Choosing a Bonita Springs Buyer Agent
What’s that old saying? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. No matter what the relationship is, the only thing worst than being dumped or cheated on is being dumped or cheated on twice by the same person twice.
Unless my content was stolen, you’re reading it on my real estate website which is where many of my business relationships begin. Consumers, both buyers and sellers of Bonita Springs real estate, find my website in search for the answers about real estate and/or a search to choose a real estate agent to employ … hopefully, me.
Recently, I had someone contact me to search for homes in Bonita Springs. As usual, email and phone dialogue goes back and forth a bit and the buyer’s criteria gets honed so that they’re fairly close to really knowing what they want before they get to visit Bonita Springs. Somewhere in the early stages of honing Mr. Buyer’s criteria he just showed up in Bonita Springs, called me out of the blue, clear sky and said, “Let’s go out and look at the homes we talked about.”
Honestly, I had no idea he was coming, we had no “list of homes” we’d even really narrowed to the point of getting into a car and searching. On top of that, my schedule was full for the next few days and had to shift around appointments and cancel recreational plans if I was to accommodate this last minute request. By the end of that day I had left a voicemail and an email for Mr. Buyer to establish a time to begin showing properties. They went unanswered until late into the evening when I received an email which read:
I have started working with another agent that was not so busy. If he does not find me anything we want to buy, I’ll check with you in the future.
He didn’t make it through the day of his surprise visit before he ran away with another real estate agent. In retrospect, I’m relieved. Most of the people who work with me to purchase or sell their Bonita Springs real estate actually appreciate the work I do and respect the time and expense I invest in their home search. Expenses for which I’m not compensated until the buyer purchases a home or condo.
This whole strange event was water under the bridge with this failed real estate buyer relationship until today when I received an email which read:
I have been in contact with an attorney here in [my state] and I find, that here, unlike Florida, your home is not protected from claims. He is in the process of transferring everything I have into a trust to make it hard to get at the assets. However, I am advised to not sell my home until the [things have] been resolved, so I will not be buying in Florida at this time.
Thank you for your efforts and when we do buy, I’ll be in touch with you.
My best guess is that since he had already dumped me when he first arrived in Bonita Springs, unexpectedly, without an appointment or even a courtesy phone call to say that he was on his way and expected me to drop everything (including courteous customers like you and my family) that I was one of many Bonita Springs real estate agents he had two-timed or rather three or four-timed. It sure seemed like a group email that was bcc’d to more than one person. I was just in his “Florida real estate agent” address folder and we all were mail the same “Dear John or Jane” letter.
I’ve been a real estate agent for thirteen plus years and have always declined not to work with buyers who are working with another agent in Bonita Springs. It’s simply not beneficial to the buyers and it’s disrespectful to the other real estate agent. Besides, there isn’t *that* much real estate to go around that a whole new person is required to show real estate on another day, like there is a secret stash that some other real estate agent is going to have special access to. We all have access to the same real estate for sale in the MLS.
This is a really difficult subject matter to discuss. There are those who think that real estate agents are only worried about commissions so they’ll go that route and attack the words because they assume it’s greed prompting me to share this. The truth of the matter is that it’s really about respect. I wonder if the buyer in this story could even extrapolate that many real estate agents wasted hours of time with no compensation for services rendered? They didn’t even have the choice to spend their time otherwise, giving charitably, spending quality time with their family or just getting their own personal chores done.
There aren’t many professions out there where a consumer can actually consume [time, resources, expertise, experience] and NOT pay for what they used. It’s like walking into the super market and taking a bite out of an apple and walking back out. The job of a real estate agent isn’t publicly funded and real estate agents do, in fact, only get paid for performance after a consumer actually purchases real estate. Plus, ninety-nine percent of the time, the buyer isn’t even footing the bill, the seller pays the marketing fee at closing. The only investment a real estate buyer needs to put into the relationship is loyalty and respect. 1.) pick a real estate agent and stick with them 2.) be truthful and transparent throughout the transaction.
The time that Mr. Buyer wasted driving around with multiple real estate agents really should have been spent on the phone or on the computer/email interviewing each of them to find out which one knew the market the best, was the most experienced and educated them the most on the real estate market, the finance market and the community in which they choose to purchase.
If you’re wondering how to go about hiring the best real estate agent that you can respect and be loyal to, read also: Qualifying and Hiring a Florida Real Estate Agent