It's a popular sport to slam real estate agents, but is it going too far when mortgage lenders join in the fray? Wells Fargo, Inc. , one of the largest lenders in the land has a buyer's tutorial on its parent server that warns consumers about the hidden agendas that real estate professionals may have. Are agents getting what they deserve, or does Wells Fargo have an agenda, too? Real estate agents are used to home search sites, financial services sites, and mortgage lenders giving tutorials on home buying to buyers online. Countrywide, for example, has an extensive easy-to-navigate customer service center on its front page. REALTORS are clearly positioned as Business Partners along with mortgage brokers, making it clear that the direct lender's relationship with real estate agents is ongoing and healthy. In fact, the system is set in place to refer customers to participating agents. The consumer can get information about home buying before seeking a real estate agent by clicking on Home Purchase, where the tutorial sticks to what the lender knows best - questions about loans. USAA, a nationally known insurer and lender, doesn't make it easy for consumers to access information online, because the services are for members only. But, after navigating the log-in ritual, members can reach the Home Loans and Real Estate Services page where the site cheerfully touts that it will put the consumer in touch with a "USAA-certified real estate agent." USAA also puts in a few mild warnings about the way the real estate industry operates, but does so non-judgmentally. "Many buyers may not understand that if they're not using a "buyer's agent," the real estate agent they rely on to help them find a house is representing the seller. MoversAdvantage will make sure you understand this and whom the agent you work with represents. Knowing this can help you significantly in the negotiation process." Yet, if the consumer want a turn-key transaction using USAA's MoversAdvantage service, the site promises a $200-$1,000 cash bonus on the sale or purchase price of your home, and a combined bonus of up to $2,000 if you buy and sell through the program which is funded through reduced commissions to participating real estate agents. At least the site has a relationship with real estate agents. t Wells Fargo, on the other hand, includes a distinctly broker-unfriendly tutorial which is reprinted in its entirety below, in case the story is jerked off the site when this story posts. Ten Things Your Broker Won't Tell You is damning and although there is no author is credited, it's clear that the bank was warning consumers that agents have other reasons besides the customer's best interest for making the following statements: 1. "My Commission Is Negotiable." When real estate agents tell you that the "customary" commission in your area is between 5% and 8% of the sale price, they expect you to fork it over without a fight. Don't. Before signing a listing contract, try to negotiate a lower fee with your broker. You'll be surprised at how easily you can knock off a percentage point or two if you hold your ground. (Your bargaining stance is measurably enhanced when you are both buying and selling a home. Then, a negotiated commission is an expected part of the deal.) "It's not something we like to tout," says a former Connecticut real estate agent who asked not to be named. "But it does happen." "2. I'll Chip In to Make the Deal Go Through." Agents not only will negotiate their commission upfront but also may take a further cut later if it means saving a deal that is on the verge of breaking up over minor details. Who will pay the points on the mortgage? Why shouldn't the seller have to replace the broken dishwasher? When these skirmishes arise, feel free to ask your agent to pitch in. Most will usually agree rather than see the sale -- and their entire commission -- disappear. "3. You're the Only Bidder on This House." When you express an interest in a house, the agent will often tell you that you'd better hurry because there are other bidders even when there aren't. If you suspect your agent is pressuring you to make an offer by exaggerating the activity on a certain house, ask to see the other bids. That information is supposed to be confidential, but one former real estate broker says that if another offer really exists, in some cases the agent will show it to you. "4. You Should Be Using More Than One Agent." Agents will often pressure you to work exclusively with them. If they spend a lot of time getting to know what type of house you want and driving you around to see different properties, they figure you owe it to them to buy a house through them. But there's nothing to stop you from seeing homes with more than one agent. Checking in with a few of the best salespeople in each area is a good way to keep your finger on the pulse of the market. Many times an aggressive agent will show you a home before it appears on the multiple-listing service. And if you're looking in a large geographic area, you'll need more than one agent to make sure that you have access to all of the multiple-listing services in those places. "5. Here's What You Need to Know About This House." Because real estate agents are, in most cases, paid by the seller, they have a legal obligation to protect any confidential information shared with them, like the seller's absolute lowest price, or the fact that the couple selling the house might be going through a divorce and thus may be looking for a quick deal. Furthermore, while brokers are required by federal law to tell prospective buyers about any structural problems in the house, they won't always tell you about other mitigating factors -- for instance, that a murder was committed there. As a buyer's broker, John Arends, of REMAX Properties North in Colorado Springs, Colo., says he seeks out the owners of properties his clients are interested in so he can find out about any hidden factors that would affect the sale. "We seek out owners now," says Arends. "But when I was a seller's broker, we used to avoid them at any cost." "6. I Might Use Whatever You Tell Me Against You." Because the brokers and agents are usually being paid by the seller, you have to remember that when you are buying a house, your interest in the deal is not the one being protected. So if you happen to mention to the agent the highest price you will actually pay on a house or that your company will pay closing costs as part of your transfer package, those are details that the agent must disclose to the person selling the house, thereby weakening your bargaining stance. Despite tougher laws in many states demanding that agents disclose their ties to sellers, many people still don't understand how the agent-buyer relationship typically works. "7. This House Is Functionally Obsolete." Agents have little phrases they share among themselves to classify houses that might be tough sales. This is one of them. Your agent may gush that the house you are