Realtor ethics, this seems shady to me....

[booyah]

I found a property online that I was interested in buying, it's an investment property (4-plex). It is in my parent's hometown, so I called the listing realtor and asked him to send me the financials and see if he could meet my parents and show them the place to see if it was decent or a dump.
My parents said it was fine, so I told him I'd be getting a realtor and putting in an offer. He got back to me and said he should represent me, and sent a bunch of info on dual-agency. I've been burned on dual-agency before and will never do it again. I told him that my bank, USAA, has a program that gives a bonus back to us if I use their realtor referral, so no thank you to dual-agency. He proceeded to bombard me with emails about how he should be my agent, and the emails were increasingly aggressive, and full of half-truths (sample: It's unfair to you to use a buyer's agent, if you don't use me as your agent then I will only be acting in the seller's interest to get you to pay a higher price, which of course is very unfair to you, because I won't be looking out for you, etc, etc) I refused dual-agency two more times, and he sent me about 10 emails over 3 days. Finally today he sent an email saying that if I persisted in using my own agent instead of him, I'd have to pay that agent myself. I wrote back and said that is interesting, I hope it is ethical for him to threaten that because if not I will be filing a complaint. I haven't heard back all day and he's on email constantly, so I know he got it. Does anyone know if this is legit? I also told him I'd rather not make the offer after all rather than be threatened into being represented by someone like him.

[noodleoo]

Wow, that's bad. Definitely not ethical and I would not want to work with him either.

[jinnifah]

I have absolutely no idea about realtor ethics etc, but I think it's rather entertaining that he may have lost a sale due to trying to be greedy on commission. It'll be interesting if the sellers find out. I definitely wouldn't work with this guy.

[mellymel]

That's unethical. He should have stopped "offering" after your first "No."

I think it was OK for him to ask once, since you didn't have representation from the get-go (which was honestly your first mistake). You need to get representation before you go looking at anything else again. He was sort of acting as your agent for the first showing so I kind of understand where he's coming from but again, should have stopped after you initially said no.

[LauraMoser]

I think I'd be rethinking an offer. He sounds like a total dick and not someone who I'd even want to consider negotiating with.

[housegeek]

You should try to get in contact with the seller, that guy is shady!

[vanillacourage]

You shouldn't have asked him to show you/your parents the place if you didn't intend to use him as your agent, but all those emails are ridiculous. I'd let your agent handle all communications from here out (as they should anyway).

[moog]

May 14, 2012 16:37:33 GMT -5 mellymel said:

That's unethical. He should have stopped "offering" after your first "No."

I think it was OK for him to ask once, since you didn't have representation from the get-go (which was honestly your first mistake). You need to get representation before you go looking at anything else again. He was sort of acting as your agent for the first showing so I kind of understand where he's coming from but again, should have stopped after you initially said no.

Agreed...if you are interested in a house, you can ask any realtor who you want to represent you about it. Then they can do the dirty work and find a time for it to be shown to you by the other realtor.

But I also greatly dislike every realtor I've met (I have to work with them a lot) so I think you should just tell him to fuck off.

[imojoebunny]

That is crazy, especially over email. I would email the head of whatever agency he works for. Tell him that you would like to make an offer, but that this person has been very aggressive and unprofessional and ask him if their is someone else your realtor can deal with.

I would not keep it from me making an offer, if it is a truly good deal. I would get my own realtor and move forward.

I had a similar thing with a man who showed me a house we were interested in. I was looking in the window of the vacant house and he pulled up, said that was his listing and he could show it to me. He ask me if I had an agent, I said, no, but we had one we would use if we made an offer. He said, after showing me the house that he expected that I would use him if we made an offer on the house. I said, no, I told you, I was just looking at a few things on the house, when he happened by, we had already seen it at an open house, and was just confirming what I thought about the house. I was not looking for an agent, he insisted on showing it to me, even though I told him that I would prefer to work with an agent I already knew.

