Realtors Suck

[DudleyGarrett]

Yes, it's a blanket statement. Yes, it's stereotyping. It's totally wrong in every logical and reasonable sense, but damn, I've yet to work with a realtor who didn't try to either a) screw me out of a LOT of money, b) outright lie to me, c) listen to anything I have to say or d) rush me to the point of absurdity so I'd just SIGN EVERYTHING -- "You don't have to read all of this! It's just legal mumbo jumbo!" In many cases, some have tried all of the above.

Latest episode:

I just opted out of a sales contract after receiving the Draconian HOA agreement and asking neighbors how tightly it was enforced. One neighbor didn't want to talk to me about it and the other three I spoke to said it was ridiculous and if they had known, they would have never moved into the neighborhood. This was the last straw in this deal. We had to get out of it. Anyway, guess what the realtor says, "Yeah, I, um, like, already processed your deposit, so you'll have to wait, m'kay?" Luckily she hadn't processed the check, so I put a stop payment on it. Why process a deposit before all contingencies expire?

Let's go into this sales contract. We told her our absolute ceiling was $455K for everything. We made an offer of $440K on a $485K house. Our realtor comes back with, "They want the sales price to be higher, but they're willing to pay closing costs. If you pay $465K, they'll give you $15K toward closing costs. So you're under your ceiling at $450K! How's THAT for a negotiation?" It didn't seem right to me, but my wife, bless her heart, agreed with the realtor. For some reason, that was enough for me not to think about it anymore, so we accepted. This is not why we opted out, just to make that clear. It's a mistake we made and we accepted it and were moving on. Strike one on the realtor. She said, "Since you didn't fight the counter-offer, that will be good for negotiating after the home inspection."

The home inspection was last Friday. ALL of the windows need replacing. I said to our realtor, "Well, this is the time for negotiation. Let's get them to pay for the window replacements." What did she say? "I don't think they'll replace the windows. I'd advise not to ask them." Everything else that was found to be wrong with the house, the seller is required by law to fix. The windows were the only "extra" thing. But, no, our BUYER'S AGENT doesn't think it's worth asking. Strike two.

Another recent incident with another realtor:

I drove an hour away to look at a house in Charleston, WV. I get there and the realtor didn't know how to operate the front door lock, so we couldn't get in. No shit, this is what he said to me, "We can come back next week... or is this something you'd buy today?" WHAT!? Dude, this isn't 2004!

---

Bottom feeders. When the market's going great, they're impossible to get in touch with, but when the market sucks, they're like vultures. Defense lawyers and car salespeople are steps above them.

A co-worker said, "Welcome to the Northern Virginia housing market. The worst of its kind."

[Solfy]

I know that good realtors are out there. I've heard tales of them. I just haven't had the pleasure of working with any of them.
In 2000, we were in the market for a house. We told our realtor we wanted a starter house, fixer-uppers were okay, but no ranches and no split-levels. We gave her our price range.
She showed us a whole list of ranches and split levels starting at our upper price range and going up. We refreshed her memory, and looked at a couple of cape cods.
Then we'd go weeks without hearing from her. We'd find a house that we wanted to view, call her, set it up, and it would be under contract.
We'd go weeks without hearing from her, call her, and she's say, "Oh, I'll run the multi-listings for you again, you can pick them up at my office." I'd drive out of my way to get a list full of nothing but the same ranches and split-levels, all starting at our upper price range.
We gave up, called another (affiliated) office, and discussed our problems with the manager, who arranged a new agent for us. This new agent wouldn't return phone calls. Ever.
We bought a house that was FSBO with no agent.

2007: We bought a bigger house and put ours on the market. The agent we worked with was clueless. "What do you mean you want to take your stove?! You can't take your appliances! It's just not done!" Then he got very very lazy. I listed the house on Craigslist myself with the realtor's approval, understanding that he'd still get his cut. We finally got an e-mail through Craigslist from a woman who had been trying to contact the realtor for a week to see the house, but he wouldn't answer her phone calls. We called him to see what the trouble was. His answer?
"Oh, yeah. She called me. I never called her back. Go ahead and show her the house yourself. You know the drill. If she makes an offer, I'll write up the paperwork."
We fired him.
She bought the house.
Her realtor, which she aquired later, was a pain in the ass that defied description.

