I frequently receive emails from TG readers who have had both positive and negative experiences with real estate agents. The following comes from a reader who felt like he and his wife were duped during the negotiation process by an agent who, from his accounts, seem to put her interest ahead of both her seller and this prospective purchaser. Don't take my word for it. read and decide for yourself:
My wife and I made a bid of $780k on an apartment on 74th Street that was listed for $799k. She (the seller's agent) told us that wouldn't do it and we needed to offer the asking price. I asked her what the owners' counter-offer was and she said that if we offered the asking price we would get the apartment. I asked my question again and was given the same answer. I firmly believe that our offer was never conveyed to the owners since this was all occurring on the phone in one conversation.
Around this time we got rid of the broker we were working with because she was basically showing us $1.2 million condos on 90th and York, which we couldn't afford and were in neighborhoods we didn't want to live in (bad listener). She seemed quite inexperienced and was so frazzled by the seller's agent that I was more or less dealing with the seller's agent directly anyway.
About 10 days later the seller's agent called me at work and said that there was a "slight glitch" with the apartment. She thought they had an offer of $800k for the apartment and it turns out that the offer was really $780k, so she wanted to know if we were still interested in the apartment. I told her that we were and that our previous offer had actually been $780k, but we would offer $782k. She immediately told me that the asking price would get us the apartment. I asked her why she didn't give our offer to the owners and see what they said first. She refused and said we should consider offering the asking price if we wanted the apartment.
We really liked the apartment and felt that our bid was fair based on comps that we did. I had to do all of the comp work because the broker we got rid of said she wasn't sure what a good comp would be (again a good reason to not work with her anymore). I called the seller's agent back the next day and said that we could go to $792k. We wanted this apartment, but we didn't want to overpay more than was necessary. The seller's agent again said that the asking price would get us the apartment. I suggested that she actually go to the owners and give them our offer before saying that and we would listen to their counter-offer. She again said that the asking price would get us the apartment. At this point, I told her that I thought she was full of "it" and that she was using us for leverage and had no intention of actually giving any of our bids to the owners.
The apartment ended up being sold for $780k to the original people that we had been bidding against 3 weeks earlier. The seller's agent let slip that she was representing the other buyer too which shows that she was more interested in a $780k sale that was all hers than a $792k sale that she had to split with our broker who wasn't even involved in the negotiation process. She had also previously suggested to me that the owners might be more flexible if we just worked with her because other brokers would "just get in the way".
I was absolutely disgusted by the way we were treated and used by her. We ended up buying an apartment on 56th Street for $675k that we put another $45k into renovating. We did like the apartment on 74th Street more and were willing to pay a fair and reasonable amount for it, but we never really had a chance because the playing field wasn't level as the seller's agent kept saying to us, "If you want to be in the game you have to offer the asking price."
I cannot put into words, even now, the anger that I feel for allowing this agent to get away with treating us this way. She was clearly manipulating the system for her own gain without any care for how she was treating the people involved in the transaction. Her fee was all that mattered to her.
This has certainly given me a specific view of brokers in NYC. I know that they are all not like this agent, but there are enough that are like her out there. I appreciate all of your work to give the industry more transparency. I am a partner in a recruiting firm, so I know quite well how much a person's reputation can help or hurt a process. In my 11 years in this field I have never met someone so devious in their negotiating tactics as this particular agent. She was so brazen in her deception and incompetence that she told me she was doing it (as stated above).
Now of course we don't have the agent's account of what happened (and I'm sure it is VERY different), but the most important factor in my mind is the perception that this particular consumer walks away with regarding the real estate profession. I can't stress enough how important that I believe it is to have a competent agent working for you whether you are buying or selling a home. And always be mindful that although a seller's agent (more than 80% of my personal business is representing sellers) has a fiduciary responsibility to their seller, it is not unheard of for an agent to get in their own way and put their interest ahead of even the seller's. I still maintain that the direct deal should die and that both sides of a transaction should be represented by a competent real estate agent (PODCAST). Until this happens, there is just too much temptation for agents to consider their bottom line first.
译文:
房屋买卖时的胜任代理问题
我时常收到TG读者的邮件，他们与资产评估代理之间都有着开心或是不太满意的经历。下面的文章讲的是一个读者的亲身经历，他觉得他和妻子在与代理的谈判过程中受到了愚弄，这个代理似乎把自己的兴趣放在卖家和可能的买主之上。别光听我说，自己读一读再决定。
我太太和我出价78万美元选中了第74大街上的一套公寓，而这房子标价是79万9千美元。她（卖主的代理）告诉我们这个价格不行，我们必须按标价出价。我问她主人出的什么价，她说如果我们出标价那我们就能得到这间房子。我又问了一遍得到的仍是同样的回答。我确信我们的请求从未被传达给房主因为这一切全是发生在一次电话谈话之中.
