A Bad Case of the “I Want…, I Thought…”

Buyers do it, Sellers do it, I've heard Mortgage Loan Officers and even Real Estate Agents do it. Do What?

Start talking about a transaction or a situation and start interjecting "I want..., I thought..., you should..." while failing to refer to the contract, their state law book, The Code of Ethics, The Sherman Anti-Trust Act, their MLS rules, etc. It's amazing how many people truly believe that if they think it is true, then it is true. If they think something is wrong then anyone who disagrees with them is wrong.

Last week we had a buyer that lost a house because they were extremely slow in getting documents to their mortgage company. Their contract expired without final loan approval. There was a back up offer in place. The seller chose to not extend the first contract. The buyers were furious - and it had to be someone else's fault.  We "should not" have even presented a back up offer. They checked with the state real estate commission and were told that it was illegal to write backup offers!  (Didn't happen) "They thought" they would have as much time as they needed. No one told them there was an end date on the contract (Except when the contract was written and half a dozen other times when they were dragging their feet).

My agents will come in and tell me what the buyer or seller is demanding and they know my first question is "What does the contract say?" It's extremely rare that whatever is in question has not already been agreed upon, in writing.

Then there are the real estate agents that think if another real estate agent is doing business a different way or if another agent doesn't like the way they are doing business then the other agent must be wrong. "You should" do business their way, or "they want" you to agree with them. I've seen it in posts right here on Active Rain. I've seen DOJ and Ethics brought up in more than one post because brokers do not want to work for peanuts and the listings agents offering peanuts for compensation don't like it. It is a very emotional issue for some and a simple business issue for others.

It would be really good if professionals acted like professions and read the Code of Ethics or The Sherman Act before claiming someone else is violating either just because they disagree with the way they chose to conduct their business.