…Perhaps there’s a reason!
Maybe your agent doesn’t know the area that you’re interested in seeing? To me, the big red flag goes up when I hear of agents who request that their buyers contact the listing agents to show them homes…
A user on our website who had been ‘with us’ on our site for a month indicated that she and her husband are in the market to buy a home in one of our specialty areas. The buyer sent their information and when the time was perfect, they decided that they wanted to see only one house. That house was not our listing but, as you know, was on our site due to our IDX feed. IDX means Internet Data Exchange that real estate companies use to share their listings with all other companies in order to better serve their sellers. So, you can find other agents’ listings on almost every site.
This particular couple and their family had driven by the house to check it out from the street and fell in love. They decided that they simply MUST see this property before their family leaves town. I get the call–“Okay, we’re ready to see it!”
After several conversations about agency and confirming that this couple is NOT working with an agent, I referred them to one of our agents–ready to go! Pre-qualified, no agent representation and a home to show in this agent’s area of expertise. A perfect fit, right?
During their visit, it was discovered that the potential buyers know the neighbors, who wound up buying one of the referral agent’s listings. They parted on good terms, excited to forge a nice working relationship. Following the showing, the potential buyer emailed our agent to thank her for showing the property but, kindly refused to sign a buyer’s agency with her because she ALREADY HAS AN AGENT! As a matter of fact, it’s the same agent who sent a buyer to our agent’s listing that they discussed earlier in the day.
Their agent NEVER laid eyes the home that she sold next door for those buyers! She lives 35 minutes away and has her clients phone the listing agents to view the properties in our area! Rather than refer the clients out to agents who KNOW the area, she expressly complains that she knows nothing about the area and that she won’t make the trek to Charlotte to show homes so the listing agents can do her work for her. She also does NOT attend inspections with her buyers–again, she allows the listing agent to do her work for her! Also, she’s obviously not even sending her clients listings because they’re searching for homes on OUR SITE! (And, what do you find there? Every IDX shared listing in our MLS.)
This is just wrong on SO many levels–not even to mention the burden on the other agents. This MIA agent has completely neglected her fiduciary duties to HER clients. If she does not know the area, how does she oversee the due diligence for HER clients?
Furthermore, how are her clients okay with this type of service? We’re paid well to do what we do. How can any client accept this type of far-less-than-full-service?
I can tell you one thing, I do refer out to her area but, will never refer a client to her–NEVER. Who knows how she manages clients in her own area? Perhaps it’s not that she doesn’t know the area, maybe she’s working full-time at the mall!