A Real Estate Transaction is challenging enough as it is!  Do we need to play WAR?

It never ceases to amaze me.  For the most part, the beginning of the real estate transaction begins relatively smooth.  As it transpires, however, that is when you begin to see the true colors when it comes to the other party's representation.

I must make a plea to other real estate professionals and it is this; let's just help each other so that we can get to closing!  I absolutely love to negotiate and I believe that it is most effective when both parties can communicate tactfully and intelligently.  We need to work together to create win/win situations.  Let me share this experience with you that I recently had with a real estate agent. 

The "other" agent in my recent experience represented the seller's for a property that had been listed over six months and only had one price reduction.  We could see from the history that the seller's had a pending sale one month prior to ours.  The first thing I want to do is call the listing agent and find out why the previous sale fell through.  After speaking with her I am able to glean that the property fell through due to lack of funding.

So, I figure, that's typical no big deal.  We should definitely pursue it because the price was reasonable.  After viewing the property the buyers place an offer and we wait for a response.  At the beginning, I am very impressed with the agent's response time.  She, although lacking in enthusiasm, seems very motivated to get the property sold.  She responds to our offer with a counter with emphasis on the recent price reduction and comparables in the area.  Great!  I have my own comparables that I respond with and both parties, with a little hesitation, agree to meet at a mid-way point. 

Next, we proceed with a home inspection and I call the listing agent to schedule a time.  She then tells me that the home was inspected by the previous buyers and the roof was a major issue.  Hmmmm, I am thinking, why are you just now telling me this?  I specifically asked her if there were any previous issues with the previous buyer's home inspection to which she answered with a resounding NO.  This disclosure would have, of course, had a significant impact on our offering price.  This is obvious, but was it ethical for her to tell me otherwise when I originally asked her?  You be the judge.

After the home inspection it is clearly obvious that the roof has some issues and needs a complete tear off and replacement.  So at this point, we now need to re-negotiate for price reduction or credits.  They agree to credit us for the roof and we are now back to our original offering price.

At this point, the transaction should be pretty cut and dry right?  Not the case here.  After this point in the transaction (and I have experienced this many times before) the listing agent seems to lose all motivation for diligently moving to close.  I fought for the following items:

• Signatures and dates for the earnest money agreement
• The initial counter she sent me was not an actual counter.  Instead she crossed out items on our original PSA and wrote in their counter remarks without any initials or dates. 
• I was instructed to make all scheduling with the listing agent, however, twice when I thought I had an appointment my arrival was a shock and surprise to the seller.
• Faxed paperwork from the Listing agent was sent back mostly illegible and void of some paperwork.
• Conversations were usually cut short and some level of hostility was evident.
• End of transaction paperwork she refused to get signatures for (my lender needed these to close) she sent to title to let them "handle at the closing table".

Ugggh!  Am I wrong to be annoyed by this behavior? 

Negotiating real estate transactions with other Realtors is something I enjoy and how wonderful it is when we can work together and lighten the load for each other.  Is there any remedy for the lack of diligence that seems to be so prevalent these days?

 Is it not in our best interest to work together to create win/win transactions?  With the tightening up of lender criteria and requirements, real estate transactions aren't getting any easier.  Let's work together!

Seraina Aguayo, Realtor, Broker, GRI

John L. Scott/Sandy