THE USAA MOVERS ADVANTAGE STOLE MY CLIENT,..

or should I say customer..if she was a client,..that wouldnt have happened

met a buyer through facebook,. She was a young vet
I have lots of experience with vets..so I figured its great
I told her about loan programs..sent her listings..
Set up an appointment..NO SHOW..then dissapeared.
No Biggie..figured she wasnt ready
today She post on facebook..YAY closing in November..
So being polite I said ,..I want in on the housewarming


She says OMG Linden check your inbox..I did..
she said I need to sign up with USAA they rebate her 1900 towards closing..
but she had to pick a usaa movers advantage agent..
first of all I got dissed for a 1900 concession?
2nd of all..i could have gotten her a 9k concession from seller

3rd of all that usaa preferred agent actually had to pay that from thier commission
usaa didnt give the buyer anything..

unbelievable...

that usaa told her in order to get the concession she had to use thier agent...

I dont know what Im more mad at
usaa or the buyer...

just venting

Why would you be mad at USAA? That doesn't make any sense. BTW they're the best bank out there.

USAA preys on our military. Mt last clients to use USAA dumped USAA right before closing. My clients were savvy and the referral part never came up which is a good thing for my clients because I would not have paid it and my clients would have lost big time not using me.

Interest rates had dropped and USAA refused to lower the rate they had locked in. I got them to switch to one of my lenders who got them the lower interest rate and saved them $7,000 in closing cost junk fees.

USAA does not look out for the military, they prey on them. All my lenders will lower the interest rate after lock in. It is what good lenders do.

The vet who thinks they saved $1,900 actually paid dearly for that money. What a shame.

I wouldn't be surprised that a buyer would dump someone they don't know with the idea of saving $1900.

Heck, be honest...if you could save nearly $2000 wouldn't you?

It's a shame that she was hoodwinked though.

Lindenmoe, how could you have gotten her $9000 in concessions? I'm curious...

easy in my contract

Seller to provide buyer a $9,000 credit towards buyers closing cost. Banks allow up to 3% in Nj

nonsense..they are liars..they said they will give my buyer a 1900 credit..they do not..they take a referral fee from the realtor, which they do NOT disclose as you know.. then the give the buyer SOME of the money..not even all of it.
they take the realtors hard earned commission..the realtor paid that concession, not usaa.

Well the seller has to actually agree to it. Do you know for a fact that the seller was going to agree to that?

So this must have been a $300,000 house ($300,0000 x 3% = $9,000) I understand USAA gets a referral fee from the agent of 50% of the commission, so if the commission rate was 3% USAA got a referral fee of $4,500 and passed on $1,900 to the buyer.

What a deal!

Yes. got it done 100% of the time on deals the buyer asked.
she bought a 350k unit. could have gotten her over $10,000 actually.
I have a 100% success ratio getting sellers concession in my market.

fact is usaa lied to them and said they were the one that gets them the credit..
it came from the realtors pocket not usaa
not only that but usaa pocketed the difference.

Its ok..Im armed with ammo now,..so every veteram we speak too,
gonna know about usaa practices..better believe that.

and she wasnt even happy with that realtor service they reccommended, she felt she had NO choice, they say she MUST use a usaa agent.. wonder why? cause I aint kicking anything back to usaa

I would rather give the FULL amount to my client! nj is allowed to give incentives it was legalized here 2 years ago,..
as long as it shows on the Hud-1

Yea, USAA, Redfin, and all the other discount brokers trying to give back commissions are really killing this industry.. I'm trying to make as much money as possible in the next 3-5 years before the traditional real estate commission is gone and we all working for nothing..

A buyer who's willing to ditch you in order to get a $1900 credit is probably not the sort of buyer I'd want. If the buyer wanted to stick with you but nonetheless felt forced to use another agent, I'd certainly be willing give an equal credit if the buyer truly did feel forced to use another agent. At least in my market, a couple grand is practically nothing.

A somewhat related thought on discount brokerages. Just out of curiosity, I test-ran a rebate/credit-based model for a little while (marketed in parallel to my "usual" marketing campaign), with the percent credited based on the final sales price. What I learned is this:

1) The buyers who want a substantial credit tend not to be the sort of buyers I want to work with. I got the feeling many of them were ready to ditch me as soon as someone else came along with a better deal. (I did get a handful of very loyal buyers out of the deal, and they've been phenomenal for referrals.)

