Loved the house, hate the agent, do I have to use him?

[lulu]

A random agent we found showed us a home we absolutely love, but we don’t really care for the agent. Because the agent showed us the property does that mean we are now bound to submitting an offer through him or can we ask the new agent we found to submit the offer for us?

[zeropointzero]

I don’t think there is any “agency” relationship that is established through the act of showing a home. If you didn’t sign any paper acknowledging him/her as your agent, I think you’re fine.

Of course – you should let the new agent know the situation, and don’t be suprised if you get a testy phone call from the other agent if he finds out.

Still – it’s a little unfair to the first agent if he unearthed the house for you. Also – is this new agent a friend/acquaintance of some kind? If so – that’s also a little unfair. But, I don’t think there’s anything keeping you from doing it from a contractual/legal standpoint.

[Nancy_s soothsayer]

lulu — Karma will get you.

[poorgradstudent]

Good question.

“Don’t really care for” is pretty vague. I’ve had co-workers I didn’t really care for but had perfectly functioning professional relationships with. You couldn’t have gotten me to go have a drink with them for less than say $1,000, but we were able to function at work.

On the other hand, there are people you just don’t get along with at all. There’s no reason you should feel obligated to pay someone so you have to be around them. I don’t personally think you’d be out of line switching agents if your dislike of the first one is more of an extreme distaste rather than mild annoyance.

[PerryChase]

I wish that we had a hybrid system where sellers would show their own houses. For example, buyers could search for houses on site such as ziprealty.com. Once they find and view the house they love, they could contract with an agent so submit the offer.

I believe that buying a house is much easier than selling one, especially in a down market.

[lulu]

Thanks. I probably should have also mentioned that this is someone who called me when I hit that famous “schedule an appt. to see this house” link through a website with access to the mls. This agent has not done any footwork at all for us and simply opened the door for one home. For me to say I didn’t care for the agent was probably an understatement. I don’t think his rude attitude should entitle him to an 18k commission.

[zk]

Lulu,

Obviously you didn’t sign any papers. So if you had any obligation to him it would be a moral one. But I’d say you don’t have any obligation to him, not even a moral one. Buying a house is a gigantic financial transaction, and if you think his bad attitude (or other shortcomings) would get in the way of representing you as well as possible and cost you money (and I’d say there’s a good chance they would), then find somebody else.

Sure, he showed you a house. But you didn’t know then that he had a bad attitude. Now you know that. So if he asks you why you went with somebody else (which he may), then just tell him the truth.

[sdcellar]

lulu– Sounds like maybe you went through ZipRealty. In that case, you may have some kind of agreement. I’d recommend that you look at their terms of service (that you probably agreed to when you signed up).

That said, I think you can probably get out of most agreements with a buyer’s agent one way or another.

You say this guy was rude. That seems odd. Was there any chance you hinted at the fact you might not want to (or felt obligated to) use his services? I can’t imagine an agent being downright rude since he’s got a vested interested in continuing to work with you.

[kaycee]

You can always call the mangaer of that agents office, explain the situation and then ask to be reassigned to another agent in the office. That way, the first agent will still probably get a referral fee if you end up buying that house. But you wont ever have to see him again. You may want to look up the office and see if there is any other agent that you might want to work with based on experience, etc. Then you can have some names to give the manager and you won’t get newbie. Then the manager will run interference and He/She will get the nasty phone call from the original agent. Not you.

[Nancy_s soothsayer]

I tend to believe that once you punched button called “schedule an appt. to see this house” and provided your name, contact number, etc., they already got you logged as client IN WRITING. Your phone conversation with the agent could also have been recorded. I’m not sure, but could they come after you?

[kaycee]

They wouldn’t come “after” the buyer. The agent could go after the sellers broker and say that he showed the house, he deserves the commission. HE could then cut out the agent that the buyers actually used to write up the offer. It depends on the rules of the local board. When I was an agent the rules said that the person who originally showed the house got the commission. Then it was later changed to “whomever controlled the buyer”. That is, whover submitted the offer to the sellers agent. Don’t know what it is today. I lost a commission because my buyer had originally stopped into an open house and signed the “guest list’. She later decided to buy that house and I submitted the offer. The sellers agent submitted the signature on the guest list and used it to demand both sides of the commission. Our brokers eventually worked out a deal and I got a part of the commission but not the full one. They changed the rule the following year.

[lulu]

Thanks to all who gave me good advice.
Kind of sounds like Nancy_s is an agent.
Also, for those interested in knowing, just looked over the agreement when registering with Zip, you are not bound to use them.

[lulu]

I fully agree. My husband and I have actually been doing much of the footwork involved in finding a home ourselves. Many agents are so pushy these days, they can be worse than car salesmen.

[Mexico Resident]

This talk of contracts and obligations is ridiculous. Some of you are afraid that maybe indirectly through a website there might be some fine print somewhere? Give me a break! A house is a major investment. If your gut says someone is not working in your best interests, do not do business with that person. Even if you think you can ignore their advice it can get pretty strange if that person thinks they are the realtor controlling the client (as they often do). You need to think of yourself because YOU are spending the money and taking the responsibility. Do not let a salesperson control the situation. And I agree Nancy_s sounds like a realtor. She seems to be VERY concerned about the commission but doesn’t care a bit about the person spending all the money.

[LookoutBelow]

I agree with Mexico Resident….who cares what the agent thinks or feels ?  They ARE the same as a used car salesmen.

I certainly would not care what he thought if was getting ready to commit (foolishly in my eyes) to a million dollar mortgage, he'll be long gone by the time you figure out he wasnt working in your best interest.

Remember, he does NOT work for you, he works for the seller. You are HIS opponent, him and the SELLER are trying to make you spend as MUCH as possible. Keep things in perspective here.

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