Do any Realtors have ethics?

My question was more on bragging rights. If a realtor advertises as having done $10 in sales in a year, how can you determine how much of that was listings and how much of it was an actual taken through closing sales?

Ken Scharabok

Well, I don't know that it actually matters whether they were the listing or selling agent (or in some cases, both). This is where people misunderstand. Both agents are in fact "selling" agents, regardless of whom they're representing in the transaction (neither gets paid until the property sells), so both can rightfully claim they "sold" the property.

Now, there may be people who specialize in "difficult" properties or "difficult" buyers, I don't know.

How do you know a property is for sale? Usually by driving around looking for signs, if you're already familiar with the area. If not, it's the MLS or the web that initially gets you to a property. The agents are in the game pretty late now, imho.

People, please! :no: Are you also still sleeping with a nightlight because of the "boogy man" in the closet?? For what it's worth, the "blood stains", (dark brown, sticky, ashy, pastey looking?) are most likely the residual oils from burnt incense. That's certainly what it looks like on my burner. Now, if I were to engage in this same ridiculous jumping to conclusions, I'd admonish you to hide your young children from the priest...now, doesn't that just sound stupid?

That said, yes, I've had the same experience with realators. Of the 6 we've had to deal with, we found one who was honest and ethical. The worst of the bunch was the one who, although she worked for a major co, would only show us properties that she owned, when the one we ended up buying (and just happened to fit our needs to a "t") was sitting on the market.

When I found our current property on my own via the internet, I decided to go to another realator to get additional info and to see the property. Since our current realator was doing nothing to help us, I was not about to pay her for doing nothing. Luckily, that new realator was the good one. He was honest about the property, and rather than hiding flaws, he would point them out and mention possible remedies. I was waiting to hear about the "one we really want" from him, but it never came. We had an inspection done, and found nothing that we weren't already aware of.

Now, once realator #1 (selling her own) found out we bought the farm (lol!! no pun intended!) she was livid! She cornered my DH at a Chamber of Commerce mixer and "attempted" give him the 3rd degree about not buying through her. He just calmly told her that after working with her and only seeing her properties, we decided to see what was really out there. When we found our farm, (that had been on the market already when we started working with her) we didn't feel that we were obligated to work with her, since she had every opportunity to show this to us in the first place. End of story. Needless to say, they are not exactly chummy at the mixers, but then, with friends like that, who would need enemies??

April
Your friendly neighborhood, underground dwelling, blood sacrificing Pagan

Just an observation: If you are looking for acreage, look for a realty company which also specializes in auctions. I think the head of the local firm knows every farmer in the county. When I came into the area to look, they took me by a couple of properties which weren't listed, but they had a pretty good idea the owner might be subject to an offer.

When I look at this place it wasn't as large of acreage as what I wanted. However, they knew the adjoining farm had been listed previously. They called the last listing realty (who was the seller's exclusive agent in the area) who then confirmed they were still interested in selling. I ended up purchasing the two farms with a joint closing.

To get a listing of the realty agencies in an area just send a postcard to the Chamber of Commerce in the county seat of the particular county. They will get it. Ask for a listing of local agencies. Then select out a couple and send a letter giving in as precise of detail as possible what you are looking for in a property. When they contact you back it should give you a fairly good idea of whether or not you want to use them. For example, if you specify as least five acres of existing pasture or crop land, and they send you listings with suburban lots, you might cross them off your list.

For example, the realty I ended up using locally sent me a fairly thick packet of information on the county with an offer to make whatever lodging arrangements I might need to look at properties of interest. Rest just put some MLS listings in an envelope.

Ken S. in WC TN

We have been looking for a place since last August. Since we are looking more at an area than a specific city, I have to deal with several different realtors, as no one realtor covers the 50 mile radius. We are now living 4 hours away from where we want to move. I have 2 realtors that will go out and preview a place for us before we drive up to look at it. They know what we are looking for, and by previewing, it saves us a wasted trip. The others will all send me multiple photos, and get all the relevent info from the listing agent.

If you are not happy with that agent, please call another one. Although the top sellers have a proven sales record, sometimes the younger newer ones are more hungry, and will work harder for you.

If I had seen that listing, I would have thought that price was way to good to be true. If you look at the realtor sites out there, you will get an idea of what property is going for in that area, and about what you can expect to get for the money you can afford to spend.

My dh was military for 28 years, so we have moved many times. I have seen 3 or 4 houses that were listed by United Country, and every time I thought they were way over priced, compared to the other realtors listings. Also, when I have had a realtor I was very happy with, UC would not let him show their property--they want to show and sell their own, at least in the area I was looking.

