Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
After selling my home in Cal a few years back, I realized what a racket the realtors have going. I wanted to sell the house myself, FSBO, but was told by so many people that I was going to have a hard time, including the lawyers I contacted. Not because it would have been difficult to sell (the houses were getting 20-40 bids in one weekend), but because almost all buyers use an agent, and the agents would blacklist my property, and not even make it known to the buyers. My brother sold his own home in Portland, Oregon, with a lawyer writing up the papers. Totally easy to do. No problems. I had to pay a ton for basically very little effort. It REALLY pisses me off, especially because I have trained for my own career since childhood, and still put in much hard work and effort ALWAYS to hone my skills, as a classical violinist. Very schooled, educated on many levels, and a hard worker. As well, the money invested (check out prices of the good instruments, like buying a house)....my brother a doctor, felt the same way. He works his butt off, and school was on going and tough. Realtors don't school, persay, but learn the basics, take a test, and they are off and running, if they are smart, making a heap of money. It is a scam in my opinion, and yes, I believe they are an unnecesssary greedy evil for the most part. Now if they would charge a fair percentage, I would change my mind. But they won't. They take advantage of people, like corporations. And people I have known that do real estate, and are sucessful at it financially, have a personality that glosses over moral values. LOL, I even hired a Christian real estate agent, hoping he would be honest. He had been around for a long time, family owned business, many generations. He sucked. Lazy and did the least he had to do. Very manipulative. Most of them were. They will lie, they will cheat, they will stretch the truth to make a sale...most of the ones I have met are not good people,IMO Even the most honest stretch the truth to suit themselves when they are selling your home. They just want the big fat check. It isn't like the profession makes the world a better place. Let's face facts.
Sorry to hear about your experience. Obviously, you don't feel you got your money's worth -- and you didn't!
However, I think that speaks more to the specific "agent" than it does the industry. Sorry again.
After selling my home in Cal a few years back, I realized what a racket the realtors have going. I wanted to sell the house myself, FSBO, but was told by so many people that I was going to have a hard time, including the lawyers I contacted. Not because it would have been difficult to sell (the houses were getting 20-40 bids in one weekend), but because almost all buyers use an agent, and the agents would blacklist my property, and not even make it known to the buyers. My brother sold his own home in Portland, Oregon, with a lawyer writing up the papers. Totally easy to do. No problems. I had to pay a ton for basically very little effort. It REALLY pisses me off, especially because I have trained for my own career since childhood, and still put in much hard work and effort ALWAYS to hone my skills, as a classical violinist. Very schooled, educated on many levels, and a hard worker. As well, the money invested (check out prices of the good instruments, like buying a house)....my brother a doctor, felt the same way. He works his butt off, and school was on going and tough. Realtors don't school, persay, but learn the basics, take a test, and they are off and running, if they are smart, making a heap of money. It is a scam in my opinion, and yes, I believe they are an unnecesssary greedy evil for the most part. Now if they would charge a fair percentage, I would change my mind. But they won't. They take advantage of people, like corporations. And people I have known that do real estate, and are sucessful at it financially, have a personality that glosses over moral values. LOL, I even hired a Christian real estate agent, hoping he would be honest. He had been around for a long time, family owned business, many generations. He sucked. Lazy and did the least he had to do. Very manipulative. Most of them were. They will lie, they will cheat, they will stretch the truth to make a sale...most of the ones I have met are not good people,IMO Even the most honest stretch the truth to suit themselves when they are selling your home. They just want the big fat check. It isn't like the profession makes the world a better place. Let's face facts.
Next time find an ACRE. An Accredited Consultant in Realt Estate. They will usually give you a choice of paying by the hour, by a fixed fee, or with a commission. You can do a search here.
I'm sorry you had such a hard time with Realtors. If you know they are lieing or cheating you should file a complaint because those actions are illegal. You could win a big lawsuit if you are telling the truth yourself.
Location: Moved to town. Miss 'my' woods and critters.
25,464 posts, read 13,571,328 times
Reputation: 31765
Interesting reading to a point. First of all, I personally resent being referred to as 'they'. In the 20+ years that I have had my license, never once have I not given 100% or more to any of my clients, be they buyers or sellers. In the rural community in which I reside, I would have been out of this business within a couple of months if I had not provided decent, honest and ethical service.
How dare anyone lump all real estate licensees together. The good or the bad. Should I judge all musicians as being beneath contempt because I heard one or two terrible concerts? Shall I further generate hatred of all physicians due to one or two negative experiences? If the used vehicle that I purchased decides not to respond some morning, should I then broadcast that all used car salespeople are 'out to get you'?