I am never buying or selling a house again if I can help it.

[Annie-Xmas]

REALTOR checking in.

First of all, are you talking about a licensed real estate agent or a REALTOR? The commission licenses agents, but the Board of REALTORS oversees them and holds them to a very strict code.

If anyone in my office did anything like that, they would be out the door. The customer comes first, particularly when buying something as expensive as a house.

We go over all legal documents with buyers before letting them sign anything. We listen to buyers and handle their objections.

I don't know how it works in Virginia, but in New Jersey we have both the Real Estate Commission and the Board of REALTORS to contend with. I would contact them both and file a complaint.

My office works above board and with the customer, having found out that dealing with the commission and the REALTOR Board is a royal pain in the ass on a good day.

[zamboniracer]

I'm with you about realtors as a general rule, but not about the windows. When you say they needed replacing, what do you mean? Were they broken, or just old fashioned and out of style? If they're broken, then they need replacing. If they're just old but they work fine, then the fact that they're old is part of why the price is low to being with. If I'm the seller I say, buy the house and replace them yourself, I'm not screwing around replacing windows for you.

[DudleyGarrett]

Originally Posted by zamboniracer

I'm with you about realtors as a general rule, but not about the windows. When you say they needed replacing, what do you mean? Were they broken, or just old fashioned and out of style? If they're broken, then they need replacing. If they're just old but they work fine, then the fact that they're old is part of why the price is low to being with. If I'm the seller I say, buy the house and replace them yourself, I'm not screwing around replacing windows for you.

All the seals were broken in the windows, and all the argon gas leaked out. So the windows all had condensation inside. They needed to be replaced.

[Jackmannii]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

REALTOR checking in.

First of all, are you talking about a licensed real estate agent or a REALTOR?.

Annie, nothing personal here, but are we now obliged not only to capitalize Realtor, but to refer to REALTORS?

I've had good and bad real estate agents, so I'll confine my negativity to this "Realtor" thing.

Why exactly do members of your profession think they are uniquely entitled to a Capitalized Job Description? We don't have Lawyers, Doctors, Engineers and Baristas, so why Realtors?

Lemme know if I need to address you as Annie-Xmas, REALTOR™, as I don't want to be any snarkier than necessary.

[Annie-Xmas]

REALTOR is trademarked in capital letters and as a REALTOR I am duty bound to type it that way. I've been a REALTOR for so long that I do it without thinking, and it doesn't look right to me if it is typed any other way.

Every piece of paper I've ever seen from any REALTOR has it written REALTOR.

I forgot to tell the OP that he could also talk to the agent's broker. Wherever there is a real estate agent, there is a real estate broker. Whenever an agent is fined and/or suspended, the broker also gets hit with hefty fines. Not only is dealing with the commission and the REALTORS a pain in the ass, it can lead to losing money.

[Merijeek]

REALTOR: I know your subdivision (in which you are selling a house through me) doesn't have gas, but the buyer wants to if you have any gas logs in the fireplace, and if you do, he wants you to leave them.

Umm...yeah, I know you're blonde, but what kind of a diagram do I have to draw here?

-Joe

[Long Time First Time]

realtor.com is your friend.

I can relate. I was thinking of moving into a smaller house and had an agent show me 4-5 houses that I had found on realtor.com and 1 FISO with a sign up. She showed them, but told me she couldn't get hold of a FISO house with the contact number on the front lawn. She said she'd keep trying to get hold of that owner, and was going to get back to me with some info. on local mortgage options.

I never heard back. I called the FISO number myself, got someone right away and saw the house by myself.

Long story short, 2 months later when I found asomeone I could work with I thought it was best to officially sever my ties with the original realtor. She was absolutely shocked, shocked! that I wasn't thrilled with the service she was providing.


