Poor Negotiation Skills?

[Jared Viernes]

I recently got my Real Estate License and joined the association primarily to learn the market and find deals for myself. After starting investigations into two separate properties (the first two I looked at in fact) I am a little disturbed by what has occurred in these investigations. In the first, during the first conversation with the other agent I was told the owner was out of state, going through a divorce, an eviction, and that he needed to liquidate his assets. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was told to get the property sold at all costs. The second one, I go to look at the property and the owners are there without their agent when I get there. They then explain to me their motivation for moving, they have a limited amount of time, and that there hasn't been much interest in the house. As an agent that believes whole-heartedly that it is my job to look out for my clients best interests. I'm a little disturbed by the fact that these incidents have occurred in my very first two dealings. Either their agents are completely failing them, or I'm missing something. Normally, in instances like this I make my assumptions using Occam's Razor. Is this a common problem across the industry or did I just happen to run into an anomaly?