looking at is a great deal -- maybe even $10,000 under the market price -- but what he or she probably won't volunteer is that as a three-bedroom home with only 1 1/2 baths, it's an outdated dinosaur in an area where most comparable homes routinely include two full baths. Older homes with closed-off kitchens are also a drag on the market these days; homes where the owner has knocked down a wall and added an island in the kitchen sell better. And when your agent mentions that the house you're about to see is a "handyman special," understand that it may take more than just one pair of handy hands to get this place into shape. This is often real estate code for a money pit. Expect anything from a leaky roof to a shifting foundation. "8. I'm Pushing My Own Listings" In most home sales, the listing agent splits his or her commission with another agent who saw the house in the multiple-listing service and brought it to the attention of a willing buyer. But an agent who finds a buyer for his or her own listing stands to rake in the full commission. With a windfall like that, you can see why some agents steer buyers toward their own listings, sometimes excluding more appropriate homes. If you're wasting a lot of time seeing homes that you don't like but that the agent is pushing, switch agents. If you are a seller, you'll want to make it clear upfront that you expect the listing agent to accept less than the full commission if you find the buyer. Agree on a discount before you sign the listing agreement and make sure the amount is included in that document. "9. This Is the True Value of Your House." In order to get a listing, a broker will often give you a price that is well above the market. You put the "for sale" sign up, expecting to make a killing, but the offers never materialize. After a while, the broker says the market has softened and you need his or her expertise more than ever to get the house sold -- even at a lower price. The danger is, the original high price tag often means a house stays on the market for months, getting a reputation as a dud. "10. I'll Do the Footwork for You." It's mandatory that you thoroughly check out the neighborhoods and houses you like yourself so you know exactly what you're getting into. But there's no reason why your agent shouldn't help. Ask your agent for recent clippings from a local paper that illustrate market prices. What about SAT scores and other school-district information? Any zoning skirmishes that may affect home values in the future? If an agent balks at these requests, find another, more aggressive one. When you do get this information from agents, however, keep in mind that they have their own agenda. It's not in their interest to tell you all the bad news about a place. But they can provide some leads that should make your own investigation easier. The story is buried and is no longer accessible through front page links, but why did they have the story on the parent server at all? If it has run in the past, there is no estimating the harm it has done consumers. If it is intended to post in the future, there's no excuse not to tell the other side of the story, too. The site should explain how honorable agents operate, so they aren't tarred with the same brush as those with self-serving or dishonest intentions. The lender could go even further and say they endorse certain agents because they don't practice their business in the above manner. Then they'd have themselves a heck of a referral service. When I tried to find out Wells Fargo's side of the story, I was frustrated at every turn. First, there is no media relations button or contact on the site, for some inexplicable reason. So I went in through the home mortgage site. I spoke with Nate Oberst, an online mortgage banker at the site, who said he had heard about the article but had not seen if for himself. He passed me along to his supervisor Sarah Spindler, who said that the mortgage center had received feedback from agents, but that she had not seen the article, either. She referred me to Jon Ferchen, the media relations person for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He was not available, nor was his counterpart, Dan Farmon, who also could not be reached by office or cellular phone. After leaving my phone number on four phones, including two cell numbers, I turned back to the site in search of some mitigating evidence that would show that Wells Fargo was only presenting one side of the picture and might have other stories or programs involving the real estate industry shown in a more positive light. I found none. Why would a national bank slam real estate agents this way? Could it be that the industry deserves it? While the industry practices under state regulations and a national code of ethics supplied by the National Association of REALTORS®, the fact that Realtors are independent contractors opens the industry to a wide range of standards of practice. Some agents do show their own listings first. Others do overprice to get the listing. Some do conceal whom they represent. Disclosures to consumers are getting murkier all the time, and few agents explain whom they represent upon first contact with a customer. But there is also the other side of the coin. Agents who practice ethically also deserve to be considered and not lumped in with agents who are overly self-serving or dishonest. To address the problem and attempt to get some kind of national consensus, the NAR has instituted transactional brokerage as a means to lighten liability for brokers and their agents and enable them to work equally with both buyers and sellers. But judging from the information posted on Wells Fargo's site about working with agents, the initiatives are a little late. It takes time to get 50 opinionated state jurisdictions to get on board with the same game plan, particularly when they have doubts and disagreements about the pros and cons of agency. So perhaps some general confusion over how brokers and their agents can or should operate is understandable, but if Wells Fargo wanted to educate the consumer, rather than slam, why didn't it merely post a story that explains that each jurisdiction operates differently and that what is customary in one area may not apply in another. But they didn't. Some agents believe that the more questions a buyer has answered, the more prepared the buyer will be to make faster home buying decisions. They welcome their site partners who can save them time and effort by prepping the customer so he or she is ready to buy. But few agents will appreciate having to rebuild consumer trust after reading what a national lender has to say about real estate brokers. So if Wells Fargo isn't posting the story on its own site, where is it? One Realtor found the story on SmartMoney.com, the Wall Street Journal's online magazine for personal business, but it may have been subsequently killed, because I couldn't find it. I did, however, find a link to Ten Things Your Lender Won't Tell You.