What really fries me, however, is a situation with my church. The church bought a property (lots of land and an old house) for a possible building site. Long story short, a few years into the process a used church building came on the market and it made more sense to buy that. So we did and listed the first property. The listing agent has ties, her father is a member of the congregation before his death. Agent figured a 8% commission on the sale. The going rate is 6%. When I first questioned this, I was told that she would be doing much more than a typical agent. Whatever those things were, they were not obvious and never spelled out. The property was never on the local houses for sale show on the local access cable, had 1 open house showing, and had an ad in the local "Houses and Lifestyles" magazine that looked like all the others. Whatever.

Well, due to the housing recession, the property was on the market for 11 months and we're finally going to sell it for $50,000 less that we bought it for 5 years ago. As part of the closing deal, the agent made this big deal about how she was going to sacrifice and cut her commission down to 6% (i.e. the going rate). Several members of the board are running around singing her praises because she was willing to do this, wanting to send her a special Thank You note.

I'm not sure that's the correct response when an agent bravely decides not to screw over the congregation her father used to attend.

[Annie-Xmas]

Originally Posted by Long Time First Time

Well, due to the housing recession, the property was on the market for 11 months and we're finally going to sell it for $50,000 less that we bought it for 5 years ago. As part of the closing deal, the agent made this big deal about how she was going to sacrifice and cut her commission down to 6% (i.e. the going rate). Several members of the board are running around singing her praises because she was willing to do this, wanting to send her a special Thank You note.

Unless your agent was also the broker, she could not negotiate the commission. Only brokers can negotiate a commission, and you should have something in writing with the broker's signature stating what the commission is.

We've had people try to negotiate commssions at the closing, only to have the Broker nix the change. In one case where the agent did accept a smaller commission, the difference was taken from his share of the commission.

[Omegaman]

REALTOR. That cracks me up.

[Trunk]

Originally Posted by DudleyGarrett

The home inspection was last Friday. ALL of the windows need replacing. I said to our realtor, "Well, this is the time for negotiation. Let's get them to pay for the window replacements." What did she say? "I don't think they'll replace the windows. I'd advise not to ask them."

Yeah, sure they wouldn't.

In today's market, they're replace the windows and give you foot massages for a year if you asked for it. That's just a realtor trying to close a deal with as little hassle as possible.

Just another profession that brings nothing to the world and just sucks at the ass of a transaction that could be done without them.

Recently I've had two realtors ask me real sheepishly, "what do you do for a living?"

When I tell them, I see a shadow of disappointment move across their face as they realize they have no way of even asking, "are there any openings."

Sorry dude. Some of entered jobs where actual intelligence and skill are required.

Their ranks are thinning though, and the next time people are buying houses again (2012 at the earilest), they'll have all the kinks worked out of the online equivalents.

[Ruby]

Annie, no disrespect meant, but how can an industry have such a pervasive bad reputation without some credibility to the complaints that we see over and over again.

What I discovered is that REALTOR's or just plain old real estate agents are in it for the deal. They don't represent you as a buyer or a seller, they represent cutting the deal. It's one of the most competitive, throat-cutting businesses out there.

I, too, had a bad experience with a REALTOR who shared confidential financial information with the seller's agent putting us in a disadvantageous position. It's disappointing to discover that you're truly on your own for probably the single largest investment that you'll ever make.

[ivylass]

My in-laws ran into this. This was about 15 years ago, when they were looking for a bigger house. They found a lovely home, the owners were charmed by my SIL (she was a pre-teen at the time, and was enthralled with the fountain in the front yard and was playing with it the entire visit) and they exchanged phone numbers.

Well, my in-laws made an offer on the house, and the agent told them it had been denied. Confused, since the offer was near the asking price, they called the owner.

Who said, "You made an offer? Really? First we'd heard of it." It turns out the agent was miffed the lower offer would have meant a lower commission, so she was trying to keep the house on the market in hopes of getting either the asking price or higher. The owners were anxious to sell, as they were moving out of town and had already purchased their new home.

Long story short, I believe agent got chewed a new orifice and my in-laws moved in.

[neutron star]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

REALTOR is trademarked in capital letters and as a REALTOR I am duty bound to type it that way. I've been a REALTOR for so long that I do it without thinking, and it doesn't look right to me if it is typed any other way.

