Doing the Right Thing at an Open House

And THAT, dear Gayle, is a best practice!  I bet that other brokerage was VERY grateful.  Your friend could have feigned ignorance and the guy on vacation would be SOL.

Thanks, Gayle, for sharing this story.  The comments are very interesting.

Have a great day and an outstanding week.

Gayle,  great post. I like how it was handled in the end. I feel the buyer & seller gain in the end when best practices prevail!

Gayle ~ I'm glad your Realtor friend took the best road and as a result, everyone -- the buyer, the buyer's agent, the seller ... was happy in the end!  What more could you ask for :-)

Wow.....After reading all the above thoughts and comments, I think I forgot what I myself had to say.  I guess she did the right thing.

It is nice to know that there are still agent's who try to do the right thing.  I know from experience how discouraging it can be to have a buyer wander into an open house and buy on the spot.  Very nice story and made me feel good.  Thanks.

Hi Gayle,

Congrats on the feature.   I'm glad this was a story with a happy ending.   It certainly sparked some discussion. 

I hope you have a great week. 

Sondra

Hi Gayle, nice story, especially for the agent on vacation there was someone at the broker office to take their place. Great discussion, too. There's so much I learn on ActiveRain, it's amazing. Happy New Year, and much success to you in 2013!

Gayle

Thanks for posting. If the agent signed a Buyer Broker agreement --- regardless of who wrote the offer, that buyer's original agent will get the commission on any offer that is written on behalf of that buyer. It may not be a question of ethics at all... rather, what's enforceable?

Hella in #65:  Oftentimes, when someone is wondering about just what IS the right thing to do... sometimes it helps to simply reverse the situation, and then use those viewpoints and reactions to help you figure it out.

For example, if you were the seller of the house in question... what would you want YOUR listing agent to do.  And again, this is not for what is convenient for the Listing Agent, but for what would be the best result for you as the seller.

Remember... if that buyer ends up feeling taken advantage of... having the Listing Agent at the house jump in and "write them up" in their own name... it may really be inviting that buyer to back out and run once the smoke cleared and they realized what had just happened to them.

It is not surprising how often this approach can clear things up.  It's the old "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  Hmmm... now where have I heard that before? 

Well, if the visitor would like to write an offer since his agent is on vacation( or not available by any reason), I would have no issues with that, but if the client would like to be loyal to the original agent, I would also comply. It is not up to me to decide who client wants to use as his representative during the sale or a purchase. 

What your friend did was a matter of her personal ethics. Had she written the offer for the buyer, she would have been doing nothing unethical as seen through the lens of the NAR Code of Ethics. What she did was not only ethical…it was generous and thoughtful, also. She held herself to a higher standard. The result was an excellent transaction and a sense of pride and fairness on her part. Good for her!

I like John Juarez response (above). She did the right thing by asking if the buyer prospect had representation, learned he did, and found a rep from the buyer agents' company to write the offer. I agree she could have written the offer, not only because of dual agency status, but because there was a consumer ready to buy a product. It all worked out well in the end, and I'm sure everyone was happy. It is surprising this "little" post had so many page views, but suspect it was a well-written title. Doing the right thing is a smart title. Well done, Gayle.

Great story - and definitely the right way to go - I have always offered to do anything I can to get the deal to close for my seller - and that does not include writing the offer myself and taking someone else's client! 

So nice to see Karen Anne Stone (Comment 68). I think of her often.