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A Sacramento Real Estate Agent Should Not Send a Buyer Out Alone

By
Real Estate Agent with Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker DRE #00697006

sacramento real estate agentA Sacramento real estate agent asked me yesterday if he could send buyers to see a home by themselves, without him as an escort. He said he had something else incredibly important to do, I imagine, so he could not personally show the home to his buyers. You know, when I'm so busy or otherwise engaged that I can't provide quality service to my client, I arrange for somebody else to do it. Another Sacramento real estate agent.

Most Sacramento real estate agents would never send a buyer over to a home without the agent being present. Buyers deserve representation and full service from their real estate agent.

I'll tell you a true story about an agent who dropped the ball and lived to regret it. An agent sent buyers to a FSBO to drive by. The buyers drove by and noticed a phone number on the sign. They called the number on the sign, connected with the seller and bought the home directly from the seller, bypassing the buyer's agent all together. I was that seller.

Read more about Sacramento Real Estate Agents Ramp Up.

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Elizabeth Weintraub is co-partner of Weintraub & Wallace Team of Top Producing Realtors, an author, home buying expert at The Balance, a Land Park resident, and a veteran real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown, Carmichael and East Sacramento, as well as tract homes in Elk Grove, Natomas, Roseville and Lincoln. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put our combined 80 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at RE/MAX Gold. DRE License # 00697006.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of RE/MAX Gold. Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice; it could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.

Comments(10)

Gary Frimann, CRS, GRI, SRES
Eagle Ridge Realty / Signature Homes & Estates - Gilroy, CA
REALTOR and Broker

I agree.  Sending a client out alone is very risky.  Loyalty does not run deep in our business, especially if someone thinks they can save money.  I hear Sacramento is having brisk sales.

Sep 30, 2012 12:37 AM
Linda K. Mayer
License # 01767321 - La Verne, CA
Realtor, SRES, SoCAL, A REALTOR YOU CAN TRUST

You should never send your people out it's true... good thing you were the seller on that FSBO - then we know they were taken care of.

Sep 30, 2012 01:08 AM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Gary: The Sacramento real estate market is insane, and it's causing a huge problem for some agents.

Hi Linda: Let's just say they were happy to close escrow.

Sep 30, 2012 01:19 AM
David Grbich
Realty One Group - www.FindCARealEstate.com - San Juan Capistrano, CA
Orange County Real Estate - 949-500-0484

Agree - not the best representation!! Regards Dave

Sep 30, 2012 01:39 AM
Tom Arstingstall, General Contractor, Dry Rot, Water Damage Sacramento, El Dorado County - (916) 765-5366
Dry Rot and Water Damage www.tromlerconstruction.com Mobile - 916-765-5366 - Placerville, CA
General Contractor, Dry Rot and Water Damage

If I were allowed to go see properties without an agent, I may begin to believe that I did not need that agent anyway.

:)

Sep 30, 2012 01:49 AM
Kathryn Maguire
GreatNorfolkHomes.com (757) 560-0881 - Chesapeake, VA
Serving Chesapeake, Norfolk, VA Beach

That is the ultimate in a long list of lazy agent behaviors.  Love your story though.  I am sure that buyer's agent is kicking themselves over it.

Sep 30, 2012 04:00 AM
Chris Ann Cleland
Long and Foster Real Estate - Gainesville, VA
Associate Broker, Bristow, VA

I would never send a buyer out to look at anything by themselves.  It's just asking for trouble.

Sep 30, 2012 05:53 AM
James Dray
Fathom Realty - Bentonville, AR

Morning Elizabeth I can't write what I would like to on this one they would censer me but having said that you get the idea.  Enjoy the day

Sep 30, 2012 08:12 PM
Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Excellent points, Elizabeth!  Your story about an agent sending a buyer over to a FSBO, that just happened to be you, takes the cake!  I'm assuming that was back in the day, before you were an agent!  Did it act as catalyst for your becoming an agent?  When I inherited my mother's apartments, I ended up selling them as a FSBO.  What I learned from that experience, about what I knew, and didn't know, ultimately spurred me on to become an agent, a few years later.

Sep 30, 2012 11:13 PM
Elizabeth Weintraub Sacramento Broker
Elizabeth Anne Weintraub, Broker - Sacramento, CA
Put 40 years of experience to work for you

Hi Myrl: Yes, I was not licensed when that incident happened. I slipped the listing into MLS through a discount broker and paid a flat fee. The buyer's agent did not realize the home wasn't exactly listed, so he thought it was OK to send the buyer on a drive by. It's never OK to do that.

Oct 01, 2012 12:00 AM