Every piece of paper I've ever seen from any REALTOR has it written REALTOR.

Good God, that is just obnoxious!

JANITOR!

[brickbacon]

I live in DC. I know a great Realtor if you are interested. Not sure if he works in N. Va, but I can attest to his honesty and integrity.

[DudleyGarrett]

Originally Posted by brickbacon

I live in DC. I know a great Realtor if you are interested. Not sure if he works in N. Va, but I can attest to his honesty and integrity.

The offer's much appreciated, but I think we're going to go this one alone from now on and reluctantly deal with listing agents only.

[Annie-Xmas]

Originally Posted by ivylass

Long story short, I believe agent got chewed a new orifice and my in-laws moved in.

REALTORS have to present any and all offers. End of discussion.

If that had been taken to the Board of REALTORS, both agent and broker would have been fined.

[Rick]

When I bought my house I had exactly the opposite from my REALTOR. She whorked her ass off, and did a great job for me.
No complaints.
Then my son bought a condo a few months ago, and the builder's agent was an idiot.
My son and his SO asked me to come along to the paper signing to start escrow.
She tried to get them to sign blank forms (No Fucking way, bitch)
She mis-explained forms (can't you read bitch?)
And pretty much did not know her ass from a hole in the ground.
A month later the builder fired her, and hired someone else.
On a more positive note, I was able to negotiate her out of most of her commission.

[Voyager]

I've had good experiences myself, but I do have a rant. What is it with these ads the National Association is running? "This is a perfect time to buy a house. Homes are your best investment." Right, when prices are nosediving. Over 10 years it looks good, over 1 or 2, not so much.

The late night male enhancement ads are more believable.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

I think the thing with rea.....REALTORS®!!1 is that it's a profession with rather low barriers to entry, and few demands on a person's time or schedule, that particularly appeals to people like housewives, who tend to generate business on the basis of personal connections instead of any technical proficiency. Stuff like multi-level marketing seems to have the same appeal, and you often end up dealing with the same subset of people.

[EmAnJ]

We've bought and sold three homes now and have never had a problem with our realtor, but then, he's family. Lucky us.

[Cluricaun]

I guess if you find a good agent you should cling to them like a lamprey then. When we bought our house we used the sellers agent as our own and she was a peach. Yeah, I know that means she didn't have to split the commission, but as my girlfriend and I both work in the industry we knew that she was 100% above the board on everything she did, she was available to us damned near round the clock, and told us everything that we should ask the buyer to fix or replace even before our home inspection. I'd use her again in a heartbeat.

[ivylass]

We bought our house in South Carolina from an agent, and used her about 10 years later to sell it.

I figured somebody who'd be willing to drive out to our house at 9pm with papers for us to sign was serious about her work.

[Trunk]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

REALTORS have to present any and all offers. End of discussion.

If that had been taken to the Board of REALTORS, both agent and broker would have been fined.

Yeah, but people don't, and realtors KNOW IT.

Get real.

You're in the process of buying a house, and a realtor acts like an asshole. What? This is a time in your life when you're looking for MORE forms to fill out, and more hassle to deal with? Or you're just going to get a new one and move on?

And realtors know it, and they fall back on this party line that you keep touting.

What do you think? Everyone who takes the 3 week night school course and gets their rubber stamp is some paragon of virtue?

It's a field for shysters, hucksters, hustlers and anyone who didn't go to college looking to make a quick buck of the hard work of others.

[gonzomax]

When we sold my mothers house 3 years ago we contacted several agents. The first two were the biggest sellers in the area. The price they wanted to sell for was in my estimation about 8 thou too low. I figured that a few bucks off the top made it easier to sell. They would get a big commission ,not quite as big but it would be an easier sell. They sold a lot of houses that way.
I found another agent and got what I thought was the right price. The 240 bucks difference to the first agents was worth low balling the house. The 8 grand to me was not.

[Trunk]

Originally Posted by gonzomax

When we sold my mothers house 3 years ago we contacted several agents. The first two were the biggest sellers in the area. The price they wanted to sell for was in my estimation about 8 thou too low.

