Fire my agent?

[Hector]

Inflamatory subject, I know, but I'm hoping to get some feedback.

We are looking at a bank-owned home in Maple Valley that the bank is currently in the process of finishing (It's currently sided and framed only, builder skipped town).

Without going into the numbers, we are considering it to be overpriced, especially when compared to active and sold comps, so I'm trying to put an offer in that is within 10% (barely) of what the bank has it listed for. What I am finding is that I have to argue my reasons with my realtor, who a) believes the price is ok as-is and b) has a fear of offending the bank. She's even hesitent to ask for closing costs to be included...

This is a buyers market, right? Am I supposed to go in and offer asking, without any negotiatios? Is this typical of a Seattle area agent who has years of experience, but basically grew-up during the boom and never had to negotiate down? Should I even have to argue it with her?

Just checking myself...

[ira s]

Could be a couple of things going on:

1. The agent has experience dealing with this bank and has experienced their inflexibility, so sees the effort to negotiate as futile..
OR
2. The agent is lazy.

It doesn't seem to me that trying to convince the agent to make the offer would be productive, and if you are uncomfortable with this agent or feel you are being manipulated or that she is not doing what she is supposed to do....

But as an agent, I am not supposed to dispense advice on whether or not you should fire the agent, so I'm not.

[sniglet]

Is it even possible to "fire" an agent? Isn't there some code of conduct that prohibits other agents from working with a property and customer that another one has already been working on?

If Hector went to a different agent, asking them to make the offer on this place, wouldn't that agent turn them down because they have already engaged someone else on that property?

[Hector]

Good question Sniglet, I guess I'm assuming that if an agent is not willing to represent my offer that would disqualify them from any future interest in me and this property.

Thanks Ira, I appreciate the feedback.

The realtor has stated that the bank wants to 'unload' these houses, so I'm confused why she is hesitent. I can say that the listing agent and she are both from the same office, which can either a) provide more insight that she is not sharing with me or b) be a conflict of interest.

It could also be that c) she isn't willing to accept that we have not yet reached the bottom, which I believe is the most likely source of this.

[jon]

Seems doubtful to me that an offer 10% under listing would work unless the house has been sitting there quite a while. Since it is far from completion, they don't have much of an incentive to accept your offer now. And from a negotiating standpoint, unless you show you are willing to walk away from the deal, you won't get your offer accepted anyway. Do it like you are buying a car and just tell them to call you if they change their mind. Since you are dealing with the listing office, word will get back to the seller anyway.

[Charles Dean]

Hector didn't say the agent worked for the listing office, did he?

If that is the case and you're dealing directly with an agent from that listing office, then even if they are your agent, that broker is going to be looking out for his or her best interest, which is likely making as much as they can for the bank. Your one purchase is small potatoes compared to the 100 listings a year they get from that bank.

That's why dual agency, while legal, is usually not such a great idea.

[Hector]

No, my agent just works in the same office as the listing agent, but of course that shouldn't be a factor as she is my agent, not the banks.

Jon, the bank is actively working on the house. Electricians are out today in fact.

[ira s]

Is it even possible to "fire" an agent?

Absolutely. Clients fire agents, and agents fire clients....
If, however, the original agent is the "procuring cause" for the client finding the property, he/she may legally be entitled to some commission, or, if the client has signed an exclusive buyers agreement with the agent, then that agreement needs to be canceled in writing before another agent's services can be engaged.

[sniglet]

[Thomas B.]

Get an attorney... they don't engage in this Realtor nonsense. The rules are written so that win, lose or draw, the Realtor gets paid, even if he does nothing at all.

[Charles Dean]

[mukoh]

ira s
An agent in my friend's office who owns a top tier office went through procuring cause case all the way to arbitrage panel.
Buyer can choose whomever whenever, however to write contract for a said purchase even if it was written by a different agent and or agency previously. Thats case law. We were laughing at it through lunch this week.

Hector,
Simple as this tell the realtor in one phrase and not another word:
"Put purchase price as "XXX,XXX", that is all I will pay"

If they start gibberish, walk out and get an agent that actually does their job.

[Hector]

Thanks Mukoh, that's what we finally did today. Ridiculous that it had to get to that point because our offer wasn't outlandish. I've negotiated numerous contracts in the millions and never had this much trouble...I had to bite my tongue when she exclaimed during the review 'Wow, it's been a while since I did one of these!'.

Charles Dean, very good point about DA. On the offer sheet it was not cited. She was listed as the buyers agent and the other agent was listed as the sellers. Other than their contact information matching, no mention was made of it. Maybe their is some puppet master in the back wings pulling the strings on this one or maybe I just need to take my tinfoil hat off. It's just easy to expect(suspect?) the worst from people when it comes to money.

[Charles Dean]

It would've been part of the agency disclosure and very likely glossed over. If you have a copy of the offer you wrote still, take a look at the agency disclosure and it should say dual agency on there. It wouldn't be anywhere else in the offer however.

If they didn't disclose that in the offer, then that's a pretty big violation. However, if you want the house, no big deal. It does give you an easy out on the contract however, since they failed to disclose a material fact.

[mukoh]

I have had to do this numerous times, when some sideline agent gets word of a property and tries to bring it to me or my group, and when they are told we have a selling agent they start talking about how they work directly with seller/buyer only. Especially when it is skyline or preview. Usually they are told to pack sand and we get our agent to go to the seller directly. Only few sideline agents have really been stellar.