In the neighborhood where I primarily sell homes in Land Park, it's not uncommon to find agents putting up sign riders on their sign posts that announce to passersby that they are an area specialist. The problem is some of those agents have never before taken a listing in Land Park and have never sold a home in Land Park. I call that dishonest marketing.
If I were a seller or buyer, I would not want to work with an agent who is lying to me. A consumer might wonder what else the agent is lying about. Typically, there are three distinct lies an agent will tell.
For example, they might puff their production and try to make you believe they have sold a lot of homes, when maybe they sell 3 homes a year. That breaks down to one home every four months, which is pretty lousy. So, how can you tell if the agent is telling you the truth or lying to you? Don't rely on an agent's pretty web site because many of those web sites are misleading, filled with bells and whistles and a complete fabrication of facts. Every agent can't be number one in real estate, for instance.
Agents call it marketing. I call it misrepresentation and lying.
You can look up information about your agent online.
Information about an agent's real estate license is readily available online in most states, and you can obtain this data from your state's licensing division. For example, in California, real estate agents are licensed by The Department of Real Estate. On the home page of that web site is a button for "real estate license lookup." If you enter the last name of the agent, records of all the agents with that last name and respective cities will appear. If you can't find the agent you are looking for, perhaps that agent has made up an alias or maybe that agent isn't licensed at all.
The DRE's web site will tell you when the agent was first licensed, so you can determine how long the agent has been in the business. (You can also look at the agent's real estate license number to figure out whether the agent is newer. Licenses that begin with a series of zeros means the agent has been in the business for at least 20 years or more.) The site will also tell if you the agent has completed the necessary educational requirements and whether any disciplinary action has been filed against the agent, including whether the license has expired. It's very revealing.
What else could your agent be lying to you about? Read more about the Top Three Lies Told By Real Estate Agents.
Photo: Big Stock Photo
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Certified HAFA Specialist
Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available with free shipping.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan. 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 Lyon Real Estate. 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.
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10 Comments on Is Your Real Estate Agent a Liar? How to Avoid Working With Dishonest Agents
I hear you! An expert in the area would need to define the word area. Bill Clinton said something like - it depends on what the definition of "is" is once. It's up to the client to pin down these broad statements and get to the truth.
You're right.... it's shame too, because while some agents may not have experience in their local area, they may have some other quality about themselves that would make them a "better agent" - so they should market that aspect instead of lying about it...
I hear you! An expert in the area would need to define the word area. Bill Clinton said something like - it depends on what the definition of "is" is once. It's up to the client to pin down these broad statements and get to the truth.
Elizabeth, if we don't have integrity, we are off on the wrong foot with the relationship. My biggest gripe in the mistruth dept. is lying with statistics like number of days sold when they reset the clock, or percentage sold price to asking price, when the asking price has been lowered three times and they just use the last one. You probably see stuff like this in your area all the time too.
Unfortunatley, a lot agents lie. They lie about experience, abilities, performance or the lack of it, designations and more. I've even had agents steal my testimonials!
Hi Justin & Keisler: I agree. There are a lot of ways to market yourself apart from lying. For some agents, though, it seems the easiest path, which is just wrong.
Hi Vertical Lending: You have me laughing over that one.
Hi Gary: Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. Agents without integrity are typically those who lie about themselves. But insecure agents do it, too, and those are generally willing to trade integrity for perception.
Hi Jim: I can't believe that! Well, I do, but still. Agents swiped your testimonials? I do see a lot of agent web sites that puff, misrepresent and twist the truth, and agents don't blink an eye when they do it.
That's what inspired me to write my article, the Top Three Lies Told by Real Estate Agents last month, because consumers deserve to know the truth and the fakes ought to be exposed.
Agents should take a look at their web sites and ask themselves: Am I honestly presenting a true picture about my experience, specialty and production? Did I write the articles I have claimed to author on my site? Am I marketing another agent's listings as my own? Am I mispresenting msyelf in some manner? And then fix it.
Well put Elizabeth! It makes me cringe when I see the tales told by some other agents... I myself hate drawing attention to the fact I have only been in the biz a few years - but I don't try to hide it or lie about it either.
Hi Erin: I know you know what I mean. You are an above-board and honest agent. You bring so much more to the table that it doesn't matter if you haven't been in the business forever. Because you are doing more deals than some agents have done in the past five years. I tell everybody that Erin is a kick-ass agent.
Awww thanks!...and thanks again for the nice email yesterday! BTW I was in your office yesterday meeting with some clients who work downtown...you were probably still on tour?
I'm almost never in the office, Erin. I email my stuff. But I was there yesterday morning for our weekly meeting and again at 6 PM to meet clients. When were you there? Sorry I missed you. Wait, were you in the middle conference room? I did see a couple sitting in there with a contract in front of them but there was no agent in the room.
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