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A Builders False Advertising

By
Real Estate Agent with Future Home Realty

This past weekend I sold a brand new home. Great for me, great for the builder, and great for the buyer as they got a great home at a great price.

However, I feel the builder is guilty of false advertising. On their website for Realtors they say they will pay a bonus of $1,000 for all sales this year. However, they are now telling me they stopped this a month or two ago, yet it is still advertised on their website and there is no statement such as they can discontinue it without notice and it does not give any cutoff date.

I told them they should make good on their offer and they explained it away by saying their website is way out of date as it shows subdivisions they sold out in a long time ago and does not show any of their new subdivisions. That is a sad excuse and does not give me a whole lot of confidence in how they run their business.

If you are not offering a bonus, simply delete it off the website. No big deal.

I do not show homes due to a bonus and believe it is not needed, but please don't offer me or other Realtors a bonus and then refuse to pay.

I always wonder that if they are willing to do this to the Realtors, who of course sell most of their homes, what promise will they break with our buyers. For me it will just make me always have a feeling in the back of my head that maybe they are having financial troubles. Like I said I will never show homes or not based on the commission or a bonus being paid, but when any company does not keep their word it does make me wonder about the company.

This builder has always been excellent, homes of high quality, and have always done right by Realtors and their buyers.

When I make a promise I keep it. That is good business. Likewise breaking promises can have a devastating effect on a business and I hope that this builder will do the right thing.

As you may have noticed I have not mentioned the builders name and that is on purpose. I want to see if they do the right thing or not. My closing is in October and that gives them time to decide what they would like to do. If they do not keep their word, then I will still show their homes, and I will not worry about myself, however for my buyer I will be extra careful that the builder puts every promise to the buyer in writing.

Comments (4)

Gary Steuernagel ASSOC. BROKER, ABR, CRB
Keller Williams Southwest - Sugar Land, TX

Even if you get the bonus, you should be reccomending to your clients that they get EVERY promise and committment in writing. 

Sep 15, 2009 09:00 AM
Anonymous
Jeff Launiere

I always do get promises in writing, but when they start pulling things like this I will be even more careful with my buyers. It is just that this is a builder that has always been incredible and we have seen in the past builders start to be not as responsible and then going bankrupt. It just always makes me nervous and the fact that their website is so out of date also makes me a little more cautious.

Sep 15, 2009 09:30 AM
#2
Tony and Suzanne Marriott, Associate Brokers
Serving the Greater Phoenix and Scottsdale Metropolitan Area - Scottsdale, AZ
Haven Express @ Keller Williams Arizona Realty

False Advertising of any kind is a hot topic for me right now.  It's incredible and appalling how some agents that are clueless when it comes to Short Sales boast of hundreds of transactions and high closing ratios - neither metric being supported by the MLS.

Aug 28, 2010 03:34 AM
Jeff Launiere
Future Home Realty - Tampa, FL
Jeff Launiere

Tony and Suzanne, you are so right. Unfortunately, unethical behavior can be by anyone including agents.

Aug 28, 2010 03:56 AM