Why You Want A Buyers Agent To Deal With Developers
Not too long ago I got an email from an ex-prospect who decided to buy a developer's property without a buyer's agent. They persuaded her that she would get a better deal without them having to pay a buyer's agent commission. They then proceeded to hose her. She wanted to know if there was anything I could do. The only answer I could honestly give was basically, "Sorry! The transaction is already done!" This is the way that developers like it. Once the transaction is complete, the damage is done. You own the property, and you owe the money. The only recourse is through the courts, which takes years as well as lots more money - and that's if you win.
Many folks want a brand new house for one or both of two reasons. First off, there's that new house feeling. Secondly, they don't have to deal with a real estate agent, or so they think.
This is mistaken. The agents who work for developers are very pleasant, very professional sharks. They're not allowed to actually lie, but other than that, they have no significant responsibility to the buyers. Their responsibility is to get the most money on the quickest sale, period. If you let slip the wrong thing that leads them to believe you'll be a difficult transaction, you can be torpedoed before you even start. They're not there to tell you the bad things about a property, or that there's a better deal two blocks over. They have a responsibility to get the property sold. Period. The developers hire them from among the very sharpest, most ruthless agents there are.
Indeed, developers usually have higher hurdles for buyer's agents to jump over than any other seller can get away with. Buyer's Agents must accompany the client upon their first visit, and register them in writing. Seems minor, but anyone else who tried this would be dead in the water as far as getting agents to show their property, but developers will do both of these and more. With anyone else, when an offer comes in through an agent, that's enough. During the seller's market, many developers were refusing to pay commissions to any buyer's agents at all. This left potential buyers to pay their buyer's agents themselves or do without. The feeling on the part of developers was that buyer's agents spoil their party, so since they didn't have to deal with them, they weren't going to. The demand was there to sell the developments out whether they were willing to deal with buyer's agents or not - and if they didn't deal with buyer's agents, they would have things more their own way.
This has changed now. Every last buyer is precious, so developers are grudgingly working with buyer's agents. I went to a development with a client a few days ago, and the developer's agent had no difficulty conveying the same sentiments as that classic San Diego bumper sticker, "Tourists go home - but leave your dollars and daughters." They wanted my clients - but they didn't want me. Some of it traces to the fact that they want the whole sales commission, some of it to the fact that clients with a buyer's agent working on their behalf have a stronger proponent and negotiate better bargains, meaning lower bonuses and less in commission.
Indeed, a buyer's agent is a fairly unique position in sales. A buyer's agent's responsibility is to get you the best bargain possible - lowest price for the best property. Since commission is based upon sales price, this is the only job I'm aware of that gets less money the better they do their job. The idea, of course, is the better they do their job, the more people will want you to do it for them. You may not make as much per transaction, but if you do more transactions than you would, you come out ahead.
Some agents try to leverage this by rebating a percentage of the commission they would get. After all, it doesn't take a lot of time to fill out an offer. However, it does take a lot of time to shop effectively for a given client. I'm making offers now for a client I've been working with for two months. I've probably spent in excess of a hundred hours physically looking at properties just for them, never mind researching the properties before I left, or all of the things that contribute to general market expertise. They looked at a few on their own - and stopped, because they were seeing better values with fewer issues through me. A good agent knows what else is available on the market - but the agent who sits there with a license and a fax machine has no clue. There's nothing ethically wrong with agents getting paid for sitting by a fax machine. I'm perfectly willing to rebate part of the buyer's agent commission if someone doesn't want me to scout and evaluate properties. If, however, you want someone who's able to recognize what is and is not value, and who is going to be a strong negotiator on your behalf, thereby getting you a better property at a better price, you need someone who gets out of the office and looks at property. Agents can't get that kind of expertise sitting in the office. And if your only qualifications are a real estate license and a fax machine, why are you making more than ten dollars per hour? What benefit does that have for the public? I visited a new development on behalf of some clients last week. They had one left, in which I spotted a foundation crack literally from side to side of the structure. I checked the area again today, because we're still looking, and that property has gone Pending. I'm not a licensed inspector or contractor, but if someone can spot this before the sellers have your deposit, it can really save your bacon. If I were a discounter, that would have been my clients, because they loved the property.
