Rhode Island Real Estate, Buyers Agents, Paul Silver

Today one of our agents received the below in email... the names have been changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty. We have done many short sales from the buyer side, and never have we received an email such as this...

I would very much appreciate all comments about this entire concept and presentation.

Here is the quoted email:

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It was a pleasure talking with you yesterday. After I spoke with you I had a couple of thoughts...

First, [AGENT X], who is on my team, reminded me that there was another agent that had previously presented an offer to us, after we started negotiating the one that I spoke with you about yesterday, and their client is still interested. Therefore, we will be looking for highest and best.

Just a few notes on the offer, which I am sure you are aware of but I like to notify everyone in order to secure an offer that will be able to be presented to the Lender and save time. As you know Short Sales can drag out.

The offer does need to be on a full Purchase & Sale Agreement, not just a simple one sheet offer.

The deposit should be at least $3000, we have had too many people walk away if they just put $100 as a deposit. As you are aware this is time consuming and to have that happen is frustrating to say the least. Also, the deposit should not have a contingency, such as waiting until after inspections are performed etc...It is only beneficial to show a serious buyer to the Lender...

We need a Pre-Approval letter with the offer and your clients should already be working on getting the commitment letter as we will need that as soon as possible. On that note, I know you mentioned your clients were going through RI Housing, do they qualify for FHA or another type of mortgage? Simply because since the property is vacant RI Housing will require seeing the inspection report and will want anything that is wrong with the property repaired prior to closing, therefore the likelihood of getting to the closing table is slim to none. It would be a lot of work for naught.

Inspections, may be done for informational purposes and should be done right away.

I [sic] few things about the property:

The pool has a wall that it is beginning to collapse.

There is a leak in the bathroom sink in the basement.

The roof is in need of repair.

further inspection may show more...

Also, as I mentioned, we are working with [XYZ] of the [ABC] Group, he will be negotiating the Short Sale. It is the responsibility of the buyer to pay him. The cost is $3500. [XYZ] will get them the best, lowest deal possible and makes this much easier for all concerned. He has all the paperwork and contact with the Lender...Please call him with any questions regarding this. His number is 111-222-3333

Let me know your thoughts.

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So, what would you do?

First of all, we see no reason why our buyer should pay this 3rd party person to do the deal... either the listing Realtor should pay them, since they are unable to deal with the short sale themselves and obviously need to outsource that service, or the lender or owner should pay that... we believe our buyer should not be "commanded" to pay any such thing.

Secondly, our buyer is already pre-approved. There will be no commitment letter until the inspections, true. Of course, our buyer is correctly advised that they should never purchase the property without an inspection, and that the inspection clause will be in the P&S.

Thirdly: Earnest money is earnest money, and since the agent is not actually doing the work, and wishes not to pay the outsourced guy, why should she care what the workload is, and in any event, that is her job, and our buyers are serious, simply by putting an offer in, regardless of the amount of the deposit.

I am both dumbfounded at this entire concept (P&S bypassing offer, demand for our buyer to pay her outsourced handler, her comment that this guy would get our client the best deal (my gosh, we represent our buyer, and that is our job), demand for a minimum level of earnest money, reasoning that her time is too valuable to accept an offer with less than the amount of her commission, etc etc etc.) and mystified at the pretense.

My response would be something like: I agree with you on all points, except we are not putting earnest money in that amount to you, we are having the inspection, there contract will have an inspection clause, we will not be paying your outsourced handler, as we would do all of this ourselves, and you shoudl actually do something to earn your pay, and we are concerned about you requiring a P&S in liu of the offer. But otherwise, we agree.

Meaning, NO! Sorry, it seems you do not want to sell the house.

We have just closed another deal, Short Sale, where the closing attorney (paid by the seller) was asking $800 to do what this guy is asking $3500 for. Prior to the closing, the bank nixed even that much, and reduced it to $400, and said if the closer would not accept that, they would provide their own.

So aside from outrageous numbers and requests, the audacity of the request is startling.

What do you think?