The freakonomics guys did a story once about how realtors houses stayed on the market longer than other people's houses.

The point?

The few hundred they get from selling my house for $10,000 more isn't worth the weeks of extra work.

But, the several thousand they get from selling their house for $10,000 more is.

[villa]

If you change your mind, I have a great realtor in Northern Virginia whom I just used.

[Vihaga]

You guys are freaking me out. We've had great luck with our agent so far; he's shown us exactly what we've wanted to see, helped us refine our search along the way, and been upfront about flaws in various houses. He's also encouraged us to wait if we weren't gung-ho about a given house, has had no problem taking us to see dozens of places (30+) and has been informative and helpful throughout.


Our settlement date is Monday, so hopefully we'll have no problems between now and then!

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

But, the several thousand they get from selling their house for $10,000 more is.

If they sell their house for $10,000 more, wouldn't they get.....$10,000 more?

[Trunk]

Originally Posted by Throatwarbler Mangrove

If they sell their house for $10,000 more, wouldn't they get.....$10,000 more?

10 is several.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

I see a promising real estate career in your future.

[Edward The Head]

When the wife and I bought our house two years ago we got the real short end of the stick. The woman we used did literally nothing but get some papers ready for us and tell us who to use for the home inspection. The home inspector was an idiot, but after reading his stupid contract there was nothing we could do. He didn't find the large cracks in the closet because there were boxes in the way, told us there was a gas leak from the heater an needed to be shut off.

When we went back for the last walk through, the heater was on, though we were told it wasn't, but everything else was ok. We let the previous people stay for an extra week because we were going to be out of town anyway, when we came back there were huge holes in the wall, up to an inch, and they left us with $200 worth of junk pilled on a door hanging above the washer and dryer. The door would have fallen had I not fixed it.

Later we found out the guy who lived there was fixing the place, but had not gotten permits and such. The electric wiring is really bad, as in he ran a whole circuit for one outlet, but connected the built in microwave to half of the house. If we use the microwave with anything else the power goes out.

When we called her on it she said all houses are left like that. There's no way in hell I would ever use her again. She's friends with friends and she will not talk to us if we see her. I think she's just mad that we sold our other house without her since the guy across the street knew we were selling.

[BwanaBob]

Need I remind people that most real estate sales people are working for the sellers; not you the buyer. Their interests come first.

If you've contracted a buyer's agent and are getting screwed, then that's a whole different issue.

[DudleyGarrett]

Originally Posted by BwanaBob

Need I remind people that most real estate sales people are working for the sellers; not you the buyer. Their interests come first.

If you've contracted a buyer's agent and are getting screwed, then that's a whole different issue.

See the OP. She was a Buyer's Agent.

[mhendo]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

REALTORS have to present any and all offers. End of discussion.

If that had been taken to the Board of REALTORS, both agent and broker would have been fined.

No-one is denying that the profession has an official code of ethics. What people seem to be annoyed about is that a much-greater-than-expected percentage of that profession ignore the code, and that there seems to be little in the way of self-policing among many real estate workers.

Originally Posted by Ruby

What I discovered is that REALTOR's...

I, too, had a bad experience with a REALTOR...

and

Originally Posted by Rick

When I bought my house I had exactly the opposite from my REALTOR.

Jesus H. Christ, people!

If the people who work in the industry are so self-important that they have to capitalize every letter in their job description, then good for them. But no-one else is under any such obligation.

Originally Posted by Rick

She whorked her ass off...

There's an extra "k" in there.

[Enderw24]

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with your real estate agent. I'm both an attorney and a REALTOR myself and you're right. The low barrier of entry with the potential to make a quick buck without knowing what the hell you're doing means you're going to get your fair share of bad apples. But that's not how it should be and it's not the way I want to practice.
I take the agency relationship seriously and I'm not there to waste people's times. Our livelihood is contingent upon our reputation and I'm not willing to jeopardize that to cut corners and hopefully squeeze out another $100 on a deal.
Do others? Well, yeah. In my short time in this business I've heard absurd horror stories like one agent who hosted an open house, left exploded food all over the microwave and pissed on every toilet seat! I mean...are you kidding me? No wonder we have such a bad reputation.