People in the financial press like to complain about real estate commissions being too large. But they are not as large as they are by some accident of nature. People didn't just decide to pay five, six, or seven percent of the sales price because someone told them to. Sellers do it because experience has taught them that they end up with more money in their pockets because of their listing agent's expertise. It's not a large jump from there to understanding that if the seller has someone whose expertise for one transaction is worth that kind of money, it's a real good idea to have someone on your side who knows just as much, not only about real estate in general, but your market in particular. Various businesses have been trying to offer real estate brokerage services at discounted rates since at least the mid 1970s from my personal knowledge. Traditional sales models have lost a little bit of market share, but they're still going strong. There are reasons for this. Reasons like how long it really does take to get a property sold, like how much work it really does take to know the market. Reasons like there is no way to evaluate the relative value of the property except by looking at lots and lots of properties. Reasons like the paperwork that has to get done, and the legal liabilities involved if something goes wrong, or the buyer isn't happy, or any of hundreds of other reasons. Not to mention all of the transactions that stop before consummation. Real Estate is the only occupation I'm aware of that anything like the work we routinely do, and doesn't get paid at all if the sale doesn't happen. When discounters work for less pay, the only thing that can give in this whole process is the services they provide.
Developers know all of this very well. They are not charities. They are out to make the largest profit possible. They don't hire discount agents. They hire the best agents they can get, and support them with large advertising budgets, because that gets the properties sold, and for enough more money to more than pay the costs of what they spend. These agents act very friendly, very charming and disarming, and completely ruthless. Developers' strategy of discouraging buyer's agents from being involved is part and parcel of ending up with more money in their own pockets. The only place for the money in their pockets to come from is the pockets of the people who buy from them. If you want to deal with a developer, you want someone on your side who knows enough about real estate and your market to stand up to the experts on the other side.
Caveat Emptor
Categories
Buying and Selling1 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Why You Want A Buyers Agent To Deal With Developers.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://searchlightcrusade.net/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2876
Good Evening! My name is DELETED and my wife and I recently signed papers to purchase a property from DELETED in DELETED, CA. After our options, their lot premium, and the elevation charge, the house is listed at 425,000.... Read More
blog advertising
--Blogads--
blog advertising --Blogads--
My Links
-
Heavy Lifters
- Instapundit
- Michelle Malkin
- Scrappleface
- Volokh Conspiracy
- Captain's Quarters
- Wizbang
- Victor Davis Hanson
- Eject! Eject! Eject!
- Michael Barone
- The Victory Caucus
- The Truth Laid Bear Places I get to as often as I can
- The Command Post
- Good News Central
- Icerocket
- Life Liberty Property
- MEMRI
- Raging RINO Community
- Technorati
- Transparency International
- Wide Awakes
- The Anchoress
- Argghhh! R
- Armies of Liberation R
- Asymmetrical Information
- Austin Bay
- Belmont Club
- Big Lizards
- Tim Blair
- Cox and Forkum
- Dr. Sanity
- Kevin Drum
- Gateway Pundit
- Hugh Hewitt
- Iraq the Model
- Jeff Jarvis
- Jihad Watch
- John Leo
- Lileks Screed
- Little Green Footballs
- Josh Marshall
- Mudville Gazette
- Neo-neocon
- WSJ OpinionJournal
- Politburo Diktat R
- Powerline
- Powerline News
- Protein Wisdom
- Q and O L
- Real Clear Politics
- Mark Steyn
- Stop the ACLU
- Strategy Page
- Don Surber R
- Vodkapundit
- Watching America
- Matthew Yglesias
- Michael Yon Personal Finance, Economics and Business Sites
- Bloodhound Blog
- Consumerism Commentary
- Eidelblog L
- The Entrepreneurial Mind
- Finance Blog
- Financial Rounds
- Free Money Financea>
- In Cash Flow We Trust
- I Will Teach You To Be Rich
- Mortgage Fraud Blog
- No Credit Needed
- Old Niu's Blog
- Pacesetter Mortgage Blog
- Personal Finance Advice
- pfblogs.org
- Social Security Choice
- Students for Saving Social Security Other sites I've linked and visit
- Accuracy In Media
- Ace of Spades
- The Agitator
- All Things Jennifer R
- Ann Althouse
- American Citizen Soldier
- The Anarchangel L
- Angry in the Great White North L
- Antigravitas L
- The Anti Idiotarian Rottweiler
- Art of the Blog R
- Atlas Shrugs
- aTypical Joe R
- Professor Bainbridge R
- Baldilocks
- Barcepundit
- Beldar
- Belgravia Dispatch
- Below The Beltway L
- Blackfive
- The Buck Stops Here
- Catallarchy L
- Chapomatic
- Chequer-Board of Nights & Days
- Clarity and Resolve
- Classical Values R
- Combs Spouts Off L
- Common Sense and Wonder
- The Counterterrorism Blog
- Countertop Chronicles R
- Coyote Blog
- Daily Howler
- Daily Pundit R
- David's Medienkritic
- Dean's World R
- Decision '08 R
- De Doc L
- Brad DeLong
- Democratic Peace
- Different River
- Digger's Realm R
- Done With Mirrors R
- Drink This
- Drudge Report
- DUmmie FUnnies
- enrevanche R
- Eschaton
- Evolution R
- Fearless Philosophy L
- Forward Biased L
- Generation Why?"
