“You’re Represented? Terrific! Please Have Your Agent Call Me”
At least a couple times a year, I field phone calls from folks who are already working with an agent, but call me directly to get into one of my listings.
When I ask why they didn’t go through their agent, I hear things like:
“I didn’t want to bother them.”
“They’re out-of-town.”
“They’re too busy.”
Excusing Poor Service
Heads up to clients of such agents: The same Buyer’s agent who’s “too busy” to show you homes, leaves you in the lurch when they’re out-of-town, or simply “delegates” showings to their listing agent colleagues, is probably not going to be “Johnny-on-the-spot” (“Jill-on-the-spot?”) when it comes to writing an offer, negotiating any inspection issues, or producing a timely Written Statement.
Even if that’s OK with you because the agent happens to be . . . your brother-in-law(??), it puts agents on the other side of the deal in a bind because they’ll inevitably be picking up the slack.
And potentially creates thorny commission issues.
Ounce of Prevention
Which is why I handle such situations strictly by the book — specifically, the National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics.
According to Article 16, Realtors are to “respect the exclusive representation or exclusive brokerage relationship agreements that other Realtors have with their clients.”
Translation: agents shouldn’t deal directly with other agents’ clients.
And I don’t.
P.S.: What happens when clients want to go through a weekend (public) open house, but their agent is unavailable (most likely, because they’re hosting their own open(s)?
It’s appropriate for that agent to connect with the listing agent ahead of time, to let them know their clients will be coming through, then follow up with their Buyer immediately afterwards.
