Home : Blogs : Lynchburg Campbell County Bedford County Nannette Saunders ASSOCIATE BROKER : Nannette Saunders' Lynchburg MLS Area Real Estate Blog

Agent Betrayed

Dear Mr. and Mrs Buyer:

When you initially contacted me to help you in the search of your home I thought through our initial contact and my continued follow up that we had developed a rapport of trust and mutual respect. You seemed to enjoy the benefits of my market expertise. We emailed and spoke on the phone at length.

I explained agency and you told me you were not working with another agent. I explained to you how I get paid and that I had your best interest in my heart.

I am a professional. I know that in business as in life, sometimes there can be communication breakdowns. I have become very familiar with people making mistakes, we all do.

When you made an offer on a property through another agent I felt betrayed. I'll repeat I am a professional, but I am also a human being. I understand how people can get caught up in the moment. It happens. But I can't help but wonder what I did wrong? Did I not do enough for you? What could I have done different?

I wish you the best of luck in your new home. I want you to know that if we meet again I will treat you with respect and not bring up the betrayal I feel now. I am after all a professional.

Posted by Lynchburg Campbell County Bedford County Nannette Saunders ASSOCIATE BROKER on 09/19/2008 06:42 AM

Comments (26)

Buyer Agency in the Home Buying Channel

agency, dual agency, buyer, buyer representation, buyers, campbell county homes for sale, lynchburg homes for sale, lynchburg realtor, campbell county

Originally posted at: Real Estate Central Va: Agent Betrayed

Post is included in group: Art of Professional Salesmanship
Post is included in group: Blogs Happen...
Post is included in group: Creative Real Estate
Post is included in group: Diary of a Realtor
Post is included in group: Lessons Learned

26 Comments on Agent Betrayed

SEP

2008

I hear you. One of my collegues got a call from a prospect saying you will be so happy for us our son found us a home with another agent. We are soooo happy for you especially after all the work we did to educate you. .It is part of the business. but it still causes pain

Nannette, if I were a betting person, I'd be willing to wager you did absolutely nothing wrong. Loyalty is not a valued commodity among many people today. They do not experience it much in their own lives and so they don't know how or don't care about passing it on to others. You are absolutely right, however, to continue to be the professional that you are in your future associations with them. I'm proud of you.

Nannette, I am very sorry you experienced this. It always whomps to put so much time and effort into your work to have people casually walk away and reward another for what you have done. Shame on them but kudos to you... C.

I feel so badly for you. I'm sure something like this has happened to all of us.

It is sad that, in spite of what many of us do individually and our professional organizations do on a local, regional and national level, we are viewed as a commodity - any of us interchangable with another with no difference.

Been there...ahhh, the pain people can cause. If someone doesn't care - there's no amount of educating you can do. Try not to let it weigh on you :)

We chose to be in a very difficult business with wall-to-wall challenges.

When all goes well we feel tremendous satisfaction. When something like you describe happens we wonder if it is all worth it.

My real estate mentor always advised me to not get attached to the outcome.

Great advice but hard to follow at times.

Keeping it positive, something good will probably happen in the next week to help you overcome this disappointment.

Nanette, Ouch! I know that had to hurt big time... Sorry to hear that this happened... I have had this happen where me and another inspector showed up at the same inspection at the same time. The buyer did not let me know that he hired the other guy after me because he was $25 cheaper. Kinda sucs doesn't it...

Nannette, We live in a short attention span society. It's all about me, loyalty is a thing of the past in many cases.

Well, I know buyers and some of the conversations described above were way premature for the average PROSPECTIVE home buyer.

"Let's take a tour of homes so I can see what you like" is one way to approach buyers. Meet them and if you get along, that's plenty of time to talk about agency.

It would appear that this buyer found an agent that would simply show them what they wanted, homes for sale.

Mike Thornton people don't real ize I don't do this because I love houses I do this because i love helping people.

Jim that is hard advise to follow part of the reason I am able to provide good service is because i really care about the outcome.

Laura you can't educate people to have heart.

Sandy Realtors are like livestock, that is sad

Charlie it is beitter sweet when a clinet findsa home via another agent you are happy for them but...

Diane i don't think loyalty is taught in the home anymore as much

C- thanks yes if is a bummer but no doubt I'm better for it no regrets

Richard I try to cultivate a SOI & educate them about loyalty.

Lenn thanks for stopping by. I think sometimes you can talk to folks and they say yes we understand, yes we only want to work with you, yes we like the homes you show us and then ... next thing ... they have bought a home from a FSBO. I think sometimes they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Or maybe they think... oh that agent probably has tons of clients etc.. who knows what goes on in folks head. But I know what they say is not necessarily the same as what goes on in their thoughts.

Nannette, it is not you. You did everything you could do. Maybe you should have gotten them to sign a Buyer Broker Agreement. As you found out Customer loyalty doesn't always work with today's buyers.