In recent times we have seen the following scenario enacted by real estate listing agents 3 times in the last 6 weeks in various parts of Rhode Island. The scenario is that we have a lead come in from our web resources (some 25 websites) for a buyer... we contact the buyer lead, and develop a relationship with them... we send them listings to review, and select out a few to go see. We schedule the appointments with the listing agents... the buyers are informed of the role of a buyers agent, and seem pleased to have an agent working on their behalf... of course, most dont know that the listing agent serves the interest of the seller... especially since listing agents generally do not say this to "customers"...

We (the buyer agent and the buyer) agree to view houses on, say, Tuesday. We set the first appointment for 5:30 in the evening, since the buyers will take that long to get to the listing from work. As it turns out, the buyers arrive 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. The listing agent is present, and decides to start showing the buyer the house before our agent arrives, 5 minutes early...

During this time, the listing agent talks to the buyers about how they found the house... the buyers tell them. When our agent arrives, the listing agent is rude, accusing our agent of stealing the listing... they mean that having the listing on our websites is somehow illegal or unethical... they make a big deal of this in front of our buyers. The buyers get confused.

In one instance, the listing agent started saying that she was a member of the same country club as the buyer, lived 2 blocks away, and why were these buyers dealing with an agent that would steal listings.

Of course, there is not anything wrong with showing listings on our websites... we do it as per the agreement we have with our MLS, showing all available listings that we are able. But already the listing agent is convincing the buyers that we are somehow unethical, and that they shoudl work with the listing agent, not us.

Now as a matter of fact, any agent can show all MLS listings that are allowed on the web on their own websites... this is in in complete accord with the MLS rules, and we pay for the service.

Two things are possible: 1) The listing agent is simply clueless about how the MLS works or 2) they are intentionally badmouthing our agent to our client.

Which do you think is true?

I can understand that times are hard for some agents out there... and they may be even desperate for a payoff. However, this is seriously unethical, immoral, and downright rude. If you as a buyer see this sort of thing going on, you should know that any agent can have listings on their websites if they are willing to pay for them. You should also know that this is common practice, and that the agent you see acting in this manner should be aware of it. At least. Telling a buyer that this is somehow wrong, and trying to make the other agent look bad is just a reflection on the desperation of the agent in question, or just a reflection of their ignorance about the current (last 10 years) of technological advances in their own industry...

Would you want to work with a desperate agent who either willfully badmouths others, or is just plain ignorant of their own industry?

I hope not...

If you hear of this sort of thing, or see it with your own eyes, run fast and far from that agent, because if they are willing to stoop this low against another agent, whom they have to work with into the future, what will they be willing to do to you?

Be very very careful out there, all agents are not making a living, and some are becoming desperate, and are falling into very untrustworthy habits. Make sure you are represented properly.

For some interesting takes on Agency and Buyer Agency, visit our real estate information packed website.

This is a question for a particular client, but I think answers to this will be of value to the general public, so I am making the post public.

One of our top clients, who purchased a new construction house for $1.2 million, has a leak in the basement... the contractor who built the house is going to repair it under warranty, but the owners wish to have an assessment of the issue done by professionals, because they dont seem to trust the contractor for the facts... or at least, want to obtain a second, qualified, opinion.

I am aware that this is a very common issue in coastal areas... and throughout Rhode Island, which is entirely coastal.

Since I don't know such contractors in the RI area (spend most of my personal time split between PA, NYC, and RI, I am asking anyone in RI, or in Southeastern MA, who knows a good hydrologist, or engineering firm, which can give these folks a proper assessment of the issue... and some possible remedies...

Anyone know a good firm or person who can do this?

Anyone have some solutions for groundwater leaks in the basement?

I personally have had to repair an issue similar to this, in my home in Bucks County PA, about 15 years ago, due to high water table and a creek in the back yard that sometimes escaped its banks. We used a trench around the perimeter of the exterior foundation, about 6 feet deep, with course gravel, tar paper, more gravel, more tar paper, and filled in. We also added a trough around the interior footing, leading to a sump pump, which pumped the water out of the basement trough and into storm drain, which is no longer legal, so we had to just pump it out into the backyard. In other words, we did not stop the water, just channeled it away... the floor in the basement never got wet again after that (except for some spillage from my aquariums, on occasion... ouch)

The house is in Newport, and the client is willing to pay appropriate fees.

Please let me know ASAP...

Thanks in advance.