Fire immediately.

And spend just as much time shopping for a BUYER'S AGENT (key words) as you do for a house. Give up on that one for now - if you're eager for it, someone will exploit that and you'll end up getting soaked on the price for it. The best thing you can do as a potential buyer is come across as somewhat indifferent, even if your heart is pounding and you're in love with a particular place. If you show it, you'll regret it. Keep your cards close to your chest and don't ever show emotion.

Realtors do not work for you - they work for themselves. Their primary motive is to pad their own commissions for doing the least amount of work. As such, shopping for a decent one should be a process that takes a long time and at the first sign of trouble, run (don't walk) away if you're at the point of being serious (i.e. ready to make offers and/or put down earnest money).

FWIW I've been looking around (casually, but looking) for almost 2-1/2 years now and have dealt with no less than a dozen realtors. They're all varying degrees of scum and I wouldn't consider paying any of them the thousands of dollars of commission fees they obviously think they're entitled to. When the time comes, I'll deal with that. For now, it's just interesting to see how they behave to an "only-semi-serious" buyer. I'm patient. Realtors right now are also dime-a-dozen, but they don't seem to acknowledge that. I'm holding out for one that will give me the time of day, share updates/listings with me that are WITHIN THE PRICE RANGE I SET OUT (most don't even do this, opting to provide only listings that are within -20%/+20% of my MAXIMUM price). They don't seem to realize that I'm actually quietly screening them for now. The ones that are decent make my "short list" and just might get that commission later. Most still seem to think it's 2003 and if I don't have $100,000 burning a hole in my pocket to buy right now, today, that I'm not worth their precious time. Wrongo. Those ones lose.

It's hilarious. These idiots (for the most part) don't realize that long-term relationships are the key to survival in business. Most can't see past their next boat payment. There are few "professions" I have less respect for. Maybe mortgage brokers, but that's another discussion... ;)

Excellent post. Thank you Shaun. First time buyers should really read into this one.
Shaun is sceening potential Realtors(TM)/agents by seeing if they try to exploit his financial situation. Most seem to be doing that. Those are the scum that will try and lock him into a quick sale which he will eventually not be able to afford, and will eventually put him into terminal bankruptcy.

-A good realtor/agent will tell you about, and stick to, a "buyers-agent agreement". That means they legally have to keep all of your personal and financial information private. Every buyer should should have one.
-A very good agent will ask you a lot of questions about what kind of house you are looking for, and then call you twice a week with potential properties that are well within your price range.

For instance, imagine your agent casually saying to the seller's agent "Oh, he recently won the lottery, and he really, really wants this house because his wife likes the supermarket next door."
That little sentance just cost you $15,000-$150,000 in negotiation.

We saw a farm listed in a small town newspaper. We called the agent and asked for the address so we could do a drive-by looky looky. She would not give us the address and insisted we must make an appointment with her to go through the house, the full tour. My wife and I new how we wanted the grounds set up and that was always our first test. If the house passed then we would set up an appointment. This lady just refused our request. So I called another office and the realtor looked up the info on the house and gave us the address so we could drive by.

We ended up buying the farm and the 1st realtor was the listing agent and lost 3% of her commission for being a putz.

The kicker is we are now friends with the people we bought the house from and we told them the story 6 years later. Boy were they pissed off at the listing agent.

Speedy:)

We saw a farm listed in a small town newspaper. We called the agent and asked for the address so we could do a drive-by looky looky. She would not give us the address and insisted we must make an appointment with her to go through the house, the full tour. My wife and I new how we wanted the grounds set up and that was always our first test. If the house passed then we would set up an appointment. This lady just refused our request. So I called another office and the realtor looked up the info on the house and gave us the address so we could drive by.

We ended up buying the farm and the 1st realtor was the listing agent and lost 3% of her commission for being a putz.

The kicker is we are now friends with the people we bought the house from and we told them the story 6 years later. Boy were they pissed off at the listing agent.

Speedy:)

There is no lower form of life on this God's earth than a realtor.

That is a lesson I have learned well on many occasions. Do not believe a single word that passes their lips.

