I work with a lot of commercial buyers and investors, so many agents will forward me their listings. I attend Realtor networking functions to discuss and exchange listing inventory. I get approached by more agents at networking organizations I'm involved in. Sometimes it feels like I'm on the trading floor of the stock market with all the attention and agent dealing frenzy.
"Mike! Mike! I might have a listing you can sell to your clients!"
The problem with might having a listing means there is no signed listing agreement. That means there is no commission agreement to protect me or the other agent if I bring a qualified buyer. It means there is no official representation of the owner or the property. Are these pocket listings? When I follow up for more information such as financial or a seller's disclosure for my prospective buyers the "might listed" agents disappear.
I have a better chance of walking up to the property and knocking on the door to make an offer than the agent has of selling it. I do not like pocket listings. I believe every listing should be on the market to expose it to as many potential buyers as possible to sell it as quickly as possible for the highest amount.
Does the owner know their property is listed for sale?
Another trend I'm seeing lately is properties listed on craigslist or posted on non MLS sites that are NOT for sale. At a recent event I noticed a familiar commercial investor in the community and struck up a conversation about a property he owns "for sale" that I'm interested in.
The problem is the property is not for sale and the owner never talked to anyone about selling it. Turns out another agent created flyers and posted ads for the property to generate leads. I love forwarding the information to the owner to contact those agents. Sometimes I offer to contact the agents on the owner's behalf to let them know we are aware of the fraud.
Who are all these people knocking on my door?
Another example I found out about a year ago was when I was marketing a rental property. Within days I had a tenant ready to move in and removed it from being active on the market. I did not know another agent from another company copied my listing onto craigslist with their contact information posing as the listing agent. The tenant was already moved in and was constantly approached by people driving by the home. Running a search in Google revealed the fake listing ad agent. A few minutes later I was on the phone with him and his Broker.
The tenants were afraid to let their children play in the yard because the house was being approached so often by strangers. The fake listing agent was purposely advertising the property for much less than the lease price to generate leads.
Unfortunately these agents are destroying the integrity of our industry. I realized it's futile to defend everyone in our industry. So I focus on my own reputation and image. I position myself as the professional to protect their best interests. When they are ready to list, I almost always get the first call and walk away with the listing. After all why would they trust anyone else?
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