Random observations:
There are ethical and unethical people in every profession. An ethical RE agent can be a tremendous asset.
People deserve payment for services rendered.
People deserve Full payment for services rendered regardless of 'potential' future business.
All things being 'equal' - Knowledge and experience from an 'ethical' professional (in any field) trumps young, eager and hungry.
Money 'wisely' spent today will save you a fortune in mistakes later.
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Are there lazy, unethical RE agents whom you should avoid like the plague? Absolutely!
Are there hardworking, knowledgable, ethical agents who can and will save you a ton of money, time and aggrevation and be your best ally? You'd better believe it and you can take that one to the bank!
Are there investors who are unethical and take advantage of RE agent's time, knowledge and resources and then leave them high and dry? Yep... it happens.
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Consider this: "We teach people how to treat us."
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Analogy:
A person hears a strange sound coming from his car and brings it to a reputable mechanic and asks what is wrong. The mechanic takes time from his busy day to check it out; locates the problem and tells the person what needs to be done to correct it. The person thanks the mechanic and drives home where he proceeds to fix the car.
A week or two later the same person brings his car back to the mechanic with another issue... again the mechanic identifies the problem, tells him how to fix it and again the person goes home and fixes it himself.
Question: How long will it be until the mechanic stops taking time out of his busy schedule for this 'non-customer'?
Now, let's look at this same situation from a little different angle. Suppose the person leaves the vehicle for the mechanic to make the repair. When he returns to pick up his vehicle and pay for the repairs he says, "how about you give me a discount on this work you just performed and when I have problems in the future I'll bring my car back to you for repairs?"
Huh?! Nope... that's just not the way it works, does it? After all, the mechanic utilized his time, knowledge and skills and performed a service. Most people would agree that he deserves payment for those services without any discount based on any 'potential' future business.
Now, on the other hand if this car owner does continue to bring his car in for repairs and maintenance over a period of time it is very likely/probable that the mechanic will give him FREE advise and/or discounts in the future.
This is a timeless principle of life and business that is repeated time and again in all different venues/professions. Real estate is no different.
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Regarding an agent working with/for several different investors and being an investor himself -- We (my wife and I are agents and investors) have been working with several investors for a number of years and cannot recall even one time that there was any kind of conflict regarding a particular property.
The reason, I think, is because everyone's business model is a little different and everyone is on a little different schedule. Some like to purchase mid-range single family properties on the Westside; others want multiplexes on the Southside; etc, etc. Even if they/we are interested in the same 'type' of property, we are ready to purchase at different times.
Our 'practice' is to let our investors know of a property as soon as we know about it. They know that the best deals sell fast so they need to move pronto if they are interested. If none of them are interested and we are, then we make the bid for ourselves... however, if one of them wants it we ALWAYS back off. That's just good, ethical business in my opinion -- and it works for us!
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One final thought (sorry this is so lengthy) - while there are bad apples in every profession, it may be unwise and financially damaging to broad-brush any of them. If working without the help of a competent RE agent works for you, then that's great. However, don't make the mistake of ruling out the probability that a good agent is worth his weight in gold!
Here's wishing each of you the very best in 2008!!!
