I thought it would be nice to let you agents know the inner thoughts of someone who just recently purchased a home. I wrote this to someone who asked me privately how he/she thought that it seemed "unfair" that we did not enlist an agent to buy the home... below was my reply... just don't judge a book by its cover! We would have enlisted an agent to assist us, but fact to the matter was, nobody bothered... they probably thought we were kicking tires...

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We did all the research, checked out what houses we liked, called up listing agents to view the homes; arranged appointments for viewing; asked some questions about the houses that they were showing as they were the listing agents. What part of that was unfair? We did not make one agent do the searches for us and drive us around... NOBODY EVEN OFFERED TO DO SO... even after we told the listing agents what we were looking for and our time line to purchase (close before Dec 1, 2009) AND the fact that we were paying cash, nobody took the initiative to search for homes to send to us and offered to take us around.

I guess we looked young (even though I'm in my late 30s and my wife in her early 30s); I guess they didn't take us seriously.

Here's a hint: as a realtor, you should definitely be passive aggressive. Offer to find homes that fit the criteria of the buyer. In our experience, we found many of the realtors around here are too passive and expect things to come to them and they DON'T LISTEN. Some realtors would send us houses of their own listing and never bothered to LISTEN to what we were looking for. One agent even sent us a listing that she had in an area we specifically stated that we didn't want. We got turned off by the attitudes of alot of the realtors.

When we finally made an offer, we actually liked the selling agent where she explained fully about the house, educating us on what we should be looking for, outlining the flaws that the house may have. She explained everything up front.

Since we did all the work, we did not feel right bringing in an agent to simply writeup some paperwork and let the agent 'earn' his/her 3% of the 6% that the listing agent charges. I think THAT would seem unfair.

You did enlist an agent, it just so happened to be the listing agent. Sounds like you found an agent that actually served your needs. Would you refer that same agent to a friend or family member?

I agree with you 100%. I've had clients that DO NOT want me to find a property for them, they will call me. Then I have other clients that want EVERY property emailed to them. I ask what you expect as a consumer and tell the consumer what they can expect from me. Most importantly I LISTEN to the needs of what the consumer needs.

I fully support people selling or buying on their own if they have enough knowledge about real estate.

FYI realtors get paid to negotiate the best price/terms and navigate all the pitfalls to a succesful closing. Finding the home is the easy part. Many people think that all an agent does is "simply writeup some paperwork and let the agent 'earn' his/her 3%." Nothing could be further from the truth.

My perspective is I love it when the opposite party is not represented. I usually can roll over them while representing my client. This is why I do not do dual agency.I represented a buyer on a fsbo home. Spoke with the seller and got them to spill the beans about their financial troubles. Our offer was 30K less that what the buyer wanted to offer. We got the home. Loved that the seller paid for his opponent's representation. Had another sale where I represented the seller. the buyers came on their own as they thought they could get a deal as I would reduce my 6% which I wouldn't. My deal is with the seller not them. They had some issues with their lender needing repairs which my sellers would not do. They buyers actually did the repairs on their dime. The sale did not close and my seller had a fixed home for free.

I do find it strange that no agents offered to do the things you wanted. As the other realtor said; Some clients want/enjoy looking for homes on their own and other want us to do the searching. Listening is key. An agent that does not listen will not last long imho.

Glad that your purchase turned out well for you!

Good for you, sounds like you had a pleasant home buying experience. Everyone has different needs and wants from their agent and yours appeared to be minimal so this plan of action worked out quite well. Enjoy your new home.

Jay,

Is it possible that you were sending an "I'm doing this MY way" message that effectively warded off agents?

All agents miss opportunities and/or misread prospects. It's too bad you seem to have met more than your fair share of passive agents.

A successful sale serves the purposes of both sides, but the listing agent represented the other side in this deal. If you are pleased with the outcome, that's what is most important.

I don't think REALTORS drive people around anymore. That's old fashioned. Most people don't like driving with the REALTOR to the property. They like driving themselves by following the agent to the property or meeting the agent there. If it is a couple who is buying, then allowing them to drive themselves gives them privacy to talk about the houses they are looking at without a REALTOR listening in. But usually REALTORS these days don't offer to pick you up and drive you to the property. They meet you there.

It does not matter how good you are, it is almost impossible to match buyers needs. Many times they think they know what they are looking for, and then buy something very different. I ask for general info and set the search according their requirements. A lot of times you can miss properties if the set up is very detailed because many agents do not put the right description in MLS.

Did the owner who sold high-five you for the 3% vs 6% commission, since you did not have a brokerage on the BUY side?

Or did the listing agent got a 6% commission anyway?

If you did 3% (or whatever the half was), how did it fly with the listing broker?


-AP

As a buyer agent I still drive my clients around after we narrow our search down. By going on appointments with my clients it help so I will know what they like or dislike to help get them to the table. So I guess I'm one of those old fashion agents. But it works for me.