One Bourbon, One Scotch, & One Beer.....And A First Time Home Buyer

Just as I was thinking, I haven't written a Blog in a while, my trusty Blackberry gives me the familiar chirp of a text message. Much too my surprise it is a message from a friend...."Can I buy you a drink or several tomorrow night or the next". Heck we are in the midst of a recession and I have a friend offering to buy me a drink or, as he put it several, George Thorogood quickly comes to mind. I quick reply yep what's up?

Then to my horror I get "I am buying a house". My first thought is it must be a FSBO or he must be buying it from a bank. I text back, "Is it a FSBO". The response, "Nope it is listed by Agent X, with Company X and I told her I am not using an agent". My one word reply "Stop".

My buddy, a single, intelligent, and wealthy commodities trader at the Chicago Board goes on to explain to me that he told the agent this is his first home purchase. It is beyond my comprehension that the listing agent would not have suggested some sort of representation for the buyer. In today's litigious environment this seems to very perilous behavior.

I can only imagine that this listing agent is seeing the sugar plumb ferries of a double bubble dancing in her/his head. An extra 15-20K in my pocket...A long Labor Day Weekend in the Caribbean.

Regardless of whether or not my buddy listens to my advice to get representation over one bourbon, one scotch and one beer tomorrow night, I am confident the sugar plumb ferries will quickly stop dancing as I will arm him with the information he needs to make intelligent decisions.

Once again I am amazed how reasonably intelligent people make very unintelligent decisions when it comes to real estate.

The first bad decision is the error of omission by the agent for not explaining the importance of representation. The second bad decision is the fact that my buddy is willing to make the biggest purchase of his life with Basil Hayden, Johnny Walker, and Augustus Busch as his representative. The third was when I believed my friend when he told me he decided he wasn't going to buy for at least another year, and I quit helping him look.

At least now I have plans for tomorrow night..."give me a triple shot of that juice".