Tales of the city: four condos, four agents

I could do without all the attitude & eye rolling provided by RE agents in the Harvard-Bolton area. They are convinced that 'their' market is bulletproof, and do their clients a disservice buy offending prospective buyers, and keeping properties on the market for years at a time. But I have to give them some credit, prices aren't falling all that much. But that's because NOTHING is selling. Bury your heads a little deeper, everything will be just fine.

... and realtors wonder why there is so much animus towards their profession. What's better is If the "old and ugly" condo or the two others sell, those same people could make several thousand dollars despite their appalling lack of professionalism, representation and preparedness. I think you should publish, at least, the name of the complex to give the owners a chance to learn about the "licensed professionals" that they have hired.

Most of those annoyed listing agents want to represent buyers as well. I have yet to encounter an exclusive buyer's agent that isn't really a listing agent flip flopping to whatever title will get them a comission.

Also having lived in other parts of the country I can say that New England doesn't really stirve for any type of manners award. The described behavior seems pretty typical of any business in New England so I can't say this is all about realtors in general.

I have been tempted a number of times to mail a letter to a seller explaining how rude/ ill informed/ or just plain bored the listing agents they are using are. But honeslty if they can't figure it out too bad for them.

Frank,

I so hear you. We have been looking in the same areas and the fact that houses are sitting on the market for 1 or 2 years (in some cases more) hasn't clued anyone in. I even stopped looking there for 6 months and all the same houses are still listed at the same prices. Good thing there are other options for our family. I hope eventually they figure out that smart, qualified buyers aren't going to jump on a stale listing with no price change that smells like mold and has been neglected for years.

I think some people just like having their house on the market as a hobby because they sure aren't really interested in selling them.

I am sure this isn't the first time you have experience this type of situation Rona. As an exclusive buyer agent I see the great disparities in listing agents and in the level of competence and professionalism they provide their sellers.

The really unfortunate part is that there are really professional business people available to sell homes, but so many consumers end up hiring their cousin's best friend or their uncle's next door neighbor, instead of seeking out one of the many top-notch real estate professionals out there who will do a great job advising them and selling their home.

Rona, your first example reminded me of the first house we owned and the listing office we had it with. In 1990 we were selling our house and I could not for the life of me figure out why there was NO traffic during a 3 month period. We were young and eager to sell so we followed our agents advice to the letter. One day I called the office inquiring about our property, to see how they were describing it and whether or not they were encouraging buyers to come out to see it. I could not believe my ears, but the agent on the phone (not ours, another in the office) was trying to talk me out of seeing the house saying our agent didn't have anything positive to say about it and they had much nicer homes listed!! I hung up with him, called our agent and let her have it. She had the nerve to yell at me for doing what I did. Needless to say, we took the listing away from *that* office.

I realize not all listing agents or their offices do things like this; but I've never forgotten it and I always recommend folks call on their own to see what's being said by the listing office when there are no showings. Sometimes it's *not* the sellers and they really will accommodate the market...someone just has to tell them.

Rona, maybe it's not a question of what qualities sellers are looking for, but a question about how they are compensating their listing agent.

How motivated would the average person be to work on their own jobs if they had not been paid in 203 days, 251 days, or 716 days -- the listing periods mentioned for three of the four condos described above?

Maybe the deteriorating customer service you describe will begin a discussion about how to compensation agents -- whether buyer agent, seller agent, or non-agents -- to best serve their respective clients.

More than a decade ago, the former chief economist of the National Association of Realtors predicted that:

"The next major revolution in real estate will be fee-based services replacing the blanket commission pricing that has dominated the industry for so long."

Do you think consumers would get better service if they compensated their agent by the hour, instead of commissions paid at the closing table? (Before you answer that question, consider this fact: there were nearly 30,00 expired and canceled listing in the last three months of 2008 alone, which means that a lot of listing agents effectively volunteered to work on overprice listings.)

Also I want to say that a lot of realtors got in the game because real estate went through the roof. I can see how now there would be quite a few agents getting weeded out because houses are just no selling themselves any more. Sounds like the actual nitty gritty agent work (which seems to be more of a hoaned art form) is getting to those who got in the game when houses were flying off the shelves.

Hey, Just Me, you haven't read my introduction correctly. You have met me. Let me introduce you to the agents who belong to MABA and NAEBA. We do not practice dual or designated agency. You will not find any of us flip-flopping or standing in an open house looking for buyer clients.

I agree with you about civility.

The whole concept of Buyer's Agents getting paid by commission is a farce too. Where is the incentive to save Buyer's money? You get paid MORE if we pay MORE for a home. I can hardly see you breaking your neck to save clients money, if it is coming out of your own pocket. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

"Do you think consumers would get better service if they compensated their agent by the hour, instead of commissions paid at the closing table?"

Oh my gosh, no, I don't. I dread to think what kind of charges I'd end up paying. Seems to me, the selling agent doesn't need to take the listing if they think it's overpriced. Charging by the hour will give sellers complete license to list at even less realistic prices than they do now.

