A Realtor's point of view
Posted By: MBD - 08/14/2000 08:19 PM
I couldn't have said it better! My advice for any buyer in the marketplace is simply this: Do not sign anything that say's "exclusive" unless you have complete confidence and trust with the agent you are working with. The only way to achieve this is to sit down with this agent, ask questions and completely explain your expectations. Be sure that your schedules don't clash. Believe it or not, some agents do not show houses on the weekend and many agents are only part time which will limit their availability to you. You should also be sure that your agent knows the area in which you are looking. Knowing community information ( or having the ability to get it for you) & past sales history can be very valuable. If they don't know it, then it can be very costful. And as for the real estate agent in this story: I cannot comment too much because I don't know her side. I would recommend to any agent who works with buyers to sit down with them for an hour or so and really get to know who you are working with. Ask them what their motivation is and more importantly their expectations of you. Some buyer's would rather do the preliminary work by driving by homes that are for sale and getting a feel for the neighborhoods that they are in. While other's expect you to do that for them. I any case, only the buyer knows where he/she feels comfortable. By previewing houses for buyers, we are judging their reaction to a specific home or neighborhood and making a decision for them. The last time I looked, that is called steering. Hence, previewing homes can be dangerous. We can only do so much of the preliminary work. Buyer's need to be made aware of that and the reasons for it. Buyer's and their agent's need to work together to achieve the best outcome. It is the responsibility of the agent to give the buyer a full list of the homes which meet the criteria that they are asking for. It is the buyer's responsibility to decide which one of those homes is best for them.
