Please tell your mother to stop calling me.

Interesting way to get your work done - "subcontract" it to another agent, without a fee! Maybe we should learn not to dispense information for free, until we have a Buyer Agency agreement.

I have just received 3 referrals similar to this.

One new referral told me how she was a 1st time home buyer, wanted to get pre-qualified and then go home shopping.

To find out..

They had over 3 agents working for them and they didn't believe anyone.

So...she called me back to get additional information.

I explained to her on the phone that it sounded like they were previously committed to multiple agents and I would

hate to be in the middle of the other agents professional guidance. 

Wished them good luck and cancelled the referral.

One referral told me to search for X house, Y location, only email him because he is busy.

Oh and by the way...he hasn't decided who he would work with

* his past agent

* his cousin

* or me the latest realtor

I also suggested that he go with one of his previous realtors and wished them all the best.

good for her for doing that.  we get paid for our work.  Some people don't get that.

It's so hard to built trust relationship with your buyers - they won't commit, they think that another agent has a secret listing that you don't have so they keep a couple of agents on the line "working" for them.  Hard to police them - so you have to try to "Wow" them with your brillance and knowledge so they think it would be silly to use someone else.

Explaining why we don't get paid until closing and how signing that Buyer's Exclusive Contract is a small  show of thier loyalty to you so you can be loyal to them and find them the perfect house....easier said than done.

May the Universe help us all dealing with "fickle" buyers!

I think what bothers me most is the almost-sly way the public approach this. 

Do you know what I am talking about?  It's the "I don't really care what you think, but I care enough to not make myself look a horrible user of a person" -- even though I am acting that way. 

It would be easy to dismiss this behavior as "we don't educate the public".  But it is really borne of the fact that the desperate, undisciplined brokers bend like a Gumby and lower the bar for us all.

Not only was your article GREAT and on-point but Congratulations on being the "feature"!

Wanda - At least this way you don't wind up wasting as much time as you otherwise might have.

Wanda, It is shameful that there are still people out there that feel they are entitled to something for nothing. Ask them, however, how they would feel about working a 40-plus hour week without receiving due compensation and attitudes quickly change. This situation relates directly to the Golden Rule: Do Unto Others. Congrats on the feature!

Asking if they are working with another agent can prevent this although hard to get that into the first sentence.

LOL Never heard that before and clearly over stepping the boundaries. Shouldn't it be the buyer who makes that call and not anyone else?

I don't have any problem asking them how you plan to pay me for my time and knowledge? It often gets me what? I use Realtors all the time and they don't have me pay. My response is well I suggest you call one of them, I charge $120 an hour for consulting and I work by appointment just like a doctor or lawyer. Of course you can sign a contract with me to represent you and I will earn my fee and be paid when the transaction is finished.

Next I may hear that is ridiculous, and I say you may think so but my doctor doesn't, he charges $120 for 10 minutes and is only to happy to pay my fee and suggested I raise it.

That's hilarious . . . the helicopter mother in real estate and this is how it plays out:  She calls to get information, finds buyers agents and then passes all that on to her son so he can write the offer.  What a hoot!  Glad you got tipped off. 

it's always so interesting getting those types of phone call, thank you for sharing!

Hi Wanda, we agree.  We get the same thing from buyers.

I wonder if he even knows?   But you do need to put her in her place.

It's so hard to believe this stuff happens.  I just don't understand how people can behave this way.

I received a referral form a company that I have worked with..  I called the buyer and as I was asking questions the young man said he had see the house back in November..hmm...so I asked him if he was working with an agent already..he said oh ya I am, but he ask me to call his wife and talk to her so I did, than ask her about working with another agent and yes she was, so I told her it would be best to call them up to view the home...They sounded like a young couple..

Some understand it and are just plain rude, the others just need just a gentle coaching.