So I'm sorry to those of you who have had clueless or downright fraudulent agents out there. We're not all like that.

[Cat Whisperer]

Originally Posted by EmAnJ

We've bought and sold three homes now and have never had a problem with our realtor, but then, he's family. Lucky us.

My bad experience with a real estate agent was my brother-in-law - we found the house, he made full commission for showing us one house and screwing up the paperwork. He was my sister's real estate agent, too, and wasted most of their time showing them houses that didn't match their criteria. Of course there is the family expectation that we will use him again for our next house sale and purchase. We really, really don't want to - we want to get maximum dollars for our sale, and I have no confidence in him coming through for us.

ETA: Forgot the part where I had to calm HIM down when there was a glitch in the sale.

And for the record, I don't have a dog in the realtor vs. REALTOR11!!!!111 discussion, but for the love of all that's holy, people, it is not pronounced REE-LA-TER. I'll accept REEL-TER or even REE-ALL-TER, but the L comes after all the first vowels, not in the middle of them.

- featherlou, ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE CLERK

[mhendo]

Originally Posted by Enderw24

So I'm sorry to those of you who have had clueless or downright fraudulent agents out there. We're not all like that.

I'm sure that's true.

The question, i guess, is what the downside is to being an asshole? That is, while there are certainly professional codes of ethics and state laws to follow, what incentive does the real estate professional have to follow them in his or her day-to-day practice?

After all, the fact that some people in the business act unethically, and yet apparently (in many cases) continue to thrive, suggests that there is some reward (or at least very little penalty) for being an asshole. They clearly weigh the costs of potentially losing their livelihood against the benefits that accrue from doing their job unprofessionally, and decide that it's worth the risk.

If i decided to become a realtor, went through the appropriate training and licensing, and went into business with the intention of doing my job ethically, honestly, and with a commitment to providing good, professional service to my customers, would that be enough to help me advance professionally at the expense of the shysters? Or would i be at a disadvantage because i took my work seriously?

[Enderw24]

It's a good question and I think that, in the short term, the bad agents will win. Those with no qualms about losing their license or even just getting fined, can say or do anything, promise anything, and hope to cash in on the quick buck. That's the same anywhere, really. Take a parallel example with the sub-prime market. The people handing those out like candy back in 2004 knew it was bad. They knew it. But they did it anyway because it made them a ton of money, they got quota bonuses, and everyone was happy! Now that it's all hit the fan today who's there to take the fall. Not the people that set up the loans. They took the money and ran. They aren't there anymore. Heck, the businesses aren't there anymore half the time.

So as I said, in the short term, the bad ones absolutely have an advantage. But long term? The real estate business is based on your reputation. Your bread and butter comes from referrals and that's only going to happen when you treat someone right. So if you want to stick around, you'd better not screw people over.

[Jodi]

Okay, the REALTOR thing is the most pretentious thing I've heard of in quite some time. If indeed you are "duty bound" to always present the word that way, then right here is the reason I could never be a REALTOR; it's just an entire MINDSET I could never PULL OFF with a STRAIGHT FACE.

My completely anecdotal evidence:

First house bought: Great buyer's agent (Realtor)
First house sold: No agents involved

Second house bought: No agents involved
Second house sold: Great seller's agent (Realtor)

Third house bought: Buyer's agent (Realtor) SUCKED. He was six kinds of awful: Didn't listen to me, didn't show me what I wanted to see, didn't represent me well in negotiations (kept pressuring me to "just buy it" and not hold out for a lower price, so he could get his commission), treated me like I was stupid and didn't know what I wanted. I was at a serious disadvantage in that I was completely new to the area (never been to the town before in my life, except for a one-day job interview) and had only three days to find a house before I had to fly home. If I hadn't had such serious constraints of time and ignorance, I would have fired his ass.

So my experience is that there are good Realtors and bad Realtors -- just like every other profession. I do think there is an inherent conflict of interest for a buyer's agent when, as your agent, they should want to talk the price down as much as possible but, for themselves, a higher price yields a higher commission. But I don't see any solution to that.