Out of the approximately 60+ agents in my area, I may know of 4 individuals that I consider less than highly skilled. Passing the license test does not require the intelligence of the proverbial rocket scientist, of course. However, once the tests are completed and passed, I know of no broker in my area that would even begin to consider letting just anyone 'hang their license' on his/her wall.
Brokers are responsible for the actions of the agents in their office. If the public, which I consider myself a part of, have complaints, then for heaven's sake, why would anyone not file a complaint? The horror stories repeated here in this thread are nothing new. Just from different people in different areas. But the same response is: If you are not satisfied, don't become part of the problem by accepting services less than you yourself would be willing and able to provide in your own business or career.
There are many of us in this business that respond to questions and concerns from the public on this forum. Many are excellent and I respect their opinions and advice. Again, I do not and never will consider myself part of the problem as I have always and will continue to provide services that I expect from others no matter what profession, be it a physician, waitress, salesclerk, entertainer, or any other service provider.
Again, don't ever lump all individuals together due to a personal, negative experience you may have encountered. That just isn't fair.
Interesting reading to a point. First of all, I personally resent being referred to as 'they'. In the 20+ years that I have had my license, never once have I not given 100% or more to any of my clients, be they buyers or sellers. In the rural community in which I reside, I would have been out of this business within a couple of months if I had not provided decent, honest and ethical service.
How dare anyone lump all real estate licensees together. The good or the bad. Should I judge all musicians as being beneath contempt because I heard one or two terrible concerts? Shall I further generate hatred of all physicians due to one or two negative experiences? If the used vehicle that I purchased decides not to respond some morning, should I then broadcast that all used car salespeople are 'out to get you'?
Out of the approximately 60+ agents in my area, I may know of 4 individuals that I consider less than highly skilled. Passing the license test does not require the intelligence of the proverbial rocket scientist, of course. However, once the tests are completed and passed, I know of no broker in my area that would even begin to consider letting just anyone 'hang their license' on his/her wall.
Brokers are responsible for the actions of the agents in their office. If the public, which I consider myself a part of, have complaints, then for heaven's sake, why would anyone not file a complaint? The horror stories repeated here in this thread are nothing new. Just from different people in different areas. But the same response is: If you are not satisfied, don't become part of the problem by accepting services less than you yourself would be willing and able to provide in your own business or career.
There are many of us in this business that respond to questions and concerns from the public on this forum. Many are excellent and I respect their opinions and advice. Again, I do not and never will consider myself part of the problem as I have always and will continue to provide services that I expect from others no matter what profession, be it a physician, waitress, salesclerk, entertainer, or any other service provider.
Again, don't ever lump all individuals together due to a personal, negative experience you may have encountered. That just isn't fair.
Thank you for this RIGHT ON response. I don't have the energy to fight this battle anymore on this board. Im too weak
I think the part where they don't add anything to the world is especially untrue.
NAR testified in Congress about health insurance, banks in real estate,
NAR donated $500,000 to the wildfire victims in SoCal.
NAR donated to the Tsunami relief.
NAR donated to the Katrina relief.
NAR donated 1 million to the MLK memorial.
NAR donated to the relief of the 9/11 victims.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,303,611 times
Reputation: 6471
Quote:
Originally Posted by EANJ
That makes perfect sense and security, safety, etc. is and should be tantamount and above all else. I always, always asked about this, early on, when I had MLS listings. Many of the properties were vacant, seasonal in some cases, or something of the like. That's why I said the "two version" aspect was a key feature.
How much, generically, does Realtor.com "feed off" MLS? I am sure it's different and varies vis a vis geographics. Thanks again.
One of the reasons I have the enhanced account at Realtor.com is to control the presentation of the listings. I was really unhappy with the "feed" from my MLS into realtor.com, at least I have some control over it now.
