Seller

I know she speaks more frequently because of the steps that have transpired...but that is less my concern than the unacceptability of NOT getting my question answered. She is getting 24K of my equity...she should be able to answer a call or emails without days to a week lapsing in between. In my industry, she would be fired but even if we could fire her, she would sue us for the commission...the process is jacked up. - Wed Mar 26 2008, 12:21

When we signed on with her - the buyer did not exist so she was our listing agent. Buyer came unrepresented to the open house and wanted to pursue an offer. She is very charming...so they worked with her directly to put together an offer and also gave her the listing for their house. Now, I don't get returned calls and she seems to speak regularly with the buyer. The strong feeling is that she is trying to keep the buyer happy to keep their listing and she does not really do anything for us because the P&S is signed - she is just waiting to get her check at closing.

I don't think she has a broker - I think she is the broker. She and a partners are sort of incorporated under Coldwell Banker. I don't think I have anyone to call. - Wed Mar 26 2008, 07:28

As a very dissappointed seller, YES, YES, YES I would absolutely try this. We listed with 2 "full service firms". The first did not sell it...the second did. We used a very seasoned local realtor (20+years in the business and lots of transactions under her belt). She told us about all the great blah, blah, blah her firm would provide. She lucked out and the buyer came unrepresented to the open house. Through her charm, she secured the listing on their house. Now, she works for them. We are now heading to a closing with an agent who is really in word and action working for our buyers - not for us.

The truth is you don't know how good your realtor is or isn't until it is too late. Now I have to pay a 24K commission (5%) to a realtor who no longer is really doing anything to help me or my family. I would be in the same position if I went with a flat fee broker and did it all myself.

Seems to me the model is changing. While I don't begrudge anyone getting their paycheck. Everyone who gets into real estate has to understand that you win some and your lose some - that is the business. If you wanted a guaranteed paycheck you would be working in a different industry. The commissions are too high. The 24K going to the realtor (I know you don't personally get all 24K - my sister is a realtor, I've been informed) is my equity. It is the new kitchen I put in, the 2 bathrooms that I paid to remodel and the hard wood floors I installed.

The realtor put a sign on my lawn, held 2 open houses and listed the house on the MLS. She got lucky and someone saw it on realtor.com (I could as easily have put it there) and she gets 24K - explain to me how that is fair without telling me about all the other houses you put $$ into and did not get the sale on. - Tue Mar 25 2008, 20:33

Our first offer came back with a counter...so we are going to reject the counter and go forward with the second offer...if that falls through we'll determine whether we revisit the first property with a new offer or move on to something else. - Wed Mar 12 2008, 05:52

Thank you all for the thoughtful answers. The 38 active properties are either too expensive or a major downgrade to what we have now - we don't want to go through all this and end up in a house we can't afford or that we hate. Basically we got a lot of BAD advice from RE professionals involved. The agent for the house were were trying to buy ASSURED us that the list price would get it done for the banks who were third party lien holders and OUR listing agent told us not to list our house contingent upon our finding suitable housing because "no one will look at it".

Now our listing agent is also the buyer's agent (she is now listing their house) and I feel strongly that she is more interested in making this deal happen for them (calls to tell me how excited the buyer is, how great the house is for the buyer). When we asked her to ask them about a rent back, she said she was sure they would do it...then called to tell me how the buyer was crying about it and that we should just basically "get out".

I've heard all the advice about letting it go - I'm not up for a legal battle - this is already going to cost me a fortune because we'll have to move twice, pay for storgage, etc.

But a little piece of advice to all the realtors out there - don't forget that your clients are people. It is not about getting the deal done...it is about everyone getting what they need. - Thu Mar 6 2008, 06:13

Rowley for the most part - we have kids in school and don't want to move them if we don't have to. - Wed Mar 5 2008, 19:21

I'm just worried that inventory is going to be hard to come by...who would sell in this market if they did not have to???? - Wed Mar 5 2008, 18:53

"F" this whole process. If we ever find another house, we are never going to move. - Wed Mar 5 2008, 18:04

Well two banks are involved and their total outstanding debt is WAY beyond what the current market will bear for the house. They owe 850K, house might sell at 650K. Do we wait to try to get it at auction? - Wed Mar 5 2008, 17:55

Naima: We thought of that...but they've taken it away from the realtor so I'm not sure how we actually get to them. Do we call their lawyer, do we go back to the realtor? - Sat Feb 16 2008, 06:27

Brecht: I'll try to give you a call tomorrow, could use a clearer head to help me sort noodle this. - Fri Feb 15 2008, 17:39

Brecht: When did you attend Pine Grove. My DH is a townie, you might know each other. Our listing realtor advised us NOT to make our sale contingent on finding housing...so like I said, I feel screwed. We do have an attorney and he is awesome. I saw 3 houses yesterday, expect to see 3-4 tomorrow and as many open houses as I can possibly get in on Sunday. Frankly we were tryng not to be greedy. We just asked for enough for our house to make the troubled house happen and then it didn't. Now we are short on $$.

OK, so I do get that the market may give up more BUT I'm worried that inventory will shrink because folks don't want to sell in a down market.

Any idea how to find a nice rental with at least 3 bedrooms (preferably 4). Needs to be a really safe area (little kids) and hopefully close to where we live now so tha twe can stay in the same school. - Fri Feb 15 2008, 17:13

We live in Rowley...I would not say that we got what we wanted for our house. We got what we needed to get to make the other house work but I think it leave us 50-100K short of a comparable house to the one we were hoping to buy. - Fri Feb 15 2008, 16:57