SD Realtor would both recognize that I was seeking that type of hand-holding and they’d match their game plans to suit. I’m also sure that they know that the game plan that worked for me would overwhelm and throw off other types of buyers.
Regardless, I wouldn’t work with an agent who wasn’t in tune with my style; and I think this is where some of these buyers and agents fail to exercize common sense.
