Buyer Beware About Active Listings You Find That Are Actually Sold

Buyer Beware About Active Listings You Find That Are Actually Sold

I'm probably not going to make friends with some agents who practice this and I'm really not too concerned about that.  I know the agents I deal with personally and those I call my friends here in ActiveRain do not stoop to this level, but it happens and I'm tired of it as all of you should be.

I have clients that found a house on the Internet they wanted to see so I went about setting up the appointment, first calling the owner.  The owner was quite surprised saying that they had accepted an offer early the previous week and that a home inspection was being done that day.  I thanked him then double checked the MLS and sure enough it was still listed as active.  When I called the listing agent she said that all the paper work hadn't been completed and that's why the status wasn't changed...I didn't argue!!  I found out a couple of days later another agent in the office called on this very same listing on behalf of his clients as it fit their needs and again the seller was quite surprised and sounding a little annoyed explaining that she was under contract and that a home inspection had already been completed.  When that agent called the listing agent asking about the homes status he was met with a rather rude; whats the matter with all you people?  The house is sold!!  Well the problem is that you haven't changed the status from active to contingent!  The listing agents response was "oh, I thought I took care of it".

I usually cut people slack, but we all know what was going on here...the agent was hoping for additional calls from buyers so she could direct them to listings of hers that actually were active. I know that states vary regarding time to change property status in the MLS when listing or going under contract and in my state that time is 48 hours, but this has been almost two full weeks now still active but under contract.

As I said, I like to cut people slack, but not when it comes to how we are to perform as a Realtor or in the representation of our clients.  As Realtors we are supposed to be on a level playing field abiding by the rules and when you don't or when you seek to take unfair advantage of other agents and your own clients then I'm going to report you to your board...plain and simple.  If you don't like it...oh well too bad...you're probably one of the agents I try not to deal with anyway.

I will make this concession that because of a brisk market it's quite possible that a home a buyer calls about may well be sold and the agent is being truthful...the vast majority of agents are honest, hard working  and do their very best to serve clients, but there always will be those who cheat.  

I'd really like some input from anyone who has an opinion about this.

I was not going to make this a public post, but decided that buyers deserve better than an agent who would deceive them from the start to get their business.

If you need a knowledgeable real estate professional in Madison Alabama or Huntsville Alabama area, why don't you let me Google that for you! I also know outstanding agents in all states and Canada should you need help relocating to a new area.