Worst Broker Experience Ever
Wondering if I have any recourse for dealing with what happened in a recent home purchase. We were dealing with the owner of RE company who was helping us – the buyers I’ll call him Agent A. One of his associates was the listing agent on this property – I’ll call him Agent B. We…
Wondering if I have any recourse for dealing with what happened in a recent home purchase. We were dealing with the owner of RE company who was helping us – the buyers I’ll call him Agent A. One of his associates was the listing agent on this property – I’ll call him Agent B.
We scheduled an appointment to see the property with Agent A, he showed up 30 minutes late. We scheduled a second viewing of the property with A and he was 25 minutes late. We told him at the end of the walk-thru that we wanted to make an offer and what we were offering. He told us he thought there was maybe another offer coming in but he would ask Agent B and call or text us back within the hour and he would also send over the offer form late that evening. He did neither. I called Agent A the following day asking when he was going to send over the offering paperwork so we could our offer in and he said he would send it by noon. He still did not send it. I called him again at 2:00 pm and left him a rather terse message. We finally got the offering paperwork by about 9:00 pm – almost 24 hours after we were expecting it. We filled it out, sent it back and he did not present our offer to the sellers for 3 days. Ironically, the same day as Agent B brought another offer to the sellers for more than what we offered but they ended up not having the financing. We asked Agent A to send over the signed counter and we would sign and send it back – that took 2 days and about 5 phone calls on our part to actually receive the paperwork. We spoke with the agent over the phone about the timing of the paperwork and he said that there was no one else interested in the property and that they would change the status on their website to pending sale. We had an appointment to sign the paperwork with the broker this morning and he called us last night to say that out of the blue, another offer came in for over the asking price and the owners would go with this offer unless we offered more money. Agent A said that this new interested party emailed Agent B on Thursday evening with the offer without speaking with Agent B before doing so. Who, in this market, offers over the asking price? Obviously, Agent A, dragged his feet and did not inform us of the other offer coming because he wanted more money for the property. Since he owns the company, he’s going to get a kick back from the sale anyway.
Sorry for the long description but am I able to file a complaint anywhere about this so he doesn’t do this to someone else? If so, where?
I completely agree with both foulplay and Crownlfc. Of course there are very reputable, professional non-REBNY brokers that provide terrific service, get great prices for their clients and cobroke all day long. There has always been this tug back and forth between REBNY and non-REBNY offices, but to not even acknowledge that there is value in a non-REBNY broker, shows an inability to be objective and therefore, is not very credible advice.
Because any “good, experienced and knowledgable broker” quite frankly should NOT have to become a REBNY member. I would love an explanation. The market indeed does take care of itself. A good broker is a good broker regardless of the existence of REBNY. Why is every broker, agent, etc. of a large brokerage house obligatd to become a REBNY member? Perhaps, the named managing broker for each office might make sense; but every agent? That sounds like many memberships and a great deal of expense. The public should flesh out the bad brokers and sales agents; not the “false” protection of REBNY. Your conduct and professionalism as a broker should validate your ability in the industry – not REBNY. The reputation is what carries the day, NOT a symbolic membership.
As a member of REBNY, I can assure you – belonging to that trade group is no guarantee of ethical behavior. There are many, small Non-REBNY brokers that are both professional and ethical. Brokers are like any other trade: Contractors, nannies, mechanics, doctors etc. It comes down to the individual.
Actually, the buyers who were with me at this incident were more upset about it than I was and later purchased a (more expensive) property through me, co-broking with another REBNY broker, so my business was very well-protected, thanks to the unprofessional actions of the seller’s broker.
But this thread was not originally about the difference between REBNY and non-REBNY brokers, although I can’t understand why any good, experienced, and knowledgeable broker would NOT be a REBNY member. You, foulplay, obviously believe otherwise and nothing I say or do will change your mind. Nor do I care to — the market will take care of that just fine. Good luck to you.
Babs, your statement about “two bit brokers” and so on is a gross generalization of the industry and insulting to many involved. I am sure there are many sound and prudent methods for conveying your situation to the owner represented by this difficult broker. I believe the statute makes public policy exeptions, if even applicable and hopefully the same for REBNY rules; again, I believe it is an industry duty to protect against bad broker behavior and poor representation. You would rather spew your generalizatios about non-REBNY brokers instead of taking the proactive measure of protecting your own industry. By your inaction, you as a real estate broker, left another prospective buyer, broker to the exposure of your own horrible circumstance. This is how you protect your business and perhaps property?
Actually, as a licensed real estate broker, I am not allowed to contact the owner of a property under exclusive to another broker, so that was not an option. As the firm is not a REBNY member, my only recourse was to call that agent’s managing broker directly, which I did, with the predictable response of, “That’s what you say; my agent tells me a different story,” so no hope there, and the other alternative is the DoS, which, actually pays much less attention to complaints from within the industry than from without, so nothing doing there either. It’s a shame that so many sellers fall for these two-bit brokers’ lines about charging a lower commission, etc. — kind of like the unscrupulous mortgage brokers — preying primarily on less-sophisticated owners.
I’m not in the Real Estate business, but if I felt my broker was not communicating my offer in a timely fashion, I would let the seller know. Of course, I would include all sorts of disclaimers about how I was not trying to circumvent the relationship between seller and broker. I would think the seller would want to know if the broker was behaving in a fashion that could jeopardize the sale of his/her property.
go for it! must be great feeling. Corley’s lazy ass is probbly reading this right now.
Tinarina – that’s what my husband keeps telling me.