2) The buyers who were most enthusiastic about working with me were the ones least interested in a commission credit. I had some buyers actually refuse to accept the credit.

3) I really didn't see much of an uptick in leads or sales as a result of offering a commission credit.

I've actually had good experiences with Redfin agents, but too many of the discount brokers don't seem to be on the ball when it comes to urgent issues that crop up.

Not trying to pour salt on the wounds - but how about being upset with yourself for not being able to articulate to your client on how working with you would save them more then going through USAA - and did you contact USAA to see what you could work out??

Good Luck - I have also heard good things about USAA as a bank - but this is a first as a lender.

First of all,..you didnt read my post..I sent her listings and info..and she dissapeared. the Usaa thing came after..she was already under contract..

she was already with usaa and the [censored] poor usaa agent.

no sweat off my back,..im mad at usaa not the buyer.

nice try . Don.

sheesh read the post first.

So you lost a sale big whoop. Quit blaming USAA. Sounds like you should be more mad at yourself than anyone else for not getting a Buyers Rep Agreement. I was in the Army for 5 years and USAA is the best bank out there. They provide excellent service to there customers. If you were going to buy and home and didn't know a Realtor and your bank was going to offer you a credit for doing business through them then you would be an idiot for not taking advantage of that. Am I right? And who cares where the money is coming from and exactly how it is distributed that doesn't matter. The agents that are associated with USAA I assume get leads from them and from those leads the agent pays a referral fee and of that referral fee USAA gives some of it back to there customer. Now what is wrong with that? Sounds like hell of a bank to me. What you claim is that every agent associated with USAA is a terrible agent and your the best there is. Chalk it up as a loss and stop crying. I highly doubt your claim that you get the maximum 3% Seller concessions 100% of the time. You sell on Avg. 450k houses and I highly doubt every seller you make an offer to is jumping with joy to just give away 10k towards your buyers closing.

This is a point that is often missed. I don't understand the discount model because a majority of people don't care about the discount. The ones that seek the discount are the difficult clients. As for the ones that wouldn't ask for it, now you're just giving money away. If someone asks me to discount my commission, it's much easier to say no because if I agree, I know I will work much harder for less.

Tempe,

I have had the same experience as you with cheap people.

As Linden is a representative of the one percent he cannot complain. These people want a piece of our action without
actually doing anything. They want to create the illusion
of value but there is no substance. It's unethical and should
be stopped but as Linden has learnt is that he who has the gold makes the rules and Linden has joined up with these criminals.

Very True, not only do I make less money..They tend to respect me less,..
My highewr end clients Never ask me to discount my commissions..

It always my lower end clients..and then they become a pain.

Sigh..I hope you are joking and will take it as such..
If youre not your getting dangerously close to Slander And Libel..I never said Usaa was criminals..I dont have facts..
and sure there are some merits..
I personally disagree with thier practices. But I wouldnt call thier actions criminal..and you shouldnt either..

Hick dude - Are you a real estate agent or broker?

I know exactly how Linden feels as it has happened to me. Read Linden's email again - he didn't even get the opportunity to meet the woman, after emails, listings and an agreement to meet - the appointment was set and she DIDN'T show! Not even the courtesy to call to cancel - yet, she would have been p.o.'ed if Linden failed to show for a scheduled appointment. She probably would have had that phone in her hand immediately calling to complain to the r.e. board. From these actions comes the saying, "Buyers are liars."

USAA originally started out as an automobile insurance company. Many military have this 'dillusion' that if it has USA or NAVY, ARMY, AIR FORCE, MARINE, MILITARY, FEDERAL or PENTAGON in the name that it's a goverment bank - believe me. USAA does pray on the military and so does Navy Federal. They usually charge discount points and origination fees - all GRAVY for the bank's mashed potatoes. This buyer probably didn't 'save' $1,900 when her closing fees are going to be an additional several thousand dollars more; but they THINK they're getting something free. Why? Because buyers are too lazy to shop around, talk to several lenders, even put in applications to find out the REAL deal they're getting themselves into.

One of my buyers (military) was going to use USAA because they'd 'give him some money' if they used the referral agent. I was able to have him see that because we've known each other, he trusts me; otherwise he'd be going to a complete stranger. When you find the right fit - stay with it.

