Reason #987 why I hate realtors

Your question is it strange to reach out to the homeowner that acquired an agent, and told you to deal with their agent once already, you've put in an offer (all realtors are legally ethically obligated to present all offers to their clients), they declined the offer, and now you reach out to the owner again?

Yes, that is strange/unorthodox. And will likely result in a quicker declination of offer because now emotions are involved.

 

It would be unusual for an agent to present a contract to a seller absent a representation agreement with the prospective buyer.
Could just be incompetent, but since the seller is under contract to pay realtor commissions and you were shown the home by another agent while under that contract, dealing direct with the seller in hopes of avoiding commissions is problematic.
IMHO.

 

Clarity, my partner felt some type of way that they rejected the offer completely and did not counter. Hence the “ call them and see what they would accept”. But yeah no I’m staying away from this whole thing haha.

 

You'll have to wait until Festivus.

 

And yet another story from this whole adventure in home buying/selling.

So the home we are purchasing and the sellers have been an experience all on their own. Going in - we knew they had potential to be “difficult” - so it’s not like there weren’t warning flags that we willingly accepted.

House was clearly priced above “market” - like 15% above. It had set for 30 days with no offers which says a lot in this overhyped market - a newer move in ready house sitting with 0 offers. Part of our situation though was our home we would be selling needed to be listed and sold as well - and we were a few weeks from being completely cleaned up and listed. Knowing that inventory is low - we started looking early and for good candidates who would accept an offer with a sale of home contingency.

We had family members tour this one for us - got a good report aside from obvious overpriced and made an offer sight unseen (other than realtor pics which can be very misleading at times) and actually came to a reasonable price pretty quickly. We “overpaid” a little I think - but we had to as we had the sale of home contingency included and honestly - 10k in a mortgage payment is like what $10 a month?

The fun started shortly after when sellers started pressing “when are you going to list your home” - and it’s like wait - contract says we have 45 days to list and accept an offer - so to me calling 3 days later making demands is a little ridiculous. Told them plan was the following weekend - we needed to get a pro photographer in and our realtor would hold an open house that weekend - worst case that gave us a full 30 days to keep showing if it didn’t sell for some reason immediately. That of course wasn’t good enough for them and they threatened to walk - a little reassurance and a reminder that if they tried to back out and then re list that we could sue for breach of contract ended that quickly.

Next weekend comes - we list and it sells that weekend. All is great. Then get a call “are you interested in buying the whole house generator we had installed” - I’m just like - if it’s in the listing and in the pictures and wired in - it’s part of the home in my mind - but I’ll play along to see what they want for it. Gave an actual reasonable price so I say sure - I’ll just give it to save the peace over a few hundred bucks.

So now yesterday we asked to get access to our contractor this week for measurements. House is newer - but the kitchen is very soecifically decorated. It’s just an odd “old country farm” look the wife doesn’t like. Even odder - no dishwasher or microwave. So plan is to replace cabinetry - take the old (very nice but just not wife’s taste) and move them to basement and use as a in law kitchen/bar or something. Well sellers get wind of our plans and called to say “we want the cabinets back - we are going to renovate our new place and can use them. It wasn’t like an “ask” or an “offer” more like a demand - which kind of pissed me off. I mean - if the would have said “would you be interested in selling the cabinets” - fine - but presenting like “if your not going to keep them the way they are we are taking them” just rubbed me the wrong way. Worse - they expect OUR contractor to carefully remove/deliver - at our cost. Im just thinking - piss off - you are asking ME for a favor, I get nothing for this and your making demands you entitled pricks.

Then comes the cherry on top - they also want the vanities from the bathrooms too ! We had no plans on changing those at all. It’s just like really - what’s next ? All of this a week before closing. If it weren’t for having our house sold - I’d tell them to piss off and walk. But can’t do that to our buyers - who have actually been incredibly easy to deal with and worked with us to move up closing dates to make sellers of new house happy.

I just don’t get the sense of entitlement some people walk around with. You make a deal - then you think it’s negotiable after you sign. There’s a difference between asking nicely and offering vs demanding that some people just don’t get I guess.

 

So, did they get the cabinets and vanities?

 

just asked last night - I haven’t answered yet (closing set for next week).

Tempted to just ignore until closing and then once we have the keys just tell them exactly how I feel.

Again - sometimes it’s just more about HOW you communicate a request vs the actual request made. Asking nicely and saying “how much would you take” would have been received much better. I mean - I’m not one who really cares about small things / so what if I “could” sell something for $40 on Craigslist / I’d rather give to someone I know who could use an item. If they offer cash - I decline - if insist / I say give it to a charity that can use the cash / everyone’s wins.

 

I like Engineers; they get to ride on trains

 

Wait til after closing.

send them a price list for what they want.

that’s a diplomatic way to tell them to kick rocks.