I am sorry if the agent has not been compensated for a period of time due to a slow real estate market but it is not an excuse for poor job performance. Is it that hard to show a property if a potential buyer shows interest? There are many professionals who work on a contingency basis (such as attorneys) and are compensated based upon achieving the desired result. The behavior described above is unprofessional. In medicine, this would be called malpractice.

Agents are very well compensated for selling properties, and many were probably over compensated for the work they performed at the time that houses were selling briskly a few yeras ago. If you feel that the commision offered is too little to justify your time, or if you feel that the sellers are unreasonable, then decline the offer to be the listing agent but do not keep relisting the property.

And in answer to your question, a different non-commission compensation structure, perhaps an hourly fee, with a seperate fee for MLS access fee, would benefit everyone. Hourly compensation structure has certainly has worked in the financial personal services industry.

Well, I guess it is what it is, right? You can't buy or sell real estate without a realtor. Just have to hope that you've picked a good one.

The disgust generated by the article should be directly at the four people who HIRED and continue to employ those selling agents. My experience using real estate agents is that there is a Grand Canyon sized difference between the good ones and the bad. If you hire Aunt Edna to sell your biggest asset, she is not the problem, you are.

When I bought I found my agent the following way: I got a few referrals from others who had bought and sold similar properties in my neighborhood, I interviewed three agents, verified that they have been consistently in the top 5%-10% in sales, and called references. The agent that I hired was both a selling and buying agent. I saw no benefit to hiring an agent who only knows the buy side.

My agent had to deal with “poor cooperation bubbles” for me. She already had been to every property that I was interested in. (Yes, the good ones know EVERY property.) Because she is one of the top agents, other agents called her back and changed plans to accommodate us. She helped me to get my property and for a great price. Her incentive to get a good price for me was simple; she was earning the many referrals that I will send her in the future (see paragraph 2). I will also use her when it comes time to sell.

Rona, so true - thanks for the great post. I would have never wound up where I am today without the help of my fantastic realtor.

Rona responds:

Frank #9: I get this question all the time. I used to charge a flat fee to avoid the question about conflict of interest. However, I lost business because prospects were unhappy that they would need to PAY me out of pocket $25 for every $1000 that I saved them. So, when I opened my own company, I went back to the "normal way." I offer the old way for anyone who wants it. However, any broker who is good will tell you that their integrity is worth more than $25 per $1000 and that they will fail in the business for lack of referrals if they didn't work for their client's financial interests.

Marcus, #14: Where are you today?? I have been wondering that since we "met" here on the blog. ;)

there's 2 sides to every story. My guess is that the other 3 units are overpriced and the buyers will not come down. So why should the agent spend 1/4 of his day just so an agent who he does not know, will be able to say she has shown every unit in the area.
I love the people who blame the listing agent for why their house has not sold. "he's done NOTHING for me" Get a grip, your house is over priced, your greedy and like to complain.
You buyer agents act like every house is a short sale and you can see it whenever you want. Also next time please wipe your muddy feet you come into my house and disrepect me and my family. I'm not talking about you Rona.

Rona, though your experience may reflect the feeling of many brokers, I have a problem with you getting paid 50% more to sell a 600,000 home compared to a 400,000$ home. The main reason people use Buyer's brokers is the difficulty gathering information on available homes. The information may be out on the internet, but it is time consuming to find.

You have the advantage of a MLS. I would have absolutely no need for a Buyer's broker if I had MLS access with all the information easily obtainable on comps, prior sales, market and sales history, etc... at my fingertips. The real estate industry would be wise to sell access to the public (ie it could control the manner of sales, just like carfax and other companies sell access to information). The real estate industry is making a big mistake in not doing so, because people want access to information and someone will eventually take this idea and put MLS out of business.

I was in the same exact situation as Perceptive Listener. I listed my home with an "Exclusive" agent early in 2006--right before everything went bust. I had never sold a home before, but due to illness, I was forced to do so. I was naive! Well, we had the open house and a few showings---period. Weeks went by---it was now summer on the Cape---still just a few showings-no offers! Finally, on the July 4th Holiday, I had my daughter as well as a friend with NY area codes call the agent. She never returned their calls. My neighbor told me that numerous time people were inquiring about my home and said they had called the agent and she hadn't returned their calls. You can guess what happened then!!!! FIRED!!!!!
At the same time there was a million $ home for sale in the neighborhood----it sold!! I can't prove it, but I think she was using my home to bring more traffic into the neighborhood. UNREAL! SKANK!!!!
iT IS NOW 2 YEARS LATER---MY HOME IS NOT ON THE MARKET---I8 HAVE BECOME HIGHLY EDUCATED IN THE REAL ESTATE MARKET AND WILL SELL IT ON MY OWN WHEN THINGS GET BETTER. These people are no better than used car salesmen--EDUCATE YOURSELF- and tell these people to get a real job!!

Rona, you have hit the nail on the head! I can't stand it when these brokers stand me up, don't bother to call or can't make the appointment due to a silly conflict! I wish I could tell the owners of these properties what is happening but I can't due to the legal boundaries involved. I'm sure other good real estate brokers feel the same way.