Agent FAIL stories

[Jim Lunger]

Hello BP investors! Have you worked with an agent that ended up being effectively useless, or more trouble than they were worth? How about an agent that made an incredible mistake that cost you a deal? Maybe an agent that was impossible or difficult to work with?

What makes a "bad" agent?

I'm in my third week of sales licensure classes, and would like to focus on working with investors once I get my license. So, as part of my preparation, I would love to hear about "what NOT to do". No names of agents or brokers need be mentioned, I'm interested only in learning through anecdote of circumstance or situation.

Do you have an agent "horror story" that happened to you or someone you know? 

[Chris Mason]

Agent is helping her sister buy a house, so her sister is going to get the BEST treatment and the BEST deal evar zomg!!!

• Sister gets her absolute dream house under contract. She's completely smitten by this home.
• Buyer's agent, without speaking to sister about this, sabotages appraisal so that the low appraisal can be used as a pretext for renegotiating price.
• Seller didn't budge on price. Unbeknownst to buyer's agent, there was a 35% down backup offer that came in for a higher offer amount with no appraisal contingency.
• Sister couldn't come in with the difference to make up for the appraisal shortfall. 
• Sister lost her absolute dream house. 
• There was crying. 

In general, agents (and lenders, for that matter) trying to do something special for friends/family is strongly correlated with deals going sideways. I personally would never sell a house to someone if I knew that the buyer's agent or mortgage broker was personal friend or family of the buyer for this reason. The temptation to try something 'special' is huge, and it kills deals.

IMO: We owe ALL our clients the best, so if we wouldn't do it on a normal deal, the reasons that we wouldn't do it on a normal deal should continue to apply for friends/family. In this example: you don't normally sabotage the appraisal because there is ZERO guarantee that a seller will budge. That logic should continue to apply if it's your sister or best friend or cousin.