Oh, and windows with broken seals are obvious just by looking at them; you don't need to be a home inspector to ferret them out. So if I sold a house with that sort of open and obvious defect and had priced the house accordingly, fuck no I wouldn't replace all the windows after inspection. Now you can ask for anything -- ask for a pony if you want -- but that doesn't mean you agent is wrong to tell you "they'll never agree to that."

[storyteller0910]

So how does one go about finding a good Realtor, versus a bad one? My wife and I are planning to start looking to sell our current house and buy an upgrade in the next two weeks or so, and I have no idea how to identify someone who might know what they're doing.

[villa]

I would go for recommendations, if you can get them. If not, I suggest someone who has been in the business a while. As mentioned above, it is possible to screw customers and run off before the pigeons come home to roost. Someone with a track record should minimize that risk.

[storyteller0910]

Originally Posted by villa

I would go for recommendations, if you can get them. If not, I suggest someone who has been in the business a while. As mentioned above, it is possible to screw customers and run off before the pigeons come home to roost. Someone with a track record should minimize that risk.

OK, I'm even more of a babe in the woods on this than that. I don't have the faintest clue how one goes about even figuring out whether a given Realtor has a track record.

[stpauler]

I've just started looking at buying a house since the market (finally) took a huge dive. There are actually affordable houses out there. So, I sent out a couple requests to view some houses. Only one realtor got back to me on my request. But, instead of acknowledging that I wanted to set up some time to look at the house he was selling, he just offered his services as a realtor to help me buy a house. It's two weeks into the process and I think I'm going to have to hurt someone already.

[villa]

Originally Posted by storyteller0910

OK, I'm even more of a babe in the woods on this than that. I don't have the faintest clue how one goes about even figuring out whether a given Realtor has a track record.

Ask them. Ask the firm they work for. Look at their website.

Definitely ask friends of yours who have bought recently, and discount their advice if the person they recommend has the same surname...

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

REALTOR is trademarked in capital letters

I don't want it to seem like I'm picking on you, personally, Annie, but I have to say that it's the lack of knowledge about trademark law that makes people say things like this.

The trademark office's database ignores the distinction between upper and lower case letters and records them all in all caps. This means that there is no legal distinction between "realtor" and "Realtor" and "REALTOR" and "ReAlToR"in trademark law.

The trademark owner has rights in the word as a mark; how it is capitalized in commercial use is a stylistic choice, and is completely unrelated to its trademark status.

Furthermore, as others in this thread have stated it's stupid and pretentious to write an ordinary word like this in all caps all the time.

You might be "duty bound" to write REALTOR in official correspondence and marketing materials in the sense that your employer insists on it. But it's ridiculous to say that you're "duty bound" to do it for other, non-work-related uses, like writing in an Internet message board.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

To be fair, I think Annie has qualified that with:

I've been a REALTOR for so long that I do it without thinking, and it doesn't look right to me if it is typed any other way.

[sugar and spice]

Originally Posted by stpauler

I've just started looking at buying a house since the market (finally) took a huge dive. There are actually affordable houses out there. So, I sent out a couple requests to view some houses. Only one realtor got back to me on my request. But, instead of acknowledging that I wanted to set up some time to look at the house he was selling, he just offered his services as a realtor to help me buy a house. It's two weeks into the process and I think I'm going to have to hurt someone already.

Oh I had that experience, I knew which building I wanted so I just followed up all the ads for 1BR units that were for sale at the time, everyone seemed confused as to why I was calling. What I found helpful is to call and tell whoever answers the phone that you want to speaker directly with the selling agent for this particular unit. It's possible that the guy you talked to wasn't even the actual agent, he was just someone from the office who saw a lead.

ETA: or just get a buyers agent

[missbunny]

REALTOR! *$!ZOMG>#%&!!!

I picture this word flying around in a cartoon, Batman-style, with POW! and ZOWIE~!!! zooming all around it. I'm sorry but that's just a funny way to write it.

I looked up realtor.com and they write REALTOR that way too. I don't know how they can do it with a straight face. Their Web designers must laugh all day long.

Nothing personal, Annie.