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14 Comments on Are you a Buyer's Agent? Or are you just trying to SELL something...
Looks like you have a multiple offer going on there, Ardell. Have a great weekend!
Ardell - Yes, I show whatever inventory meets their criteria. I haven't had two clients compete for the same house. That's a no win situation if they both bid on the same home at the same time. If one wins and you haven't disclosed that you were making bids with another client, the relationship with the one who lost the bid is destroyed. I think all you can do is talk hypothetically about how if such a situation occurred, you couldn't reveal the existence of the other offer without the other buyer's permission and how you have to keep confidential info to yourself. Very tough situation.
I don't accept two clients who have the same criteria. I don't work with a lot of people at the same time for that reason. But that means I have to have a good mix of different price ranges & different areas of interest. I guess I never thought about an agent taking two clients who want pretty much the same thing...let alone more than two.
Just seems odd to me.
Thanks for the post. In a small farm area this is a great possibility.
Carol,
Thinking back to the early days of my career when everyone wanted a 4 bedroom colonial with a basment on a 100 X 150 sf lot. Of course that was before there was Buyer Agency. Still, I don't remember having two clients who wanted the same thing at the same time in the same place at the same price. Usually a mix of varying price ranges.
When someone hires me to help them find and buy the best house for them, it would be difficult if I had several people for whom the same house would be the best house for them.
would do what is the best thing for both clients. I would show them both the property. It is my job. Out of my control if they both make an offer. I would explain they are competing against another offer . I would not be able to reveal the offer to ether one. Just like back in the day when there where competing offers.
By not showing the home to both clients I would be doing one of them a injustice!
Sharon,
I agree you can do that...but that makes them both customers...and neither "a client". If they were clients, then you wouldn't have two with the same goal and objective as to price and location.
Having Buyer Customers is fine...as long as they know they are customers vs clients.
It is imperative that an agent know the difference betweena Client and a Customer.
Absolutely, it does not become a problem until we talk offers. Then Illinois has a contemporaneous offers form at which point a buyer can say no, and move on to find another agent.
That said it's never happened to me and I would not turn away business on the premise that it might. The odds are less than dual agency.
Corinne,
I think the difference may be that our market is still strong enough so that when a good home comes on market there are many people who want "it"...so the liklihhod of having more than one person waiting for "it" is higher.
It's a little too late when the house comes on market to start switching agents! That would be a disaster. Who wants to make an offer in a hurry with an agent they never met before?
You are lucky, Terri! Many of my clients work at Microsoft or Google and want to live within a short commute to work. With tens of thousands of employees, it is hard to not run into to people with the same objective. Price often distinguishes one from another...but not always.
I realize this post is a little older, but I'm trying to get caught up! As a broker that's been in the business for 29 years my personal policy has never changed, "Honesty is the Best Policy". I always explained to my customers (buyers) that I work with many people and I will be sometimes showing them the same property. If we "miss out" out something it just means that there is something better down the line. All things happen for a purpose. I ask them to confirm back to me what I have explained to them...then they are completely comfortable. It's a matter of understanding - there is joy and personal power in understanding and it will dismiss anger.
When the Buyer Brokerage Agreements came along, I explained in the same way. I have yet to have experienced a problem. It's about maturity and putting it all out on the table. As far as do we just want to sell something? Well, of course we do. We are the circle of money and many people share in it as the transaction closes - it's all in how you "think" about it. Stay open and honest.
The problem with that answer, Marisue, is that 29 years ago we all represented sellers of homes and not the buyers of homes.
So what was OK 29 years ago but is by definition NOT OK in 2011.
How could what you did when you did not represent the buyer...be exactly the same now that you do?
No...honesty is NOT the be all end all of "representation" when you are being honest about NOT representing them well.
"Hey...I'm not going to represent you well...OK? Sign here." is not OK. Honest? Yes. OK? No.