Another military guy (much higher in command) went with Navy Federal - even though he was going to pay $5,000 origination fee, and even though I could get him a lender who would SAVE him that $5,000. Why'd he go? "They've been so nice to me." What a dumb answer. Any bank will be 'nice' to you if you BANK at their bank. I told this unfortunate higher up that I was nice to him too - where's MY $5,000 from his pocket.

Needless to say, we parted ways, but the end of the story is Hick dude - people are more gullible than you apparently are willing to believe. If they weren't gullible, we wouldn't have this real estate market mess - even from the rise of values to the fall of values...but...there's a sucker born every minute, I hear.

Been selling houses for years and i just don't see the problem here.

If you put the USAA client under contract before they contact USAA, then you don't have to pay the referral fee.
If the buyer calls before going under contract to shop homeowner's insurance then USAA will get them hooked in on the mortgage side too.
They rarely close on time and can take several phone calls to different people to get things moving along.
I've taken the training, but opt not to participate on the USAA relo team at our office.

VABROKER: I think you missed the point of all this. I am a Real Estate Agent in San Antonio and am not affiliated with the USAA Movers Advantage program, although I do bank at USAA. I did read Lindens comment and yes he did not meet with her face to face. He met her through facebook and sent her some properties to view. Yeah she ditched him and didnt show. Therefore I would be more mad at her for not showing up instead of a bank. It's not like he did a lot of work for her or anything. Took him like what 2 minutes to send her properties and another few minutes talking to her about loan programs. Big deal. The point was that USAA did not steal her away from him and your talking about loan programs and everything else that doesn't even come into play here. I could be wrong here but I don't believe that if you use the USAA Advantage program you have to get a loan through them. You are right about one thing though USAA does pray on the Military. Not in a bad way though considering that ALL their business comes from them. Out of all the people I met in the Army that used USAA, and there were many, not one of them believed that they were a govt. bank. All I said was if you know a good agent use them. If you don't know a good agent and your bank will give you money for using one of their agents then there is nothing wrong with that. I just don't like people bashing a good company for no reason.

I agree with you that all buyers should shop around cause there are better rates out there than their current banks can provide, but a lot of them don't. This topic had nothing to do with loans though.

And yes a lot of buyers are liars. I think that a lot of them lie because they don't like confrontation and just want you to shut up cause they don't want to have to answer your questions.

BTW it's Hicks.

Here is the problem..

They lied..

They said THEY rebate her 1900

its not true..it came from the AGENT..

2. They forced her to use thier CRAPPY agent.

3. They TOOK more from the agent and ONLY rebated her 1900

POCKETED the difference..

They told her none of this..

ifs its so wonderful..why not have FULL DISCLOSURE

Are they a "CRAPPY agent" because they stole your customer/client or because you have first hand knowledge of them being a "CRAPPY agent." Are you insinuating USAA did not make full disclosure require of them by law?

It did not come from the agent. The agent has never seen the money. RE companies have a contract with USAA, and their agents take a reduced fee for USAA referrals per the contract.
Agents need to meet USAA's training requirements to be on their team. Some agents want to be on the team, some don't.
The only way to receive a rebate is for the USAA member to use their financial institutions such as USAA Federal Savings Bank (FSB) Member FDIC and USAA Relocation Services Inc.
USAA has a very high consumer/member satisfaction rating.

I too have lost a few clients to USAA...

One last summer I had even shown property to and they were going to place an offer (shame on me for NOT having them sign a BA). They no showed for our appointment and would not return calls... Finally I got in touch with them and they were told that they "had to use" the USAA agent if they wanted the money. They bought the house that I found for them (yeah, I could'a followed up with that, but took this as a learning lesson) but hated the agent they "had" to use and said that they would have rather had me and not the money in the long run... Now they are great referral clients.

What I learned:

1) USAA (or at least in the few deals that I am aware of) does NOT fully disclose in a way that the clients understands, where the money comes from, or that USAA is proffiting. All of the deals I know about thought that USAA was just "being nice" and helping out the client.

2) If the client is unhappy with the Realtor they are assigned, they can request a new one. They don't always tell you that, but it is OK.

3) The client does not HAVE to use the agent assigned if they are financed through USAA. They won't get the money, but they can use anyone they want. In half of the cases I am aware of, that was not made super clear. They thought they were kinda "obligated" and the money was just icing on the cake.

