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My agent is a jerk, but he is a great negotiator…What?

This is a conversation that I had with someone I met a couple weeks ago. They actually told me, "My agent is a jerk, but he is a great negotiator." Now, this was amazing to me to hear and I had to ask more about this.

This person said, "Yeah, this person is my agent for life. He is a real JERK, but the money he made us on the sale because of his negotiation skills made me nearly $5,000 more than I would have if I had gone with anyone else. I've even had other agents tell me they don't like him and won't do business with him, and to me that tells me it is because he gets his clients the best deals."

I had to ask him to explain how this agent made him an extra $5,000 in negotiations, which, don't get me wrong, it certainly can be done, but I find you get more by being nice than beating the other agents with a stick!

He said, "He was amazing. We had the home on the market 3 days when we got our first offers and he told me that was because of his advertising, but despite them all being close to full price, he said, "Let's turn these offers down and go for a full price offer" which we, of course did, knowing he could negotiate it for us."

"Now, the home was on the market another six months, but we got an offer about $5,000 under full price and he countered at full price and they took it." I said, "Great, that must have felt real good for you?" He said, "You bet it did, it was a little stressful going another 6 months without an offer, but he assured us he could get us a sold sign at full price, which he did. We know he is our agent, even though he is hard to get along with and it is either his way or the highway with him."

Now, I just left this alone at this point. But I keep going over the conversation in my mind and coming back to the fact that it took another six months to get a full price offer that netted the seller an additional $5,000. During this time, he was paying a mortgage of approximately $2,300 a month, as I figure it, and nearly $2,000 a month of that is interest. So to net an additional $5,000 they paid $13,800 in payments because they have a great negotiator that is hated by most other agents and told them to turn an almost full price offer down to get more.

What would you have done if you were the one facing this person with such a great agent?

Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739

Posted by Todd Clark (Broker) (503)524-9494 (Beaverton, Oregon Real Estate Expert) on 12/17/2008 10:46 PM

Comments (27)

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27 Comments on My agent is a jerk, but he is a great negotiator…What?

DEC

TC,

I've heard this type of sentiment repeated many times at closings...Amazing, isn't it...!!! Thanks, Fran

Todd, I would of told him exactly what you said in your last paragraph! Good Grief! They really need to look at that great negotiation!

The seller needs to wake-up and smell the escrows, man. If they want to live in denial land, hey, it's probably a nice place to be right about now.

Todd - IMHO I would hold my head high, act as a professional real estate agent, and move on. You are never going to change their opinion. And, there's no need to try.

If you are asking if you should point out to this person the folly of his logic, my answer would be no.

I would have listened, and not offered any comment. We believe that you want to work with people who know and appreciate you, and your expertise. That is not going to be the person you met in your story above.

Go forth and cultivate those who are going to rave about you being their "agent for life"!

Todd simply walk away and shake your head. This person was convinced about his thoughts of his agent. To try to convince him of otherwise would be bringing yourself down a level. Also most people are A)not going to understand the math because they don't want to be proven wrong. B) they don't want to be shown by someone else that they are wrong and stand there and basically let you humilate them in your eyes.

The seller's never knew what hit them, not even after the 6 months. I would say that this agent eat's his "promises" alot in this market, he just got lucky this time with getting a full-price sale.

Wow! Interesting story. Perhaps the people admire this realtor for his "pit bull" demeanor, because they are more passive?? Unless their home were paid in full, they definitely lost out on the deal. I agree with Fran and Rowena's comment above. You will have your own following of satisfied clients and for better reasons!! :)

I would have explained to them exactly how they actually lost money and handed them my business card.

I wouldn't have been able to help myself. I would have to share the math with them.

Usually it's the other way around. The client wanting to hold off for months for a full price offer. What a switch. And a really bad move on both parts.

Hard to believe, I agree with Keisha and Jason.

I would hope that someone wouldnt mislead people like this. But I guess it does happen.

Good grief is a good statement.... sometimes you never know what people are thinking.

DEC

Todd,

It's a tough spot. I wonder how common this kind of activity is. Anyway, perhaps the seller should be shown how the numbers work.

Wow, so this is how rotten agents stay in business- he probably recommends the guy like crazy! That's one reason to straighten out the seller, at least he won't be recommending a bad agent to other people.

I believe people shouldn't be rewarded for bad behavior, unfortunately, the world doesn't always work that way!

I think pointing out what they lost as a result of waiting six months would have been an easy answer.

Crazy, isn't it? You would think they would be able to do the math, but folks don't always think of the debt service. I would have done my best to keep my mouth shut and just say congratulations... but how successful that would have been is in question. I might have pointed out the math and let them draw their own conclusions...

I would have been holding my breath, counting to ten and saying "Annette, keep your mouth shut." Was the customer a jerk too, maybe?

Don't you wish you had met up with this seller around month 3??

At that time, your point about making those house payments each month after turning down good offers would probably have hit him like a ton of bricks.

You could have made the appropriate sympathetic noises and the seller would have seen his agent for what he is: an arrogant jerk, screwing around with peoples' lives and money.

Lets see now, on the market 3 days and had multiple offers, reject them and not even counter. HMMM then tak a net loss of $8,000 6 months later just to get a full price offer? No comment.

Todd- Great story & a great point to bring up with your buyers & sellers. Some people just see what they are walking away with & not the costs in between.

LOL I wouldnt use someone I dont like regardless of how good they were. I had an attorney that was good but a real butt. FIRED!

Todd... I would have done what you did... I would never badmouth another agent, it makes you appear small and petty. I would simply have congratulated them, and allowed them to continue to work with a Jerk.

... a fool and his money...

In this situation I find it difficult to understand people who mislead. We're in a different time now. Ethics need to abound. You need agents who serve others....not themselves.

Todd - wonder who the sellers didn't think to questions why the agent's "great" marketing didn't bring them any other offers until 6 months later. Now of these days - this type of thing will come back and bite the agent. Rita

Todd send them a break down of the numbers. It would be hard not to.

Hi Todd... I would have done the math with them and explained how perhaps an agent who was not a jerk would have saved him more money than the jerk agent made him. The numbers speak for themselves!

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