Lawyers are saints by comparison.

Up until now I thought car salesman were bad. But at least they want your business and will return your calls. Heck they wont stop calling. Realtors seem to be different. There is no dealing its their way or no way. I guess they figure the right turnip will eventually come along.

Even a "down" market doesn't seem to be changing the real estate industry's motivations.

For the average (uninformed/stupid) citizen, this means the loss of: not $1,000, not $10,000, but $100,000's.

Multiply that number by a couple million citizens and you'll start to see the jist of our current economic crisis (thanks to Alan Greenspan's lax regulations). Add a $$Trillion in Bush's Chinese debt and it adds up to a recession.
Good for buyers(foreign alike), but bad for sellers in debt. The ball is in your court.

I ran into my broker at Starbucks the other day.

She makes a damn good latte!

Two words: You're FIRED!
Sounds to me like she has another buyer that she thinks will offer more or, she wants to buy it herself. Don't walk, RUN! If you signed a buyers contract, submit a request to the agency (not the agent) to cancel the contract due to lack of performance. Send a certified letter telling her she has reneged on her duties and you consider any obligations to be void.

Like sugested above, find the owner and talk to them. Hopefully they will fire the realator and you and the seller can work out a price between yourselves that doesn't include a commission. Or, if you don't like the idea of that, contact a realtor you trust and ask him/her to contact the owner and broker a deal.

I love the house :)

Easy enough.

Find your own realtor then at no cost to you. They get a split of the sellers(listing) agent commission (unless there is a unusual arrangement) and your Realtor will be even more motivated to get you to buy that place then you even are since that's how they get paid. Your realtor can submit the offer and find out what's going on.





Edit: And that place looks like it should have another digit in the asking price.

BINGO!

In fact I thought it was ILLEGAL to not submit a bid when told to do so.

Anyway, just call the realtor who'd phone # is on the house - tell them you are pre-approved.

BTW - pre -approved and pre-qualified are not the same -- one is a LOT better than the other. I forget which but I think pre-approved means the loan is a done deal.

IT is possible that the REALTOR wants to buy the house for herself. Do NOT let that happen.

Super looking house & now s the time to buy.

If you do that, in California at least, and the listing agent finds out the seller sold the property to you who saw the house while they still had the listing agreement, the seller will be sued and have to pay the commission anyways.

Correct, "pre-approval" doesn't mean schit. "Pre-qualified" means a lender has actually run your (documented) financial situation and is willing to write you a mortgage. Pre-approval is a term they throw around to schmucks in order to make them think they've somehow got financing lined up when in reality, it's meaningless.

Another thing that's very amusing to me - when you call up various agents and ask for lease/option and/or short sale listings in an area, only about 1/3 to 1/2 will even entertain you. It's low commission for them and apparently not worth their time.

Obviously the crash hasn't started hurting them bad enough yet where they're actually desperate enough to do their jobs. Maybe in a few more months...

Good point.
Both agents have to be fired for legally-verifiable nonperformance before any private sale can occur, or else either one could claim a commision later on.
There would also have to be a (provable) perponderance of physical evidence to back up breaking both excusivity contracts.

That's not Tony's problem. He's the buyer. No skin offa his nose.

If you want the house, contact the owner.

Realtors are not used to actually working. It will come.

Banks typically pay 5 or 6% on short sales, so either 2.5 or 3% to the selling broker, no reason to avoid those deals.

Put yourself on the other side of the phone. About 99.9% of those asking for LO's and short sale listings are either completely broke, or just took a Carleton Sheets class.

I find it hard to believe that if you were really serious about buying in a reasonable timeframe, you wouldn't have trouble finding a motivated agent. Doesn't about 1/2 of the CA population have a RE license?

Well...being that 1/2 the California population are divorced housewives, I'd say you were close. Tony is in Indiana, however. I imagine realtors are even hungrier there, so this scenario is confusing (unless he's really stumbled upon a bonafide slacker).

OK, well that is very likely why she is dissing him then.

He should have a lender pre-Qual. him and then go out -- but meanwhile fire the idiot....

AND ACT FAST - she may have put in her own bid already.