SMARTMONEY MAGAZINE article by SmartMoney Magazine Staff Published July 7, 2009
The tone of this article is wrought with shameless self promotion for the magazine and the named sources that are quoted in it. The writer(s) also make reference to quotes from un-named sources in a very unprofessional job of reporting. They are creating a story and their story in untrue.
SOMETIMES I FORGET WHOS SIDE I'M ON - The writer(s) make the following unsubstantiated claim: The past 15 years have seen the proliferation of the buyer broker, agents who are supposed to work strictly in the buyer's interest, helping him get a fair price on a home as well as a avoid pitfalls along the way. Unfortunately things don't always work unfold so nicely. While buyer may think they're getting a boker who isn't commission-hungary, many buyer agents are just that.
Then the writer(s) cite Max Gordon, an Overland Park, Kansas - based real estate broker and attorney as the source of the following statement about buyer brokers: "Buyer brokers are sometimes too focused on closing the sale and getting that commission"
The writer(s) then add their own unsubstantiated claim: so it's often in their best interest to see you pay as high a price as possible.
Then the writer(s) cites Stephen Israel, President of Buyers Edge, in a statement that some brokers who call themselves buyer advocates are actually working for companies that also represent sellers. "Brokerages offer bonuses to buyer agents if they sell an in-house listing.
Yellow journalism lives on at SMARTMONEY MAGAGZINE through overt acts to fabricate false claims, sensationalize individual behavior then attribute it to all members of our profession and smear Realtors through unsubstantiated claims, They have clearly demonstrated their disregard for the truth by making unsubstantiated claims and through poor fact checking in an overt attempt to defame Real Estate Brokers in a self-serving attempt to draw on buyers fears.
Write to your State and National Association of Realtors.