4) The second I hear VA financing or military, or USAA (and I do alot since I live right next to a prominent AF base) I can hold onto 90% of them by telling them about my "Special Military Thank You Program." I know the pay scale for the USAA and I adjust it up to "beat" the cash incentive that USAA will offer them. It's my way of giving back and thanking the military, and keeping the transaction in my hands. I would rather pay out the concessions and profit on the commission than loose the client and make nothing. I still make more than the referral agent would make (way more).

I have fancy-smancy certificates that I hand them to redeem the amount; having those dollar signs in their hands is much more real than vague promises. Only then do I inform them that USAA (if they are going to finance through them) will offer them (less money) to leave me and go with their agent. If they are unhappy with my services to date, then I encourage then to take that offer. But if they are happy with my services then I would be proud to continue serving them through their transaction. *of course the certificate is only good if they use me... ;)

I have had quite a lot of good feed back using this system and many military referrals from satisfied clients.

[quote]It did not come from the agent. The agent has never seen the money. RE companies have a contract with USAA, and their agents take a reduced fee for USAA referrals per the contract.[/quote]
It did come from the agents side of the transaction. The fact that it went first into USAA's hands (where they skim a huge portion off the top in most situations) does not negate the fact that it came from the agents side of transaction. ;)

Frankly I think most people wont' care if the money comes out of the agent's bottom line as many people figure we are overpaid anyway.

And in the case of some agents, that's true. lol

It's not the agents money until his broker pays him.
The listing broker pays the buyers agents broker, who pays USAA based on the contract. The agent is giving up some of the commission because of the freebee, as a referral to his broker/USAA. The company I used to work for in the 90's did over $50 mil. in volume per year with USAA. As an agent I never felt I lost or gave up anything, I was busy making money and appreciated the referrals.
Today I don't like referrals, they should be made illegal IMO. (That would take care of USAA Movers Adv. Program)

I dont know the agent...
the customer used that term..

bobviously there is zero quality control..

not from that consumer..lol

Wait a minute - are you tarring & feathering an agent you don't even know because of some remark a buyer made? That's just flat wrong, linden. Very unprofessional.

I am in our company's relo program & I do sell to USAA MA folks. At first, I had to swallow hard over the lower commission, but you know what? - I have decided I will sell anything to anybody under all legal circumstances and be happy to have made the money! (Kinda the bottom line, period-at-the-end-of-the sentence as far as I'm concerned.)

im just quoting the buyer...

be mad at her...

and tar an feathering who's name?

the sucky agent..that I dont know?

thats just weird...

like your personal attack on me in the shooting the breeze forum..

you and hunter should get married and do bpo's together..

and join my competitors in the losers hate winners forum..

I think it's funny that at the top of this page there is an AD for USAA.

linden, somebody is going to pop that balloon you're floating around in one of these days. I just hope you're wearing a parachute when it happens so that fall isn't too painful.

Sometimes we just have to let him go - he sees and reads what he wants and not what is there.

It is human to find fault elsewhere - but I bet he learned a lesson.

I can't wait for USAA to put his name on their 'list' -

Ouch..I cant wait..that whats make champions my dear..

ya see you know nothing about me..

I grew up poor , struggling to survive in brooklyn new york..

Im no stranger to adversity..so if I fall..I get back up..

more determined..more resilent..

I had a broker..steal 72k from me last year..the real estate commission shut him down..

Guess what? this year bounced back harder and bigger..

So throw your hardest punch..

sounds like you have already given up..and been deflated..

I can help..

Repeat after me..

" My enemies expect me to LOSE..for they do not know my heart, who am I?..I am a champion?"-Youtube video "I am a champion

" Defeat is WILL NOT be my creed, I will NEVER surrender... because weakness is not in my heart... for who am I? I AM A Champion!" -I am a champion speech


see so as you can see,..

I will not easily be defeated...

dream on buddy..

and give my commission away to them?

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

thanlks for caring..but I have more than enough business...

I just dont like they didnt fully disclose everything..

Ultimately..Its my own fault..

That young man in the mirror..

I should have done a better job of articulating my value..

lesson learned.

Better believe that from now on if they are a veteran..

We will have the USAA mover advantage talk upfront..yeeeaaah buuuddyyy.