 

As long as they don't somehow find a way to delay closing until they get what they want.

 

If my posting hasn’t been clear enough - diplomacy is not my strong suit. I’d rather tell some people off. It’s why I suck at sales and customer relations. Weirdly - I was a “Resolution Specialist” at a former job and actually got very positive reviews (I have no idea how).

This kind of reminds me of a couple of stories involving a friend - both actual invoked music gear - but 2 different dealers.

First one invoked a very high end guitar - friend walked in - tried it out and liked it so the negotiation began. This particular dealer was a known “tough guy” who didn’t feel the need to negotiate much - on the other hand my friend was a notorious tightwad - so this was a “must see” negotiation for a few of us. 30 minutes of arguing/name calling and negotiation finally produced a deal. Friend shakes hands and gives him the cash - says “where’s the case” - dealer looks at him and says - that was just the guitar - the case is sold separately. It’s thought for sure there would be a homicide shortly after.

Second one - same friend/different dealer. This one just showed the level of petty some guys go to. Friend came in and had a guitar he was thinking of trading - and knew exactly what he wanted to buy. Asked what the shop would give on a trade in - they checked his out and made an offer. Friend declined - said I’ll just put it on eBay if you can’t give me my price. So he said - I will take the guitar I want though for cash - he hands over cash and then asked “do you have a shipping box I can have” - shop says no. Friend just said ok - can you hold me one and let me know when you have one - shop keeper said no. It was clear what the owner was doing - knowing my friend was planning on selling on eBay and didn’t have a box to ship a guitar in - unless he could find one it made the owners offer the only viable option unless he found a buyer in person. Kudos to my friend though - just looked at owner and said ok - oh BTW - you offer 30 day returns right - owner said sure. Friend said great - I’d like to return this then and handed guitar right back to the owner. Some people just don’t realize how damn stupid they are being until it hits their wallet.

 

They’re “demands” aren’t part of the original contract. They can kick rocks anyway.

 

Can’t see how that’s possible - I guess they could try - but again when there’s a contract and you back away - it gets costly - fast.

Ask the new owner of Twitter how that works. Sometimes you just have to accept you made a deal and live with it - even if it doesn’t immediately go your way.

 

I'm surprised these questions even got to you. With my first realtor especially, all communication from the sellers would be via their realtor to him and he would have just told them to pound sand at that point without even bothering me with their bullshit unless he wanted to tell me about it later for a laugh.

 

The contract should say "all attached goods and the following unattached goods:" and if it's not on that list, sellers take it.

 

Our realtor is beyond worthless in my opinion.

Dude is actually part of a husband/wife outfit A and it’s clear who the boss is.

Would have dropped him 30 seconds after entering into any real discussions if not for the fact he’s a friend of the in-laws. Kind of tough to say “the guy is an idiot” when he’s referred by family and they are friendly. I thought - let’s just get it done - how much can he screw up - didn’t count on sellers being this difficult either.

Our realtor down here is 180 degrees different - much better. Has been on top of everything and great to deal with.

And yes / I completely understand anything n the home when shown that is considered a common component is reasonably understood to be part of the sale unless specifically excluded. It varies from state to state (for example here in NC refrigerator needs to be specified - but other kitchen appliances and washer/dryer are considered common to the home and included).

I just never will understand people - trying to squeeze a nickel out of a deal. Like I said - my thoughts are simple - don’t blow up a multi hundred thousand dollar deal over $100 and when I’m selling something - I’m taking your money and you can do what you want with it.

IF you want to place restrictions on things, what can be done or how they can be used - there are mechanisms for doing this. Of course it hurts the value and sale - but you are the one choosing to place the restrictions.

 

As far as the previous owner wanting the kitchen cabinets is concerned, I would just say that you changed your mind and you’re planning on keeping the cabinets, after the closing you can do whatever the heck you want, from what I understand anything that is attached to the house sells with the house, for them to want the vanities out of the bathrooms is ridiculous

 

Read the contract. If it was written by anyone who has actually bought or sold a house it will be explicit that everything connected to the house (whole house generator, cabinets, etc.) are included. Period. Based on that, you can give the sellers the silent treatment until the closing, then show them the contract they signed. If they push, show them the contract earlier.

 

There's an entire brokerage firm in Houston who only hires very attractive young females as real estate agents. Let's just say they'll do anything to close the deal if it's on their terms. The stories I've heard from friends in the industry about them is disgusting, they literally recruit girls from twins peaks, hooters, and strip clubs and convert them to real estate agents. A brief look at their "portfolio" of agents and you'll get the pic. Not going to mention their name but if you live in houston then you probably have an idea, and btw they're killing it in sales.....smh so many weak ass men out there today. Oh and they're selling very expensive homes! I guess if you're going to spend $400k-$1mil you might as well get a treat with it.

 

Interesting - I can certainly see it happening though.