After selling my home in Cal a few years back, I realized what a racket the realtors have going. I wanted to sell the house myself, FSBO, but was told by so many people that I was going to have a hard time, including the lawyers I contacted. Not because it would have been difficult to sell (the houses were getting 20-40 bids in one weekend), but because almost all buyers use an agent, and the agents would blacklist my property, and not even make it known to the buyers. My brother sold his own home in Portland, Oregon, with a lawyer writing up the papers. Totally easy to do. No problems. I had to pay a ton for basically very little effort. It REALLY pisses me off, especially because I have trained for my own career since childhood, and still put in much hard work and effort ALWAYS to hone my skills, as a classical violinist. Very schooled, educated on many levels, and a hard worker. As well, the money invested (check out prices of the good instruments, like buying a house)....my brother a doctor, felt the same way. He works his butt off, and school was on going and tough. Realtors don't school, persay, but learn the basics, take a test, and they are off and running, if they are smart, making a heap of money. It is a scam in my opinion, and yes, I believe they are an unnecesssary greedy evil for the most part. Now if they would charge a fair percentage, I would change my mind. But they won't. They take advantage of people, like corporations. And people I have known that do real estate, and are sucessful at it financially, have a personality that glosses over moral values. LOL, I even hired a Christian real estate agent, hoping he would be honest. He had been around for a long time, family owned business, many generations. He sucked. Lazy and did the least he had to do. Very manipulative. Most of them were. They will lie, they will cheat, they will stretch the truth to make a sale...most of the ones I have met are not good people,IMO Even the most honest stretch the truth to suit themselves when they are selling your home. They just want the big fat check. It isn't like the profession makes the world a better place. Let's face facts.
It's not like that in my market. You know, we are real, hard-working people that have lives outside of the business. I've never had a dissatisfied client. I don't think your comments were very nice. Most of the agents I know are nice, very generous people.
I had never seen such a thing until this year when we bought our most recent house. Our agent, and previous agents in earlier transactions, had always accompanied us during any showings. The seller's agent had never been there. I always figured that a buyer's Realtor accompained ther clients, not only to help with questions and show features, but also to ensure the safety of the property. It's part of their job.
However, we went to view one house a few months back and the seller's agent was there. He insisted on remaining. We found this not only inppropriate, but also sneeky. It felt like a car saleman hovering around the corner within earshot when you're trying to discuss things in confidence with your spouse.
Confidential communications can occur between the client and their agent. With the seller's agent there, it makes such communications impossible to happen. It also makes it seem that they're trying to gather information, both verbal and non-verbal, to which they would otherwise not be privy. It would give them an avantage in negotiations.
In the case of the house with the seller's agent, I refused to be subjected to such treatment. It looked okay from the outside, not particularly spectacular but nice, and it might have been a fine house for us had we went inside. However, I made our decision from the outside to reject the property.
It was no big deal to us because there's sooooo many houses on the market we had out pick. However, it was that practice that led to the possible loss of a sale for the homeowner. We told the agent of our decision, but he said he had no choice. It was the instructions fro his seller.
I'm sure that most people would have just dealt with it and viewed the property, but I'm not most people. I'm not going to be subjected to, and ultimately reward, someone's irrational and questionable acts. However, especially in this market, I also don't understand why anyone would want to subject buyers to any negative environment. They should want to make it as easy and pleasant as possible to view the property.
If they had some concerns over a Picasso on the wall, stacks of gold bars in the living room, or some other item of value, simply put it away or lock it up. That's the real answer. Any other option just makes a poor buying experience for the people who are going to make a sale happen - the people with the money.
BTW, it hppened in July and the house is still for sale. Since then, we've bought somethng else.
********************
Congratulations on your recent home purchase! Although you perceived the listing agent's actions as "sneaky and inappropriate," if his/her client, the homeowner, insists on their being there during showings, they have no choice but to attend each showing. I haven't had that request from a homeowner, however it is quite typical for luxury homes at $1M+ that the listing agent show the home. Whatever the homeowners' concerns were, certainly they are to be respected.
Whether or not you took the agent's presence as an insult, well, that's your perojative; however the agent was acting on the seller's instructions.
Your post was valuable to me as I'm primarily a listing agent. Should a client ever demand I be present at showings, I'll make it a point not to be intrusive and simply offer to answer any questions at the end of the showing. It would never be my intention to insult a customer by my presence and possibly jeopardize my client's ability to sell their home.
Knowledge is power, and power is money, which is why MLS is such a closely guarded secret. Realtors know that MLS is the one and only thing that keeps people from buying and selling houses without them.
Keeping information out of the hands of the public is simply a way of forcing buyers and sellers to rely on agents - it's a way of serving agents' interests, at the expense of buyers and sellers.
Hello? Am I missing something? My dad was a builder...people have always been able to buy and sell houses without a realtor. That "information" you are demanding was created by the real estate industry!
Picture a world without REALTORS......no MLS...no virtual superstore ...of real estate that you (the public) can browse at your leisure WITHOUT having to pay for it? Who do you imagine pays for the information that becomes the MLS? Every agent has a monthly bill...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miborn
Saftey? Anyone can use a realtor to see a home and come back later once they know the address?
