Just had an agent fax me a list of demands from the bank selling a house I scheduled a showing for. Wow, the requirement to have my buyer send their financial information to the seller violates my fiduciary responsibilities to the buyer. How can I do what they ask and violate my ethics, and where does NAR stand on this? It is not like there are not 20 other houses for sale in the same area for the same price, so it doesn't hurt my buyer to take that house off the list. How did we start letting this happen? It would not be a problem if it truly was any lender, as long as the listing agent knows who they are, but it really means the people who are selling the house. They are trying to "double dip" on their end, sell the property as high as possible by finding out how much the buyer can really afford, and get the buyer's mortgage business too.
Next demand is we must close 30 days after the contract signing or the deposit is forfeited. The banks are taking forever to approve loans now in this area at least. My standard is now 45 days because of it. Naturally we try to close sooner and usually do, but that is out of our control and I work with some very good mortgage brokers.
I know the seller has the right to set the terms of offers, but why do agents make offers to those sellers? Bet if we all said no, they would have to stop trying to run over buyer's rights. Gee, how can some one so old (me) be such a rebel, ha ha. Would like to hear your thoughts on this, show me the error of my thinking.
Updated due to some of the comments:
Yes, if this particular house matches the clients needs and this is the one they want, I have to proceed after explaining the ramifications of the disclosure. That is my duty also.
I am also talking about the agents/teams who have many listings with the same seller(bank) that all say the same thing. This is stated by other agents listing some of this seller's holdings. So it must be mandated by the seller. My point is that we as agents have to stand up for our profession and refuse to participate in the junk we see all around. The excuse that someone will do it, so why not is not valid. If it is wrong to do, it is wrong.
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