He was not particularly nice about it, and I am glad we chose not to buy it, but if we had really wanted it, I would have stood up for myself and said, no I want to use a realtor I know. The only difference here is that your parents looked at the property with him, I am assuming? If that is the case, that could be more of a problem, but he should have made them sign a buyers agent agreement, though he didn't show it to you, so that is a bit more complicated. I can't see where he has a leg to stand on.

[newsgrl39]

That is completely shady! I am no longer an agent but I used to be... he should not be harrassing you like that. I would contact his company and show them your emails and I would also contact your local board of realtors.

[onomatopoeia]

May 14, 2012 16:54:18 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

You shouldn't have asked him to show you/your parents the place if you didn't intend to use him as your agent, but all those emails are ridiculous. I'd let your agent handle all communications from here out (as they should anyway).

I don't have any real estate experience, but why wouldn't she use him to show the property? He is the selling agent, wouldn't he have an expressed interest in showing it to interested buyers? If she asked him to show her properties that he wasn't the selling agent for then yes, he could hav expected her to sign with him, but this was his property.

[jenjen]

May 14, 2012 17:52:57 GMT -5 onomatopoeia said:

May 14, 2012 16:54:18 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

You shouldn't have asked him to show you/your parents the place if you didn't intend to use him as your agent, but all those emails are ridiculous. I'd let your agent handle all communications from here out (as they should anyway).

I don't have any real estate experience, but why wouldn't she use him to show the property? He is the selling agent, wouldn't he have an expressed interest in showing it to interested buyers? If she asked him to show her properties that he wasn't the selling agent for then yes, he could hav expected her to sign with him, but this was his property.

Our buyers agent showed us all properties - we never met with any of the selling agents. When we sold, our realtor did not show the house - they buyers came through with their agent. In some states (from what I learned from the Buying a home board on TN) whoever shows you the house would be your "agent" so if the selling agent shows you the house, you use him/her and they would get full commission and be a dual agent.

[livinitup]

SHADY 100%.

He just doesn't want to split his commission with your agent. He's not entitled to thousands of dollars because he showed it once. And you NEED someone representing YOU. He really thinks he's going to represent your interests AND. theirs at the same time? And no , you don't pay your agent. The commission is split. Liar.

[bunch]

I would file a complaint with the local board. Everything he said to you was completely out of line. That said, I would contact usaa and have them set you up with an agent before you view a property again. If the listing agent was the cause of the sale (which, if he showed your parents the property, he was), he could fight your agent for the buying side commission.

[laurasean]

While he seems overly aggressive in the 2 states I've looked at property, the realtor who first shows you the property is your agent for the sale. If you go to an open house, you must disclose you have a realtor unless you want to use the showing agent. They can sue you for the commission if you don't use them. Will they? Most won't. But this guy just might be jerk enough. You shouldn't have asked him to show you the property if you didn't plan to use him.

[amity]

May 14, 2012 20:07:27 GMT -5 laurasean said:

While he seems overly aggressive in the 2 states I've looked at property, the realtor who first shows you the property is your agent for the sale. If you go to an open house, you must disclose you have a realtor unless you want to use the showing agent. They can sue you for the commission if you don't use them. Will they? Most won't. But this guy just might be jerk enough. You shouldn't have asked him to show you the property if you didn't plan to use him.

This is interesting. It makes sense, but I had no idea. You learn something new every day. I am assuming that this rule does not apply to houses viewed during an open house type event?

[laurasean]

May 14, 2012 20:10:55 GMT -5 amity said:

May 14, 2012 20:07:27 GMT -5 laurasean said:

While he seems overly aggressive in the 2 states I've looked at property, the realtor who first shows you the property is your agent for the sale. If you go to an open house, you must disclose you have a realtor unless you want to use the showing agent. They can sue you for the commission if you don't use them. Will they? Most won't. But this guy just might be jerk enough. You shouldn't have asked him to show you the property if you didn't plan to use him.

This is interesting. It makes sense, but I had no idea. You learn something new every day. I am assuming that this rule does not apply to houses viewed during an open house type event?

In NJ, you must disclose you have a realtor to the showing agent at the open house in order to not use them. They all had sign in sheets so I would write my realtor's info in contact info so they couldn't claim I didn't disclose.