I think the first tip-off for me was a 9 bedroom house on 5 acres for $130,000. I think that's suspicious regardless what area of the country it's in.

Then again, I thought the place we just bought (2 bedroom, 1 bathroom on 2.42 acres for $70,000) was going to be a dump when we went to look at it. It was move-in ready and only needs surface work.

As far as real estate agents, we found ours (actually a broker) to be very honest. He got us an offer on our house that was higher than we asked, since we would be expected to pay for the buyer's closing costs.

Having never sold a house before, I never thought about getting more than we asked, would mean paying the agent a higher fee since it was based on a percentage.

We accepted the offer.

Before I could talk to him, he told us that the title company had written the paperwork to show his higher fee, but he had them change it so that he would only take a percentage of the original price we asked.

If you need a agent in North Central Idaho, please contact All-Around Realty and ask for Jim Moody.

By the way, I'm new here, so I hope the above is "kosher". If it helps, I don't get a thing for recommending him! I think great and honest service should be passed along.

Yes, a property can sell for more than its listing cost. Usually what happens is the buyer adds something to the deal. For example, you have a nice above-ground pool or perhaps a greenhouse, which can be disassembled and moved, you plan to do so and it isn't included in the listing. However, the buyer wants it also so ups the offer. Perhaps appliances or a hot tub aren't included in the listing and the buyer wants them.

In a hot market, either an underpriced property or desperate buyers can bid up the final selling price. An example here is someone offers you 95% of asking price. While considering it, another buyer offers 98%. While considering both another buyer, knowing you already are sitting on two good offers, offers 105%.

Sometimes it is difficult for a buyer to obtain the monies (or separate financing) to bring a property up to speed. For example, it may need another layer of shingles. They can up the offer with the provision the seller have the work done. Here basically they are financing the roof along with the mortgage. (And if you do something like this be sure to cover the extra commission you will have to pay - such as 110% of your cost.)

When I purchased one property the seller agreed to do a list of things to it. However, knowing the individual I didn't have a lot of confidence they would be done prior to closing. My attorney therefore drew up a separate personal services contract for the extra work. When the guy delayed, she threatened to take him to court on a breech of contract and he completed it.

Ken S. in WC TN

Other than the word "nice", there was nothing in the description of the property except a few facts on the number of bedrooms, size of property etc.

Realtors have a fiduciary responsibility to the person that has signed an agreement with them-------usually the seller. As such, they rarely would give negatives in an ad for a property. That is why, you, the buyer, must hire your own realtor to represent your interests and preview properties for you and thus make 13 hour drives. If you don't want to hire someone to represent you, then you have to know that you are going to view a lot of properties that are "dogs" before you find one you like and it isn't the fault of the Realtor.

You never want to add personal property (any stuff that can be easily moved--like the doughboy-type pool, the greenhouse might actually count as a fixture, depending on how nice it is) like furniture to a mortgage if you can help it.

Usually your state is very clear on what constitutes a "fixture" that must stay with the property when sold, if it is shown at the time it is offered for sale. You can harvest crops, but not pull out all your rhodies and azaleas for example. Window treatments (like blinds) and light fixtures stay, and so forth. If the doughboy was set in one of those deck-like things, it may have to stay, whether you put it in the listing or not.

Bottom line is that if you are going to take it with you, get it out of the house now if at all possible before you put the property up for sale. People are always having trouble with the chandelier that they tagged as leaving, but someone just pulls the tag off it when the seller's back is turned. Leaving things like pools and hot tubs also means that you as seller are responsible for them working for a certain amount of time after the sale--you don't want someone coming back and suing to rescind the deal when they don't. They may or may not be something you can cover under one of those home warranties.

Somehow I doubt that any out of area real estate agent is going to be making 13-hour drives to preview property unless you're paying him/her $$$ per hour above commission. What you find too as part of the problem is that a lot of agents don't have a clue about the internet, and won't invest the money to say, video-tour a property and post it on their website, which would have saved you a trip. That's if they have internet access....

Both sides of the agent equation are selling the property, if the person you're dealing with is honest it really doesn't matter whom they represent in the deal. They are not in control, YOU are. If you don't like what you're hearing, walk away from the deal. It's that simple. There will be other properties for sale next week.

Just to round off this discussion we decided to just leave it alone. Causing grief usually ends up giving everyone a headache. I doubt that her boss would recoup our loses and it may be that like someone here said shes got jaded over time. I know from personal experience that when putting stuff on swap shop for sale only 1 out of the 20 callers will show up. It may be somewhat like that for realtors.

Ken in TN that place is not like yours. It's actually very swampy up in that area More bugs than you can shake a stick at. The light fixtures were full of little green bugs. Several locales said NEVER leave your door open at night and double screen any window that you might want to open.

