Is this unprofessional or is it just me?

[Arimeh]

I'll try to keep this short cos I'm on my phone.

We've been on the market since early September. No bites from buyers, and our real estate lady has called a few times during this period with updates, last contact was before Xmas.

We saw another agent showing a similar unit next door to people on Saturday. He saw we were home and asked if he could take the buyers through our place. We agreed. He told us he has sold 3 units around us on the last week, so buyers are out there, completely opposite to what our RE lady tells us.

DH and I discuss it, figure we will ask him if we can go through him instead, same agency, different branch. So I sent him a text yesterday, no reply which was fine, it was Sunday.

Emailed him this morning. No response.

Receive a call from our RE lady telling me that he has called her about us wanting to go with him instead. Now, in my eyes, this is so unprofessional, couldn't he have called me first to discuss things????

So after one of the most uncomfortable telephone conversations of my life, I'm now thinking that we will leave this agency and go with another agency cos I just think it's so unprofessional - her for her non-contact for long periods and him for discussing it with her before me!!!

What do you think? Am I over-reacting cos of pregnancy hormones or am I just expecting too much from them in the first place?

[fionas]

Not sure.

Sounds like they may have their own internal processes to go through if you want to swap agents - like give the original agent a shot at talking to you before transferring you.

Having said that, you have to do what you're comfortable with and if you no longer feel comfortable with either of them then ...

But at the end of the day, if the goal is to sell and the second agent IS selling in your area then that tells you a lot.

Can't you do your own research and figure out whether things are selling and if so what agents are selling them? If there's another agency that seems to be moving stock then try them. Or interview a few. Doesn't cost anything to have them over and have a chat.

[LimeSlice]

Cut them loose and find another RE altogether, that is disgraceful.
I would make a complain to his director too.

[toomanyshoes]

The woman sounds useless IMHO. I don't think he should have contacted her without contacting you, especially considering he showed someone around your place.

I would be turfing them and going with someone else.

[Livinthedream]

That sux, I dont know what the protocol is with Estate agents, but when we tried to bypass our mortgage broker and go direct to the bank, the bank said no, we has to go through the broker.
Maybe there is some kind of legal dibs or something?
Still the new agent should have at least called you first and said "thanks, but I cant, because of xyz"
It is ****e...

[misty]

Actually the way he behaved was the professional way. There are rules (particularly within agencies) about how the REA's must proceed when faced with these kinds of situations. He possibly should have contacted you as well to explain the situation, however, his agency may have rules restricting that too.

If I were you, I would sit down and read through the terms of agreement you have with your current REA, particularly in regards to termination of their services - you may not be able to give them the flick and hire someone else as easily as you think: most agreements will have terms of 'exclusivity'.

[krysalyss]

I think there are problems with that regarding who gets the fees for the sale which is probably why he has called her first.

[Arimeh]

Misty, I get what you are saying, however I thought if he had called and explained that he had to talk to her, I would have called her myself instead of having to receive an unexpected phone call and be on the back foot so to speak.

Our contract with her was for 120 days so I'm pretty sure it's expired by now.

[toomanyshoes]

however I thought if he had called and explained that he had to talk to her, I would have called her myself instead of having to receive an unexpected phone call and be on the back foot so to speak.

Thats the part that I find unprofessional the fact he didn't call, he could have easily explained that you would need to speak to her first so you didn't get her call out of the blue.

[misty]

I know from your perspective that makes sense - However, some agencies literally have rules stating that if a client from another sales agent within the same firm approaches someone to take over a sale, then they must approach the original sales agant first, and some agencies will go so far as to state that the secondary agent will not make contact with the sellers again without the orginal agents express consent. Even without those rules, it is professional courtesy and loyalty for a collegue (and helps to avoid all sorts of legal mindfields in relation to commissions, etc).

Given how useless she has been for you, I would look at giving her the flick too. However, your first port of call should have been to inform her of your dissatisfaction and that you were intending to look elsewhere for someone elses services.
You may find that even after you give her the flick no-one else in the same agency will take you on as a client, because there are still legal issues that may very likely arise regarding commission.

[Maruschke]

Actually the way he behaved was the professional way. There are rules (particularly within agencies) about how the REA's must proceed when faced with these kinds of situations. He possibly should have contacted you as well to explain the situation, however, his agency may have rules restricting that too.

If I were you, I would sit down and read through the terms of agreement you have with your current REA, particularly in regards to termination of their services - you may not be able to give them the flick and hire someone else as easily as you think: most agreements will have terms of 'exclusivity'.

This is true. Actually the person who was unprofessional was your old agent, not the new one. New agents contacting old agents is very common (we just changed agents) and I see no reason why she didn't back off and allow the new guy to make the phone calls and contact you. She probably did it to make you uncomfortable in a way of pressuring you to keep the contract. Sorry you had to take such an uncomfy phone call, I hate them with a passion.

[misty]

Just to add: You could always go talk to the Principal agent and let them know you don't like your current agent, but would like this other guy - or you will be taking your business to another agency all together, they 'may' choice to get involved and help sort out an arrangment for you. Or they might just put it in the too hard basket and say good bye. It depends on how much property they have on the market at the moment and how the sales are going on a more general level.

[Phteven]

If your contract has expired giver her the flick. If places are selling but she hasn't sold yours she's hopeless.
What we did when selling was talk to a bunch of agents then we asked the one who seemed to provide the best advertising options and had the most sales staff to match the lowest commission we got offered.

[fionas]

... and don't feel bad about telling someone they're not good at their job. This is a big life-affecting deal. After I listed with one agent, the other one called to find out why and I told him, warts and all. No point beating about the bush, the losing agent just didn't do their job as well as the other guy and it was only fair of me to point that out if he wants to improve.

[Arimeh]

Thanks guys (especially misty).

Sometimes it's hard to see beyond my hothead temper to work out if it's me that's wrong or other people! Lol

I'll chat with DH about it, as far as I know the male agent is chasing up the buyers this arvo, so if nothing comes of it we will give them all the flick, just to make it easier lol

[Maruschke]

Good luck with it Mel.

[Astrid]

We had the issue when we sold our house in Melbourne that we were not in the zone for the office we wanted to use. As a result we had 2 offices and therefore 2 agents. At first we disliked the idea, but is worked well in our favour. There ended up being a bit of a competition between both of them so see who could sell it. So of course the price went up and we were the ones who benefited

Good luck with it all!

[Arimeh]

Urgh I had to talk to her again this afternoon. Apparently the male agent rang the wife of the couple who came through on saturday - and they are looking at it as an investment property (which it would totally be an awesome investment property, rates and body corporate are ridiculously cheap and the property is pretty cheap too considering!) but they have to go through their figures with an accountant and see what position they would be in if they did buy it.

Couple of things worry me now - my RE Agent said something about us renting it from them if they buy it because we're not moving till next year. She seemed surprised when I set her straight that NO, we would rent something in town because we're too far out here. So now I'm worried that the idiots told these people that they would basically have guaranteed renters for a year!! Plus, she said something about how rental would be $240 a week, and I said, no they would get $285 cos I've already enquired about it when we were thinking of renting it out, and she was really surprised - so who knows what they have told the potential buyers?

So now we are giving the potential buyers "breathing space" to make their decision - and the male agent is ringing them in about 3 days time - and then we'll know what we are doing. If they don't want it, then we'll drop the agents because they don't seem to be listening to us, making their own stories up and exaggerating lots of things as well.

Urgh. I hate selling. Buying is MUCH more fun.