Comments on: SF: Have these Listing Agents Been Drinking?

By: Shell

Shell — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:05:34 +0000

I enjoyed thi sblog. I often wonder the same after going to an open house for an 800K studio TIC.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:15:40 +0000

Perhaps he/she needs AA? (In keeping with the theme of the blog)

By: MDAccount

MDAccount — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:10:20 +0000

One last update: today my agent called the seller’s agent to see if there was any room for movement. In 20 years of working in real estate, my agent told me, she’s never been yelled at by another agent, until today.

The seller’s agent was so loud I could hear the whole conversation. She questioned my financial strength (I’m pre-approved), my agent’s ability (she’s award-winning), and our intent. She would cut off any response and begin to yell again. It was the most unprofessional conduct I’ve ever encountered.

She clearly didn’t understand the content of our counter-offer, and she repeated again and again that she had failed her clients by not telling them to reject our first offer completely. She was completely out of control, to the point where she told us her own colleagues were complaining about the shouting.

And, I swear by all that’s holy, I’m not making this up. It was just bizarre.

Not surprisingly, my response to all this was to put in an offer on a different house today. We’ll also being following up with the seller’s agent’s broker, to suggest he needs to do something about his agent’s mental health.

By: anon

anon — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:23:59 +0000

Correction: meant to say, “…has not been duly exercising their duty.”

By: anon

anon — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:22:42 +0000

MD, the agent is obliged to present the offer to the seller in a timely fashion, and you can send notice to the RE licensing board that this agent has been duly exercising their duty.

By: anna.hibble

anna.hibble — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:03:17 +0000

that’s a depressing, and enraging situation. If you can’t sue, can you at least lodge a complaint somewhere? Does not seem like something you want to just “let go.”

Glad though you, at least, have an agent on the ball.

By: MD Account

MD Account — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:40:42 +0000

It actually gets worse. I made my counter-offer (in which I offered to split the cost of an appraisal) on Wednesday of last week, with a 72 hour limit. On Saturday, my agent called the seller’s agent, and finally got a callback around 4 pm.

The report? The seller’s agent hadn’t yet presented our now-expired counter-offer, because one of the sellers (the husband) works out of town and only comes home on weekends. Why the agent didn’t A) present it over the phone, B) contact us to tell us the schedule or C) present it first thing Saturday was never explained. She finally presented it Sunday at 5 pm — five days after it was made.

I’m now trying to figure out if there’s any way I can sue the seller’s agent for misrepresenting my offers. I doubt I can, but I’d love to do it. I really loved that house.

By: MD Account

MD Account — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:34:23 +0000

Whoops. I meant the agent didn’t educate her seller!

As the buyer, I’ve been given a graduate-level course in pricing by my agent, who is having a superb year thanks to her knowledge of the market.

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:34:08 +0000

MD: I am struck dumb by your story here. What does the agent get out of this? The house won’t sell so no one wins? The market gets subsequently worse (it will!) and they all make even less money in the end? Then they’ll REALLY have a reason to drink!

By: MD Account

MD Account — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:31:26 +0000

It’s not just SF. I recently bid on a property in a small town in the East Bay where the price was determined using year-old comps.

Two bids — incl. mine — both came in $100K under asking, which reflected realistic current market prices. The seller, enraged, rejected the second offer and countered mine by dropping his price $10K and refusing to pay any other costs.

I wanted the house badly, but not at any price. Trying to be fair, I countered by suggesting we split the cost of an independent appraisal, just so we could stop arguing about value and strike a deal. This evening my suggestion was flatly rejected and I was told not to bother with any additional counter-offer.

So tomorrow I’ll make an offer on a different house. The price-addled seller will have thrown away two serious buyers in a declining market, thanks to an agent who didn’t do her homework or educate her buyer. It’s been an amazing example of how much harm a bad agent can do.