I'm thinking they don't have access to the key...without the lock box.
And they can find the address by driving around and looking for a sign!
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakabear
After selling my home in Cal a few years back, I realized what a racket the realtors have going. I wanted to sell the house myself, FSBO, but was told by so many people that I was going to have a hard time, including the lawyers I contacted. Not because it would have been difficult to sell (the houses were getting 20-40 bids in one weekend), but because almost all buyers use an agent, and the agents would blacklist my property, and not even make it known to the buyers.
Oops...I think the agents would be unaware of your property...at your choice... ...only blacklisted by YOU...
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakabear
My brother sold his own home in Portland, Oregon, with a lawyer writing up the papers. Totally easy to do. No problems. I had to pay a ton for basically very little effort. It REALLY pisses me off, especially because I have trained for my own career since childhood, and still put in much hard work and effort ALWAYS to hone my skills, as a classical violinist. Very schooled, educated on many levels, and a hard worker. As well, the money invested (check out prices of the good instruments, like buying a house)....my brother a doctor, felt the same way. He works his butt off, and school was on going and tough. Realtors don't school, persay, but learn the basics, take a test, and they are off and running, if they are smart, making a heap of money.
A heap of money? Really? Where.............................and your brother the doctor is charging FAIR prices? OMG....is this the beginning of another thread?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakabear
It is a scam in my opinion, and yes, I believe they are an unnecesssary greedy evil for the most part. Now if they would charge a fair percentage, I would change my mind. But they won't. They take advantage of people, like corporations. And people I have known that do real estate, and are sucessful at it financially, have a personality that glosses over moral values. LOL, I even hired a Christian real estate agent, hoping he would be honest. He had been around for a long time, family owned business, many generations. He sucked. Lazy and did the least he had to do. Very manipulative. Most of them were. They will lie, they will cheat, they will stretch the truth to make a sale...most of the ones I have met are not good people,IMO Even the most honest stretch the truth to suit themselves when they are selling your home. They just want the big fat check. It isn't like the profession makes the world a better place. Let's face facts.
Face facts? Broad brushing a whole group of people? I think IF you were to acquire an open mind (try ebay...) you might find that hard working honest real estate agents are more common than you might imagine.
Sheesh. Am I over-reacting? I know people have bad experiences with realtors, but sheesh...
Last edited by Lake Junkie; 11-09-2007 at 09:15 PM..
Reason: Hunkering down for the critics...
Realtors don't school, persay, but learn the basics, take a test, and they are off and running, if they are smart, making a heap of money. It is a scam in my opinion, and yes, I believe they are an unnecesssary greedy evil for the most part. Now if they would charge a fair percentage, I would change my mind. But they won't. They take advantage of people, like corporations. And people I have known that do real estate, and are sucessful at it financially, have a personality that glosses over moral values. LOL, I even hired a Christian real estate agent, hoping he would be honest. He had been around for a long time, family owned business, many generations. He sucked. Lazy and did the least he had to do. Very manipulative. Most of them were. They will lie, they will cheat, they will stretch the truth to make a sale...most of the ones I have met are not good people,IMO Even the most honest stretch the truth to suit themselves when they are selling your home. They just want the big fat check. It isn't like the profession makes the world a better place. Let's face facts.
A realtor made my world a better place. We had an offer on our house in 4 hours (back in 2005). Our realtor handled the contract, negotiated with the buyers as to a close date that was acceptable for us, handled all the phone calls from the buyers about various things that cropped up between the offer date and the close date, and basically got us to and through closing with no hassle on our part.
Was it worth the $20000+ we paid him? That is a lot of money, of course. But that was the market price for his services, and we got what we paid for -- our house sold and we really didn't have to do a thing.
Now, we're signed up with a buyer's agent in anticipation of a move. I have no doubt that he will make my world a better place as well -- by helping us quickly find a house that will become our home.
We have a contract with him to pay a fee in the event that the seller doesn't. I have no problem with that -- I don't expect him to work for free. I do expect him to handle our sale in a professional manner with a minimal amount of fuss and hassle coming our way, and I again have no doubt that will be the case.
Most realtors, I would bet, are hard working and honest. The mantra "anyone can sell a house" gets pretty old after a while, especially coming from people who have not taken that route themselves. You could have gone FSBO; you chose not to. It's that simple. To paint all realtors with the same negative brush simply because you resent having paid out a legally contracted commission is unfair.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