I feel your pain -- that happened to me early this year. I worked hard for these folks only to find they had put in an offer on a property with another office. Interestingly, I had reason to follow up with them about putting a new manufactured home on their newly acquired property. They ranted and raved about how terrible their experience was with that other office and that they will recommend me to others because of that experience -- they felt that I was responsive and communicative and professional while we were working together -- who knows, sometimes the one we loose could turn into many gained later when the customer sees the difference in service level. ~ Evelyn

Nannette, I'm sorry too hear another case like this. However, it is more common now and I agree with the last comment. You really need to get that Buyers Agency Agreement Signed or you leave yourself open to this. And I completely understand, I don't always get it signed either, it can be tough sometimes.

Good luck in the future!

Hi Nannette. Sorry about what happened.

In my 3 years, I have learned that getting "screwed" is part of the business. Doesn't make it easy.

Keep the smile,

Ken

Nannette, I know, they got infected with that dreaded 24-hour buyer fever. Seems the only cure is securing a contract on the house of their dreams. Be darn to anything, or one that gets in the way while they are suffering. The after effect is lose of memory of past Realtors.

That is exactly what I dislike about real estate. The dishonest people, I just don't think they realize how much time and effort you put into trying to find them a home. You just need to vent and move on! What comes around, goes around.

Nannette, A friend of mine from my office called me last Sunday while I was doing an open house. She was so mad because she was showing a house to her new client, when her current client walked in to see the same house with a different agent. My friend worked with them since May and wrote 5 contracts that did not get to settlement because of various issues, she was ticked.

This is tough it just happened to us last week and unfortunately it will most likely happen again.

Here is what happened with us. We have been working with a buyer for the past year. They had some financial hurdles that they needed to get through so that they could buy a home. We worked with them, turned them on to a lender that counseled them and so on.

They were close to being able to buy and in talking with them they shared that a Realtor had recently talked with them that had once worked with one of their parents in the past. They told us that she offered to help them and they shared that they told her that they were working with us and had been for the past year and that we had taken good care of them.

Yeah, we were finally ready to go out and start looking as they now were financially able. We had talked about going out to start looking that weekend. When we couldn't reach them we thought how odd, then they finally called us back and told us that they felt so bad but that they had signed a buyer broker agreement with another agent. We were puzzled. Yes, you guessed it, it was the agent that had called them earlier.

We're in tough times and we will see more and more agents doing whatever it takes to survive. It is sad, this agent has been in the business here in this area for a long time and generally does not work with first time home buyers let alone their price range.

Nannette- You win some, you lose some.......as has been said above, loyalty is NOT a common thread in our field. Not between Agents, Agent/Broker, or Clients/Agent.....or anyone else involved. You know that....but I guess it still doesn't prevent us from feeling the sting of watching our work, and subsequently our paycheck go down the drain.

By the way...love the graphic...... LOL :)

Hi Nanette. I am so sorry this happened. I could say it happens all the time but it does and you know it so I will say what I always choose to think and that is because of this something even better will come your way. Just wait and see. Just acknowledge, accept and move on to the next thing. Have a nice weekend.

SEP

2008

Michael I am not sure the buyers agency agreement is the tell all either. Either you are good decent people and will say what you do and do what you say or not. However, I do use an agency agreement 99% of the time.

Derek I don't think this is the last time it is going to happen either.

Ken Well life is about getting hurt and sometimes "screwed" (your words) but for the most part it all comes out to the good.

Mary I think you are right sometimes folks just get caught up in the moment!

Carol that is exactly how I look at it. What goes around comes around!

Audrey oh my goodness! I'd be a little ticked too!

Patty like it has been said that folks don't realize we have worked for them for a purpose this is not the United Way!

Kathy it is about doing something to help others first. Thankfully I get paid more often than not.

Paddy it does happen throughout this industry and thankfully it is not an everyday occurrence!

Evelyn sometimes it is a good idea to follow up and sometimes it is these kind of folks I'm glad I'm not dealing with anymore:-)

It happens - But lately, if had a lot better luck judging the character of my clients. If you feel like you can't trust them, then cut them loose.

Your blog laid out exactly how I felt 3 weeks ago when I received a 2:30 am e-mail from my "clients", advising me that they had purchased a FSBO the night before, and to cancel our morning appointments to look at homes.

Loyalty is a one-way street in this business...it's hard NOT to feel betrayed, especially after hours of work with a client. It has happened to all of us at one point or another, and it WILL happen again.

SEP

2008

Nannette: I'm sorry to hear that you went through this. You handle your self very professionally and deserve to have clients that are loyal. This kind of thing happens all to often. One recommendation that I have implemented in my business is not showing houses to people who aren't willing to come into the office and have a conversation about how the process works and explain to them that Buyer Agency is in their best interests.

If they don't want to do buyer agency i'll referr them to an office inside of our brokerage house and i'll continue to focus on getting listings that can sell.

Just my thoughts

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?