Realtor isn't doing her job. Can I speak directly to the Buyer?

Question

Is it ever a bad idea to bypass both realtors and speak with the buyer directly? I’m the seller in a 2.5 acre land deal right now and I don’t feel the buyer’s realtor is doing her job to work through some small issues that have come up. I feel like I might have a better chance of getting this deal to closing if I speak with the buyers myself. Any thoughts?

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

As a buyer I have gone direct to the seller on 3 occasions.  When things aren't happening and I want them to, I make things happen.

Xing Zhu · Answer

The question might be that who is responsible for the delay. If he did not give you a reasonable amount of time to straighten out on this matter before the closing date, he should agree to extend.

Bryan L. · Answer

Some times we Realtors unfairly get a bad reputation.  Looks like a case of a flaky buyer, yet the Realtor gets the blame.  We really do work our tails off, and most Realtors really are competent and hard-working.

Xing Zhu · Answer

I'd talk to my closing attorney to see what options I have.

Karen Margrave · Answer

What did the original contract say in regard to the flood plain? If you listed your property, and someone wrote a contract ro purchase it, they need to honor the contract as long as there are no outs for them. The property isn't in the flood plain, enough said. However; that should have been able to have been resolved without surveying, through the local planning department.

Your agent needs to talk to the other agent and inform them that you expect their clients to close, and if they don't they are in danger of being sued for non performance.

Situations like this is where Brokers/agents earn their commission, let yours know you expect them to do it. Also, if you agent is hesitant, go talk to the broker. They have a contract with you to represent you, now they need to step up and do it.

Bryan L. · Answer

It's been my experience that buyer's are flaky in the first place.  We Realtors have a saying that "buyers are liars".  I've also noticed with people this - when you don't hear from them (they don't answer or return calls), it's their way of trying to back out without confrontation.  Just have your Realtor send their Realtor an email stating that you will keep their earnest money since your survey proves that it's not in a flood plain, and that you will simply sell it to someone else - and then move on.

Xing Zhu · Answer

The difficulty you have now is that the buyer has no obligation to allow you to change the closing date. Clearly, the buyer does not want to buy it anymore and therefore he will use this as an excuse to back out.

Nevertheless, I never had a problem of getting the other party to extend the closing date.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

@Ryan Ahlgrim

Okay, then it isn't particularly an incompetent agent issue, but a reluctant buyer issue.  Did they have a financing contingency that will let them out?  If you think they're on the way out, I guess a call couldn't hurt but there is always the chance you could put the final nail in your own coffin.

Ryan Ahlgrim · Answer

Thanks everybody.

@Wayne Brooks The issue that came up was that the buyer's appraisal came back saying we were in a flood plain. We just bought the land 6 months ago and our appraisal said we weren't in the flood plain. We had to cancel our scheduled closing date of December 15th to get it figured out.

We agreed to have the land surveyed to prove we were out of the flood plain (which we did, and which we are) but during all this the buyer's realtor would take up to 4-5 days to response to a simple question. Now after all the hoops she's had myself and my realtor jump through she's trying to say the buyer's want to back out. They have no reason to since from the beginning they've said "as long as you aren't in a flood plain, we'll buy it".

I feel like if I talk with this guy we can make the deal work out.

Karen Margrave · Answer

It depends on what the issues are. If you don't think the agent is doing her job, talk to your agent, if your agent isn't making progress, talk to your agents broker and tell them you expect them to represent you, but if they don't want to do what is needed, you will contact the broker (not the other agent) of the buyer and get things dealt with. THEN if the buyers broker doesn't do their job, talk direct to the buyer.

Though sometimes buyers and sellers can work together, it's usually better if there's separation.

Realtor isn't doing her job. Can I speak directly to the Buyer?

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