- Happycrow's Eyeball Factory L
- Hold The Mayo L
- Huffington Post
- The Idiom
- IMAO
- INCITE L
- INDC Journal R
- Inside Larry's Head R
- Inoperable Terran
- Iowahawk
- It Comes In Pints?"
- The Jawa Report R
- Just One Minute
- Justus for All R
- Kausfiles
- Ezra Klein
- Daily Kos
- La Shawn Barber
- Liberals Against Terrorism
- Libercontrarian RL
- Libertarian Leanings R
- Liberty Papers
- Carol Platt Liebau
- Llama Butchers R
- Mensa Barbie
- The Moderate Voice
- Mossback Culture R
- Mover Mike L
- Mr. Completely L
- National Review Online
- No Angst Zone L
- Normblog
- Brendan Nyhan
- Ogre's Politics & Views L
- One Fine Jay R
- Owlish Mutterings L
- Patterico's Pontifications
- Peter Porcupine L
- Bradford Plumer
- Pole Dancing In The Dark L
- Political Calculations
- POV R
- Publius Pundit
- Radio Equalizer
- Reasoned Audacity
- Respectful Insolence R
- Rhymes with Right L
- Riehl World View
- Right Place
- Right Reason
- Right Thoughts R
- Right Wing Death Beast
- Right Wing Nut House
- ROFASix
- Samizdata
- Say Uncle RL
- Debbie Schlussel
- SCOTUS Blog
- Roger L. Simon
- The Strata-Sphere R
- TacJammer
- TalkLeft
- TAPPED
- Target Centermass L
- Technography R"
- Tempus Fugit
- Texas Best Grok L
- Tigerhawk
- Link Text
- Tinkerty-Tonk R
- Tom Rants RL
- Unalienable Right
- Uncommon Insanity L
- Unrepentant Individual L
- Villainous Company
- Oliver Willis
- Willisms
- The World According to Nick R
- World Wide Rant R Link Exchanges, etcetera
- But That's Just My Opinion
- Condo Buzz NYC
- Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns
- DANEgerus R
- A Dollop of Sour Cream
- Dust My Broom L
- Generic Confusion R
- Grim's Hall
- Heartless Libertarian L
- individ L
- Kesher Talk R
- Leaning Toward The Dark Side R
- Libertopia L
- Liberty Corner L
- Medary L
- Mondo QT L
- Nose On Your Face R
- Pererro R
- Pratie Place
- Random Fate R
- Ravings of John C. A. Bambanek L
- Signifying Nothing R
- The Skwib L
- Tel-Chai Nation
- TF Sterns Rantings L
- DC Thornton R
- Wake Me Up On Judgement Day R
- Windypundit L Consumer and Research Sites
- Better Business Bureau
- Consumer Reports
- NASD Home
- California Department of Real Estate
- California Licensee Lookup
- California Department of Insurance
- National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)
- Do Not Call Homepage
- IRS Charities Search
- Internet Fraud Complaint Center
- SEC Home Page
- Stop Mortgage Fraud
- Report Mortgage Fraud Debunking Many so-called Real Estate Gurus
- John T. Reed Other research
- FactCheck.org
- Babel Fish Translation
- Snopes Worthwhile Web Comics
- Sluggy Freelance
- Day by Day
- User Friendly
- Kevin and Kell It is site policy to list the main page of every site I reference. Sometimes the real world intervenes and I haven't gotten to it yet, or one falls through the cracks on a long post with multiple references. It is also site policy to list the main page of every site that lists this one on their equivalent roll, as well as the main page of all sites that are members of any of the same groups this site is a member of. Please send me an email with a link to the main page of your site if I've overlooked you (dm at the domain name). For the clue-challenged, note that it is a requirement for your link to appear on every page of your site, just like mine does, and I will not link to spam sites. Honor Roll of Sites Banned by Paranoid Repressive Governments: (be the first on your block to submit a link!)
Requests for reprint rights, contact dm (at) searchlightcrusade (dot) net! Subscribe to Searchlight Crusade
C'mon! I need to pay for this website! If you want to buy or sell Real Estate in San Diego County, or get a loan anywhere in California, contact me! I cover San Diego County in person and all of California via internet, phone, fax, and overnight mail.
**********
Contact me! dm (at) searchlight crusade (dot) net (Eliminate the spaces and change parentheticals to the symbols, of course)
Leave a comment