与此同时我们结束了与经纪人的合作，因为她基本上总是向我们介绍第90大街的价值120万的房子，但是我们根本付不起，何况这房子在我们不想住的地区。她好象很没有经验,疲于应付卖主的代理人，以至于无论如何我多多少少都得直接与对方代理人接触。
大概10天后，卖方的代理人上班时打电话给我，说房子有一点“小波折”。她认为他们给房子标价是80万美元，但现在买方出价是78万美元，她想知道我们是否仍然对房子感兴趣。我告诉她我们感兴趣而我们现在的出价事实上就是78万美元，但是我们可以提供78万2千。她立即告诉我们说只要我们同意标价价格房子马上就是我们的了。我问她为什么不先把我们的出价告诉房主，看看对方怎么说。她拒绝了并且说如果我们要这套房子就应该考虑出标价的价格。
我们真的喜欢这套房子，而且基于我们自己处理的管道问题我们觉得自己的出价是合理公平的。我不得不自己做管道的工作因为我们辞掉的经纪人不能确定好的管道应该是什么样的（这是另一个不再和她合作的好理由）。第二天我给卖主的代理人回电话说我们可以支付79万2千美元。我们要这套房子，但我们不想再多支付不必要的钱。卖主的代理人再一次说只要我们出标价,房子就是我们的了。我建议她在说这话之前确实先去卖主那儿并把我们的出价告诉他们，我们会考虑他们的报价。而她又说了只要给标价就给我们房子。出于这一点，我告诉她,她老是说这些话，她是在利用我们做杠杆，根本没打算把我们的出价告诉卖主。
这套房子最终以78万美元卖给了最初的那个买家，3星期前我们和他一直都在竞价。卖主的经纪人透露出她同时在代表其他的买方，这表明她对由她全权代理的78万美元的销售更感兴趣而不是必须和我们的经纪人分配利润的79万2千美元的业务，哪怕我们的经纪人根本没有参与谈判过程。她先前也曾向我们建议，如果我们只与她直接进行业务往来，那么房主可能会更好商量，因为其他经纪人会分掉一部分利润。
对于我们受到的对待，被她利用，我感到非常厌恶。最终我们买下了第56大街67万5千美元的一套房子并另外花了4万5千美元进行翻新。我们确实更喜欢第74大街的房子，而且我们愿意支付一笔相当的合理的价钱，但我们从未真正得到这样的机会因为整个竟价不公平，卖方经纪人一直对我们说“如果你们想要参与这游戏，你们必须按标价出价”。
甚至现在我都无法表达我对于这个代理人就这样对待我们而后一走了之的愤怒。很明显她是为了自己的利益在操纵整个系统，而完全不顾自己是怎样对待这场买卖牵涉的关系人。与她有关的只有她的报酬。
这件事让我们清楚地看到了NYC的经纪代理人是什么样的。我知道他们并非全都象这个代理人，但在外面有足够多的人象她那样。我非常欣赏所有你的工作给了这个行业更多的透明度。我是一家招募公司的合伙人，所以我非常清楚一个人的声誉对有助于或者妨碍一项进程是多么地举足轻重。在我11年从事这个领域的经历里，我还从未见过谁象这个特别的代理人那样在谈判策略中表现得如此迂回的。她在她的骗术中表现得如此厚颜无耻与没有资格，以至于她告诉我她正是那样做的（如上所诉）。
当然现在我们没有得到那个经纪人关于发生的事情的解释（我很肯定十分不同），但我头脑中最重要的因素却是当那个顾客考虑到同行业不动产资产评估时撤走时的想法。我再怎么强调也不过分，我认为无论是你买还是卖房子时有一个胜任的经纪人为你工作是非常重要的。一直要注意，虽然卖方的经纪人（超过我个人业务的80%都是代表卖方）对他们的卖家有受拖的责任，但他会按照自己的意思来做事并甚至把他自己的利益放在卖方之前 也是不足为奇的。我仍然主张直接交易应该废除，一场交易的双方应该由一个有资制的能胜任的不动产评估代理人来代表（PODCAST）。到这件事发生为止，有太多的诱惑使得经纪人首先考虑他们的底线。