There is one decent property that we know of in that area but I'll put that in another thread later.

Thanks for listening to my rant .

Oh yes APRIL, my wife said it ain't the boogy man she was afraid of it's the crazy man that thinks he's pagan but hasn't a clue what pagan is! FYI my wife said she has seen a lot of blood stains from killing chickens on the stump, and yep she's 100% sure it was "blood" stains.

Re: troubles with RE agents/brokers

I obtained my real estate licence over a decade ago, and after seeing first-hand what most agents/realtors were like, I "burned" the licence rather than work alongside these people.
* BTW, my father was a realtor, with a large office of his own at the time! My family was IN realty, so I can speak.
Of course, they aren't ALL, bad, but I've been looking for land for over 2 years (online), and I haven't found a realtor (down south) yet who is worth wasting time on.
Unless you're looking at very expensive properties, most will treat you like trash, and you're lucky if one out of 20 of your email inquiries is even replied to.
That's the GOOD news.............................................. .....

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"In defense of realtors, there are a lot of 'professional lookers' out there. It is a sort of hobby to them. Sometimes it is difficult for a realtor to determine who is just a looker and who is a potential buyer. I have been told it is one of the reason agents try to get you to do a drive-by first before an appointment is made to look at the property."

What kind of EXCUSE is that supposed to be?
The agents are not mind readers, and they should treat all inquires with respect, unless the prospective buyer PROVES otherwise. This is especially true when the prospective buyer is out of state and needs more info before driving hundreds of miles to see the property.
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"In this case the agent should have known you were very interested in this particular property. Since a digital camera is pretty well standard equipment in a realty office you might have asked for additional photographs. For example, one of that 'inside garden room', each of the bedrooms, the kitchen, the baths and outbuildings. If it said 'usable barn' ask for a shot from all four sides. I know listing forms vary, but the ones I have seen give the size of each room. A good realtor should be more than willing to go the extra step to provide the information you want in advance. If they don't it should give you a clue either they or the property isn't worth dealing with."


Yes they should - but most won't. And, most can't be bothered to take photos that show the property well.
In fact, it's now common to find that up to 75% or more, of online listings (especially for land) have NO images included.
In most cases, asking for photos is a total waste of time. In over 2 years of asking, we have not had a SINGLE agent provide photos as needed. In fact, of all our many requests, only one (1) extra photo has ever been provided, and it was useless. That's including initial photos, and/or extra photos.
In many areas, agents don't even seem to know what a digital camera is, much less how to use it. Or do they simply NOT care?
* That's not even getting into the equivilent problem of getting better written info, plats, descriptions, location info, etc.

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"There may be hundreds of listing which generally fit the description of what you are looking for. A realty agent can't be expected to be familiar with them all. However, when one catches your eye, then they should be willing to come to up speed on it."

Yes they "should", but in over 2 years of feverish online searching, we have rarely had ANY agent answer our questions in a meaningful way. Most of what we get is canned Y2K hype and BS that even a 10 year old could see through.

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"I beg to differ, Unregistered. It is not the realtors' job to go to a house/property prior to an appointment and make sure it "looks" good. That is the Seller's responsibility. The Realtor has been contracted by the Sellers to bring qualified buyers to see the property and advertise the property, make sure the sellers are, indeed, the legal owners, and that the required sellers documentation is available to potential buyers period. He/She may make suggestons to the sellers as to how to make the property look better, but only suggestions."

Maybe partially true, but a GOOD agent should do far more, differ or not. For example, if the agent KNOWS that the roof is missing he or she should TELL that to the propsective client UP FRONT. We just wasted days on such a situation, where not until we were ready to drive 640 miles, did we learn (only) through talking to the OWNER, that the house in the photo was NOT the house as it is today. The photo was taken many years ago, and the house has had NO USEABLE ROOF for many years. That's not to mention the other obvious damage which goes along with such a property. The agent had NO BUSINESS publishing (online) a photo which did not even RESEMBLE the house that was for sale. In fact, upon finally talking to the owner, we found out that the agents ad glossed over at least 3 other GLARING, MAJOR problems that existed. This was not "a fixer-upper"! It was a carcass that was once a house - now fit to be bulldozed! It was simply all a fat package of lies, designed to lure a likely victim.
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"Have to add my thoughts to this:
I've dealt with many realtors in my land search and out of maybe twenty of them, I can name two, both independent, both sellers agents exclusively, I would recommend...with the usual caveats of course. The others have demonstrated such abysmal ethics, efficiency, professionalism, etc. that it is truly amazing that they manage to sell anything to anyone."

