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Ill treatment at the hands of buyers

I have been thinking about this for a long time, whether I should address this or not, but today I am angry. So I decided to write about this issue in public to express my feelings.

I received a call from a gentleman today who said he saw me online and wanted to talk to me about buying a home in San Ramon.He gave me the details of what he wanted and I was about to tell him of some of the homes in his price range when he interjected and said" Let me finish"... " I will do 50% of the work in trying to find the home but I want 50% of your commission.I will do business with you only if you give me that money".And my answer was "NO, I don't do that and I am not the person you want to work with" and he hung up on me !!

I felt humiliated and violated by this behaviour and I deal with it in more subtle ways everyday.I honestly did not want to argue with this man because he was disrespectful. Honestly, speaking from the heart- I feel like buyers are treating agents like a pimp would treat his whore !! Strong words?? Yes, that is how strongly I feel about it.There is no respect for the knowledge we have to impart, the negotiation skills /experience/knowledge we bring to the table.Ok, go ahead and buy a piece of crap for a higher price and I will give you my commission back- if you don't care about living in a termite infested home that has a lien on it!!

Why do some buyers treat us Realtors like garbage????? I think the main problem was caused by part time real estate agents, who do not know what they do and are hungry for an income. These are not the agents who will work hard and diligently for the buyer.Our industry has been overflooded with people who got into it for the quick buck- yes there was a time even a tear down would sell in a day but not anymore.I am actually glad that this downturn has come because I am waiting for these unprofessional agents fall off the bandwagon, leaving room for true professionals who treat Real Estate as their career path.

Can you go to a doctor, engineer or any other professional and ask them for half of their fees?? They will surely kick you out of the office. What the heck, I want to ask this buyer's employer- make him work for 40 hours and take back 50% of his pay check- then I would ask him how much sincerity he would have for his employer.

If there are any buyers reading my blog, I have one question- would you rather get 5-10K back from an agent and pay 50K more on the house or save the 50K on your mortgage amount?? Would you like to do all the inspections yourself and not know what to read on them or get back the agent's commission? Would you rather write the contracts yourself, liason with your lender, title company,read your prelims, etc etc yourself and get back the agents commission??That is the difference between a discounter agent and a full service agent. Trust me, when the market changes to a sellers market, these same buyers will be wanting to hire agents who will get them the deal.

I give respect and total dedication to my clients and I am not wrong in expecting the same. Try heckling your dentist before he takes out your tooth- what a joy ride that would be !!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Rama Mehra on 05/28/2008 07:57 PM

Comments (12)

buyers market, san ramon housing market, agent woes

12 Comments on Ill treatment at the hands of buyers

MAY

2008

Wow...I think you had a bad day. I agree the caller was out of line. I think at times that Realtors as a whole don't do a good enough job of educating the public on the value of their service. They believe we make tons of money for nothing. It is our job to educate on some of these facts...on the other hand...there are also some people that don't get it and don't want to get it. They will also be the one in court over a law suit because a contract was written poorly.

Dave

What a slug! Wonder if his attorney would give back 50% of his fee. Don't get yourself upset over it, you know that you are worth 100%. If he finds someone that will do that, and it would not happen in NJ, then they deserve each other, like draws like! You don't want to do business him, he would make you crazy through the whole transaction!

Don't take it personally. My Mother is a bargain shopper. She loves the Dollar Store and other places that are rife with deals. But, she'll buy something for half the price 3 or 4 times while I bought something for twice the money that lasts 4 times as long...

Don't get mad... just move on. He'll find an agent, and he'll do a pantload of work. In fact, he may do enough work that if he spent that time at the regular job, he'd have been able to pay an agent and been ahead.

Next time, tell him you'll be happy to give him half the address - "there's a fabulous house at #42...."

Seriously, he's not worth your time or energy. That's the kind of buyer you want to lose sooner, rather than later.

It takes all kinds. And when you're dealing with the public, eventually you will run into all of them. Just continue doing your job and being professional. You will be rewarded by clients who appreciate your service!

With certain companies giving rebates back to their clients, I suppose this conversation might happen again and certainly to other agents. Given the same scenario, I would have handled it in the same way, however asking him first what he does and then asking him about what he would do if someone asked him to rebate his fee, would be how I would handle that call the next time. I wonder if that guy ever found someone to take him up on his offer.

Thanks everyone for your comments.Bargain shopping is ok but not slugging someone over with a hammer !! I have been dealing with people like this everyday and trying to keep myself calm. I always say No because I have the confidence that I am very good at what I do and the professional value I bring to the transaction. It was just the utter disrespectful attitude that boiled my blood over.I am very very grateful to all my clients who have treated me as a trusted advisor and have appreciation for all the work I put in for them.And Marilyn, I loved the idea of half the address- you made me laugh out really loud !!Thanks for all your words of wisdom

I'm not sure if I would have made this post 100% public. Some of it is a rant (that is okay) and might be better as a members only post. Do you want other buyers to find this on the internet and see the rant part of the post? I agree that we shouldn't be bullied into making a "deal" to give back our commission. There are plenty of agents that advertise that as part of their "service" to a client. So I will be glad to let them have those clients to work with.

Thanks for your advice Cindy.I was actually not ranting but just making a point that if I am respectful of my clients, I expect the same in return.If agents choose to provide this as a service to their clients, then so be it.thats their way of doing business.But my goal by making this pulic was for buyers to read it and try to make them understand how a lot of us feel.If someone were to ask me for my salary in a polite manner, I would say No in a polite manner but utter disrespect is not acceptable. I swear to God, if anyone had heard this man's tone of voice, they would have abused him for sure !!

MAY

2008

Look at the other side of the story. Who started this. The Real estate agents taught the buyers about this. couple of years back, I don't know anything about thecommision, and all I know is, somebody will help me at the cost of the seller. But so far amost all of the agents, who approached me offered me to split the commision or pay closing costs. Now the situation is like, If I don't ask for the commision I am fool.

And in San ramon itself, builders are expecting more, when one accompayned y an agent. did anybody questioned this. For the same house , same time period, similar location, I can show you the instances where some body payed more money when they went through the agent. Also one of my friend bought it for less and agent helped him closing costs. Other friend payed 25000 more and his agent got paid full amount.
Where is the negotiation of agent?

What I meant to say is, its not only the buyers fault. Both are guilty in this.

Why not agent associations make some rules and follow them to avoid these kin dof things (I don't have nay knowledge in this - not sure how it works)

Being said that, I am not supporting about what the other guy asked for. And in any case, there is a respectable way to talk. And agents should be respected. They are the only people, who can offer the service without asking any money, or expecting money upfront.

I told my agent, everybody is splitting the commission. But I don't want to ask you the commision, rather use your negotiation skills and get the house for the appropriate price. He is ofcourse working onit.

And how you manage these kind of situations, shows you how better you are. You may have to deal with different kinds of sellers for your clients.

And how you manage these kind of situations, shows how better you are. You may have to deal with different kinds of sellers for your clients.

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