Bad Realtor
Fiduciary duty.
This term refers to the responsibility an agent has to their client. A Realtor is to always have their clients best interest in mind. This includes not disclosing certain bits of information to other agents about their clients.
I recently received an offer from a fellow Realtor on a property I'm representing. This agent called me and stated the following (paraphrased):
"I'm faxing you an offer. This isn't the best they can do, so feel free to counter higher. They really want this house!"
After countering their offer, I received another counter offer from them. This time the agent says:
"I really want them to get this house, so lets try and work this out. Go ahead and counter on this offer."
If you find that your Realtor has compromised your interest by disclosing vital info, get rid of them immediately.
As a Realtor, let me apologies for all of you who have had bad experiences with Realtors. Not all Realtors are stupid or crooked. Find a Realtor you trust.
Did I mention that the Realtor mentioned above is representing family....
posted by Stone @ 6:50 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
That is not just an ethical violation that should be reported to the licencing board in your state it is a criminal act and should be disclosed to the proper authorities. To fail to turn the creap in is complaicency in his efforts to run the price up so he gets a better comission from the buyer. And may I add you also benefit from his malfeacence and would be open to future lawsuits if you fail to report his actions.
Actually, in Utah, the Seller pays both the buyer's and sellers commission. The only effect on the buyer is a compromise to their negotiating position.
It would be wrong on my part if I and the other agent conspired to drive the price up, but that's not the case.
Would not telling you the sellers agent that their client will pay more so feel free to counter the offer be tantamount to conspiring to drive up the price?
If I had suggested to my clients that they could ask for more, without telling them all that the buyer's agent had told me, then I might be a party in conspiring to get a higher price for more commission. However, before counseling my clients on how to proceed, I disclosed everything the buyer's agent had told me.
By doing this, I allowed my clients to make decisions based on what I know of the buyers instead of using the knowledge to get more in commission.
But was not the motivation of the buyers agent in disclosing the information to you to push the price of the house up and as a result his commission?
I see. You're assuming that the buyers agent's reason to give me that information was to jack up the price. I believed and now am sure that the only reason the buyer’s agent told me this is because he is a new agent and has no ides how to correctly represent his buyers. I believe his desire is to get the buyers a house, but in the process of doing this, he disclosed some information that might have jeopardized their negotiation power.
He seems to be guilty of being new, not of wanting to drive up the price.
Hmmmmm maybe I'm just jaded from too many years of working with bad apples. :)
Sadly, it is easy to find bad apples on the Realtor tree.
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