In all my years of being a licensed Real Estate Agent and Broker, I have never had more stressful transactions than those with "Bully" agents. These agents know it all! Recently, an agent talked my seller into not accepting his buyers' offer.
This is how that happened:
I had a listing priced at $429,900. I received a blind offer from a buyer's agent (let's call him Tom) at $410K, saying that this is the highest the buyer can go. The home was priced lower than the comps at the request of the seller who wanted a quick sale. My seller declined the offer. The next day, Tom sends me an offer for $420,000 but said that it would be a hardship because, at this price, his buyers would have to come up with 25% down which would mess up their ratios (how can they buy?). My seller turned it down. Tom calls me to explain price per square foot to my tiny blonde mind and how the listing is probably smaller than I've listed. Having used the numbers the seller had provided, the listing from the builder from when seller purchased the home and the tax record, I had listed it with those numbers; however, I called my seller and asked him to find his appraisal from when he purchased it. While it was buried in moving boxes, he dug it out. As a matter of fact, it was 100 sf larger than we had it listed at! I told Tom and I made the change in Realtracs.
A day later, Tom sends me another offer for $427,900 at 80% LTV. (Wait...your buyer had to put down 25% of $420K). So now my seller is convinced that this guy is a liar and a bully and he said that he would never work with Tom's buyers because his gut tells him that they would walk using the inspection contingency (what he said). The same day, we received another offer for $425,000 from another agent. Guess which one my seller chose. No...guess! I can't wait!
He chose the offer for $425K. Because of Tom, the new agent/buyers didn't even have to negotiate. He would rather take almost 3K less for his house than work with Tom's clients. What is truly unfortunate is that his buyers had no idea that his/her agent was more concerned with manipulating the seller and me and looking like "the boss" than representing his clients.
On other occasions, I co-oped with a few agents who used bully tactics/intimidation and were, simply, unfriendly for the sole purpose of looking like they were pros. One, in particular, comes to mind (and I never forgot who it was). When I was a new agent (20 years ago), a buyer's agent sat with my sellers at closing and screamed at me (I met a buyer at the house, they didn't show up, I went in to use the landline but neighbors reported that I had gone into their home). It's easier than you think to be kind AND show that you know your business. We all need to try it ALL of the time.
Have you ever worked with a Bully? What happened?
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