My expectations of Real Estate Agent unrealistic?

[Neal A.]

I have a burning question. I’ve been in RE as a buy and hold investor for 5 years. I’m trying to figure out if my expectations of my RE Agent are too high. 

I started with a real estate agent who showed me the ropes.. he went with me to about 4 million houses and answered all my stupid newbie questions. He helped me pick up my first three properties. The next 4 properties after that I found on my own and really only engaged him for paperwork and settlement. It didn’t bother me because he spent so much time with me in the first place.

Our strategy had also changed when making offers. I’d put out a lower offer first to gauge interest and then work from there before even setting foot in the property. We’d do this for a number of key properties that would afford the return I’m looking for. Lots of offers - few properties. Nothing too crazy maybe an offer every week or two.

This year I intend to move to something bigger, about 3-4x the value of our previous deals. It’s out of my agents area but I asked he if he was interested in doing business there and he was thrilled. However, I’m the one finding the properties, I’m the one engaging my RE Agent and the thought that he is going make a larger commission due to the much larger value of the property is getting to me a little bit.

Recent conversations about a particular property made it worse. I analyzed comps and investment properties in the area and expressed that I wasn’t happy with the price. The property had also been on the market for some time meaning there could be some wiggle room. (I always take a pricing recommendation from my agent and go from there.) This time My agent seemed less concerned about the purchase price and seemed more concerned with selling me about why the property was great as is. This was troubling because I could factually point out why it wasn’t great at the price point. 

I’ve seen a couple of properties with different RE agents in different areas but nothing ever came to fruition. I couldn’t help but get the feeling they weren’t taking me serious as an investor and they never ever came back to me with anything. Those relationships fizzled out quickly. 

If I'm the one scouring the MLS, bringing forward the offers, sometimes seeing the houses (without my agent), and crunching the return numbers. what should they be doing for me?

In an ideal situation I believe my agent should bring forward unique opportunities and be able to justify why. Location, return, quality, etc. They should be able to tell me why the property I’m interested in is a good deal or bad deal. 

I’m just not getting that. Should I be? What are realistic expectations in an active investor and Agent relationship? 

I’ve read stories of Agents that send out like 20 offers a week for their clients...