I’ve seen it from other companies in Oil & Gas / hire some young girl with absolutely no knowledge of the industry but amazing looks to obtain lease agreements. Keep in mind a lot of the negotiations are with old men and involve leases for hundreds of thousands if not millions - I’m sure more than one of these young ladies found a way to make a double fortune in these deals. The philosophy is simple - who cares if she’s an airhead and has no idea what she’s doing - as long as she gets a signature our lawyers will do the rest.

As far as acting as realtors - it works well in certain markets I’m sure and with the right clientele - male, single or newly divorced - selling condos or housing in certain areas / doctor/lawyer and other professional types. But for the majority of suburbs - your selling to families and we all know the women run the finances in the majority of families. No chance in hell this is gonna play well to females.

 

And just as I feared - complete and total F’n train wreck - courtesy of our realtor and the title company he steered us to.

So call yesterday to find out why we don’t have closing docs for closing at 7:30a this morning - title company makes more excuses, blames mortgage broker and says she will get with them. 3p mortgage broker calls and says he just spoke with title company - have her everything again and we should be good. Call title agency - person handling this decided to leave early for the day because it was such a nice day - but they will let her know it was sent.

Show up for close this AM - get the “I got nothing” - call mortgage and they say yes - we sent and why the rush - closing is MONDAY ! I’m like no - it was today. They are scrambling - check and no title agent communication says MONDAY. Title agent blames realtor and mortgage - realtor who conveniently dissapears and checks out of his office next door calls in and blames title agent and mortgage. Mortgage of course blames the other 2.

So here we sit - looking at a weekend of hotel with 2 dogs and a moving crew sitting 7 hours from home that likely will either need to reschedule their weekends to stay here 3 more days of paid OT or drive home and back up on someone else’s dime. Of course everyone blames everyone else.

 

Just very “coincidental” that the realtor (whose offices are next door and vehicle is very distinctive with their personalized plate and visible on street when we parked behind it - split immediately once they knew we were there.

They were SUPPOSED to be there for the closing - but slipped out the back door without a word. Of course they “had no idea there was a problem” and have made it clear it’s not their problem to fix or pay for (despite their share being by far the largest).

To be clear - I don’t blame the realtor for the problem (that’s on the title agency - who knew the closing date and did nothing and failed to communicate via voice calls - relying on messages via email) - but I do fault the realtor for not ensuring there were no problems. Their role is largely to “double check” everything / they represent ME. Of course they made it quite clear they can’t blame the title agency because they have to do business with them daily and making them look bad is not good for business. I just told him - do what you want to maintain your professional relationships - but unless you plan on covering the cost out of your business - be prepared to have to toss them under a bus in a legal complaint or be thrown under yourself.

If not for the cost - I’d simply walk at this point on everyone and just find another place. But technically being homeless and knowing this can be resolved in 3 days - kind of limits my options. Just have to roll with it and then file complaints after. Hate to call an attorney at this point - but it’s clear no one is going to step up and a complaint to the state is unlikely to go anywhere fast.

 

That is about the worst service I have heard of from the combination of a realtor, title company, and mortgage company. That's horrible.

 

I'd be reaching out to your attorney if it were me. That fee would be reduced significantly. I mean I can forget appointments and closing dates and mishandle documents all on my own for free.

 

Dentists have been fine IME, but I can tell some lawyer stories... I'll stick to realtors for now though.

I thought that the internet would make realtors obsolete, but that doesn't seem to be happening. I mean, do we really need to hire two salesmen to be middle men on every home transaction? And pay them 6% of the home's value... WTF? They don't provide any security; no legal assistance whatsoever. And if you are a buyer, you might believe that "your" realtor will be looking out for your interests, but in truth they both want you to buy a house as soon as possible.

Bought two houses and sold one in my life. I sold the house without a realtor, and it was so easy and smooth. Both times I bought, I used a realtor... because you kinda have to. You usually can't get into the houses to look at them otherwise, unless they are FSBO. The first guy was pretty typical, the second was actually a blast... he was a retired cheese farmer/rancher from South Dakota and he was just doing it for fun. Not only was he a lot smarter than the typical realtor, he didn't care about selling anything. We'd get together and shoot the shit about all sorts of things... and also look at houses. After looking at near 100 houses over a 6 month period I finally bought one. I think he earned his commission.

I'd expect dentists to find something else to brace against rather than the patients body! Plus what is the point of holding his chest down, and not his head?! Bad form there; could easily cause a neck injury.

True story... I was having a wisdom tooth pulled and it just wouldn't come out. Towards the end the dentist was bracing herself (not a dainty woman) against the chair and pulling for all she was worth, while the assistant held my head down... and they did eventually get it. Turns out the roots had grown together inside the bone.

 

Ugh - that technique is so poor. If that tooth doesn't move in 1-2 minutes, I'm cutting it out with a handpiece.