A friend of mine is taking the plunge and buying a home. I have tried in vain to convince him to wait it out, but it looks as though he is going to buy soon. At any rate, he and his wife have been looking around and found a home they really liked. They both have good jobs and intend on remaining in a home they buy for at least 7 years.
A couple of weeks ago they were driving around the neighborhood they want and saw an open house. They went in and decided they really wanted to pursue this home. The sellers agent asked if they had an agent themselves to which my friend responded ‘yes.’ He didn’t really have a true agent he was engaged with, instead he had a friend who was a realtor who he thought he would give a call to since he had found this home. Ultimately, he put in an offer through his agent/friend. The list price was @ $530,000 and he offered $500,000. The owner turned down the offer and DID NOT counter. I feel that was strange by itself. In this market, that is not an unreasonable offer to not at least counter.
Things got a bit stranger when the seller’s agent contacted my friend and told him that he should re-submit an offer through her and cut out his agent. After all, in her opinion, his agent did nothing; my friend and his wife found this home on their own. The seller’s agent claims that by using her, part of the commission that would have gone to his agent could now be used to negotiate a better deal for all parties.
What does everyone recommend in this situation? My friend really wants this home and somewhat agrees that his agent did really little but is mulling over what to do. Also, if he goes through with using the seller’s agent, what should he look out for?
I’m not a realtor or a laywer, but I do know one thing. When an agent representing a seller tells a prospective buyer about a method for getting a better price out of the seller he/she is representing, there could be a grounds for a conflict of interest, breach of contract, or violation of trust at the minimum.
I called an agent once about the condo across the street from me. It was listed at $500K. He told me, before I asked a single question “They’d probably take $470K for it”.
I thought, if my agent did that I’d fire him on the spot.
I called another agent about a piece of land I was interested in that he was listing. He immediately started telling me exactly why I didn’t want to even look at it, and told me he had all these other plots that I’d be much happier with. Again, does the owner know how good of a sales job his agent is doing?
I can’t give you advice about your friends situation, but that sellers agent sounds like a sleaze ball, and I’d personally avoid trying to make him richer for his sleazy tactics.
New Guy this is yet another sad commentary of agents behaving badly. This listing agent is actively soliciting your friend.
So in the face of this behavior would your friend honestly want this person representing him/her? Would your friend trust that representation? I would ask your friend to contact the listing agents broker and explain exactly what happened. Also when the original purchase offer was declined did your friend get a copy of the RPA back from the listing agent as officially declined?
I cannot advise strongly enough to your friend not to use the listing agent to represent him as well. If your friend wants the house, have him ask his buddy (agent friend) to represent him to give him a rebate of a portion of the buyers commission OR to reduce the buyers commission paid out to him and have the price of the home reduced. Or go to ZIP or other brokerages that give commission rebates and use them.
Thanks for your thoughts. I advised my friend to stay away from this agent when he told me about the situation but I’m not sure what he’ll end up doing. It’s a shame that people resort to these sorts of tactics and by association give the good, honest people in the industry a bad name.
In terms of the agent’s name, I’m not sure. I’ll ask my friend when I see him this weekend.
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