Real Estate (Buyers) agent woes, am I wrong?

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1/12/13 7:41 P

We've moved several times during my DH's career. Each time, he has asked people within the companies he has worked for if there is an agency that they would recommend. If an agent is pushing a particular development, their company is usually tied into it.

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1/11/13 6:34 A

Nah, I know it's nothing like that. This is a huge development company on the island. Their finance company may or may not be the best, but they couldn't afford for it to be a scam. The agent also works for a reputable company, so I'm not worried on that front either.

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1/11/13 6:26 A

The fact that they are steering you toward their finance company should REALLY send up lots of red flags for you. This situation does not feel right. Do not give that finance company any personal info or you could wind up having an identity theft problem you should go with a bank you know and trust

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1/11/13 6:21 A

Heh...the thing is, I REALLY would like to buy in this development...yeah, they are amazingly cookie cutter, but they do have most everything I want, or as close as you can get in Hawaii without spending millions.

You just aren't going to find houses over 1300 - 1400 sq ft without the prices rapidly increasing...

And if you want a yard of any size at all.... *points* *laughs*

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1/11/13 6:14 A

Well we exchanged a few more emails starting with this one

"I’ve seen the houses, there are nice youtube videos of each one, I don’t need you to skype me from them to show me. What I do need is you to answer my questions about costs."

That seems to have finally sunk in, so I'll give her a bit more time. She also says the developers will want me to use their finance company because it will give me the best rates and closing costs. My bank has some pretty good rates, so we'll have to see. I pretty much told her.

If you can meet my desired monthly payments chances are 90% you've made a sale, if not, no go. I think that did the trick, so we'll see how much haggling she can do on my behalf.

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1/11/13 6:08 A

I agree with everyone else.....you need to look for a different agent as this one seems to be in it just for the commission. Stick to your guns and your budget.

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1/11/13 6:06 A

You need to get a different agent. This one more or less just popped up due to your looking at that website. You need to research real estate firms and choose someone else. This agent does not seem to have your needs in mind and is not listening to you. There are plenty of other agents out there.

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1/11/13 5:49 A

No fun. I have a family friend who works in real estate in Utah. They get paid off of commission partially in her company, so that may be why she is steering you towards the expensive housing. If you have a phone call or Skype session set up, tell her right away that you've done the financial numbers and you truly, honestly cannot afford that house. Tell her that she will lose a sale if she cannot find you something that is within your price range. They will try to get you into a more expensive house if they can, but your business is first priority. When you threaten to leave, that's when they mysteriously start finding thing that ARE within your price range. Sometimes, you have to ACTUALLY leave and start looking for another agent, and then they'll come back. If there are literally no houses in the agent's area that are within your range, they SHOULD try to hook you up with somebody else (usually from the same company).

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1/11/13 4:05 A

In few months I will be moving to Hawaii on a work related move. I joined a website to view home listings. An agent replied with a generic letter, I replied and she put me in contact with an agent. What little I could find out made this agent sound fairly impressive, if not a little out of my league with the value of properties she normally deals with.

I send the agent an off the cuff list of things I'm looking for in a house or condo. and tell her what I'm looking to spend based on my down payment. I told her what I wanted to keep my monthly housing payments including principle, interest, insurance, taxes, maintenance fees and homeowners association dues below. She immediately starts steering me towards the new developments they are building on Oahu, I'm vaguely familiar with this as this company has been developing this part of the island for quite a few years. The problem is these houses even at the lowest end of the spectrum are beyond what I initially told her I was interested in paying. The developers website only gives the most basic price info "Starting in the low $400's". I told the agent I would think about it, but would have to really see how the numbers played out and if I could really afford it.

The agent sends me back an email telling me I'll qualify and how great the houses are. I told her yes they are very nice, I checked some youtube videos and looked at the floor plans in a brochure. I applied for a pre-approval, and told the agent, she replies with "oh I told you you would qualify", never mind the bank hasn't actually approved it yet. The problem is all she talks about is wanting to hookup and talk on skype to show me the houses so I can pick a floor plan. She commented about me not being able to find price info on the web...then proceeded to not give me any of the price info I asked about (actual base price, upgrade prices, fees, etc).

I honestly don't think she's really reading my emails very closely, she just trying to stuff me into one of these new houses...yes they are exactly what I want. But she seems to not really care if I have to live paycheck to paycheck to pay my mortgage. It doesn't help that she asked me in 3 different emails if I was active duty military even though I answered her in each one. I know she is trying to steer me towards a VA loan even though that's not what I'm interested in using. I'm trying to avoid becoming a statistic like so many people who bought more house than they can afford.

I'm wondering if she's used to dealing with people who are buying multi-million dollar homes and for whom price and payments is not an issue.

I'm really getting close to telling her "thanks, but no thanks. I no longer need your services".

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