YES!! YES!!! YES!
This is the true picture of what we (too) have been up against for over two years !!!
** Thousands of hours of time wasted on emails that get no reply.
** Thousands of hours wasted inquiring about properties that sold months - if not YEARS- ago, but are STILL listed as FOR SALE in multiple listings, and other online venues.
It's the old "bait and switch" tactics. These agents must have been trained by used car sales people.
Every day we go through the MLS ads and see properties that we KNOW have been long sold. Asking the agents to REMOVE these outdated ads has NEVER resulted in the removal of a single ad yet.
They KNOW what they're doing - otherwise, why would they refuse to remove ads of SOLD properties, or at LEAST mark then as SOLD.

We have been sitting here with cash in hand for years, and still cannot get enough info from ANY agent or realtor, to justify a trip to the state in question. All seem to have the pompous attitude that "there will be another sucker along any second, so treat this one like dirt".
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"Unregistered" said it all.

This is the general state of online RE sales today (as we see it) after thousands of wasted hours.
Of course, agents and realtors will disagree and bluster on about "a few bad apples", "customers that can't be pleased", and that sort of stuff, but anyone who has had to deal with the pathetic state of the online RE industry today knows that the above criticism is true, on the whole.
It needed to be said, so there it is. The truth is not always pretty.

I don't care what business you are in, you have to travel on your reputation. Sounds like this agent will be making a short trip. I agree with what has been stated about locating the right person to represent your interests. I also understand it is hard to do when you are not in the area. But it might be worthwhile to spend some time in the area where you want to locate and get acquainted with some folks and interview some potential agents. Your home is undoubtedly your largest investment so some extra time taken now may be well worth the extra effort.

I don't have a lot af experience with agents but we have bought and sold 2 pieces of property and are looking for another. My one MAJOR pet peeve is when you drive an hour or more to look at a piece of land and cannot find it because there isnt a sign posted. This has happened more times than you can imagine. Sure we had the road name(#) but when its 5 miles long and the property has no address and there is no sign...Aaarrrrg!
When we were selling we made sure the property was well marked with a sign that described the property in detail.

Full Circle.

We start again Monday looking for a realtor to work with on selling our place.

Since this post started we've met 1 realtor that really tried his best Jeff Hibbs in Texas. (United Country Realtor)

So maybe if we are more demanding on the front end we can get better results.


Kenneth

I have worked with three seperate realtors and I wasn't happy with any of them. I spent a lot of time looking and talking to realtors and each time I really thought I had found one that I thought was going to be good to work with. Each time they talked a good game, but once they got the contract it went down hill from there.

If it wasn't for the MLS being open to realtors only etc... there wouldn't even be a need for them.

ajoys If I'm not mistaken you can purchase a copy of any states MLS books with out being a realtor.

United Country will send you free flyers from any state they have offices in for free. From there you can google search that area and find other realtors that'll send info.

Reread this thread and you can find some ways others have "worked" out a system with realtors. As my DW says only 1 out of 100 are OK the other 99 need a good whippin' :yeeha:

Anyone can see the listings, but only brokers/realtors can list homes on it. If you had an MLS type list where anyone could list real estate for sale and it caught on and the majority of people used it, realtors would be out of business. I also think people get nervous thinking it is this big complicated ordeal when it really isn't.

If someone came out with an MLS type list, which was free to list on and provided a service to process the paper work at a very low fee, it just might work. Of course there are probably laws that would somehow forbid this.

As it is, it is getting cheaper and cheaper to list a home. There are companies now that will list your house on the MLS for a very low set fee, 500 bucks or so, but they of course do nothing else. Even then you have to pay the selling brokers fee or else they won't show it.

When I bought this house, I did all the foot work. I searched the MLS, drove by all the listings, then the ones I wanted to see I would have my realtor unlock the door so I could get in. Then she shuffled some paper work and made a huge chunk of change. I did all the foot work because it was just easier and quicker for me to do it.

It's bad business dealing with a dual-agent. How can they have a truthful, honest relationship with BOTH the seller and the buyer? How can they look out for the best interest for BOTH the seller and buyer? It's just not going to happen.

On the other hand, it is the SELLER'S responsibility to disclose any negatives the house might have. It's illegal for the agent to disclose any information about race, religion, creed, or anything about HIV/AIDS. If the buyer asks, they can disclose what they know to be true. This would mean that had you asked, he would have had to told you about the altar. Otherwise, he can't openly admit it.

I'd still be ****ed if I went all that way to look at a house like that. If you're spending that much time talking about the house, the realtor should assume that you're seriously interested in the house. I'd write or call the realtor, complain, and then consider a complaint against the state realtors association. Still, your best bet is to find an agent that you're comfortable with, and shop through them.

Anyone worked with a realtor in SE Missouri they liked?

__________________
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