We're all Independent Contractors trying to scratch out a living in a down market.  It's competitive.  Fewer buyers and your listings are staying on the market for a much longer period of time.

We received a call from a potential buyer who had an interest in several of our listings he had seen on our website.  He was motivated and qualified.   GREAT!  He selected two of our listings he wanted to see, but had several others he was interested in.  We reviewed the MLS info with him and he narrowed down his selection to 6 homes.  We then asked, "Are you working with another Realtor?"  He said he had worked with another realtor but had not signed any agreement.  Upon further questioning he said he had purchased a lot and was going to build until he got the new construction prices and decided he may be better off with a re-sale.

More probing questions resulted more information.  Not only did we know and respect the agents he had been working with, they work in our office and we had sponsored them when they joined Keller Williams! So we asked, "Were you not happy with your agents?"  He responded that he had been very happy with them and they had done a great job.

As much as we could have used the buyers side commission, we felt that the right thing to do was to turn this buyer back over to the other agents.  We recommended that he work with the agents who had sold him the lot and helped him with finding a house plan and a builder.  We told him that if for any reason he was not satisfied we would be more than happy to help him.  We emailed him the information on the listings of interest, copied the other agent and then gave the agent a call to let him know what had happened.

We're not sure how it will turn out, but we're sure we made the right decision.  We earned the respect of the Buyer and the Agents and built a long term relationship.

What would you do?