Can a real estate agent ever really dislike a client?

Surely that’s a rhetorical question because while real estate agents like new business and getting deals done for clients, no one can like everyone!

And, when it comes to the stress being managed by someone either selling their most valuable asset or making what will likely be the largest purchase of their life (until moving up to the next home), some bad personality traits will definitely have the potential to emerge!

From an article written by RE/MAX agent Bill Gassett, these are some of the things that clients may do that have the potential to rub real estate agents the wrong way.

Some of the things that real estate agents, in a perfect world, wish that their purchase clients wouldn’t do!

• Call listing agents on your own – This is a free country and you have the option of doing a lot of things on your own, even if you shouldn’t. There is a reason you hired a buyers agent. This person has the skills and expertise you need to get you what you want. Why not use them? If you don’t trust your agent to do a good job you should probably hire another Realtor instead. And if you are happy with the one you have, tell him or her when you are interested in a property and let him or her do the calling for you.

• Ask the listing agent to show you a home when you have a buyers agent – If you have a buyers agent use them! Don’t call the listing agent to show you properties because your Realtor isn’t around. This is not the listing agents job. If your buyers agent can never accommodate your schedule it’s time to find another agent. If your agent is going away for the weekend and you want to see a home that just came on the market talk to your agent about having another Realtor from their firm fill in for them.

• Ask Realtors to show properties without being pre-approved – Real estate agents are busy people. It takes a lot of phone calls and a lot of miles to do what they do. This is why they want to know that the time they spend with you is worth spending. If you are not pre-approved for a home loan, what incentive does the real estate agent have to show you homes? It may take hours to view a single house, hours that could be spent on clients that can actually buy a home. A real estate agent doesn’t want to waste their time showing a bunch of homes to you in price point that you are not qualified for. Before asking to see home make sure you get pre-approved for a loan. Understand the difference between a mortgage pre-qualification and mortgage pre-approval. These are two vastly different things!

• Request to look at homes outside of your price point – If you are only approved for the purchase of a $400,000 home, what is the purpose of looking at a home that is listed at $500,000? No one is ever going to negotiate down on their price that far. Again, you are asking the agent to do things that serve no purpose for him or her and really only serves to satisfy your curiosity. Once you have your pre-approval in hand look at properties that make sense based on your budget not fantasy land.

• Not respecting our time by calling last minute – If you are working with a professional they will want to be treated as such. Not respecting another persons time isn’t fair. Real Estate agents have schedules, lives, and family just like everyone else. Don’t expect an agent to drop everything they are doing on a whim because you want to look at a home in an hour. Treat your agent like a professional and you should get the same respect back from them. Deciding the world revolves around you will not help your cause in the long run.
• Look at a home five times and don’t make an offer – If you are going to drag a Realtor to the same house five times including bringing your favorite aunt Mildred, bringing in a contractor to get a quote on re-finishing the hardwood floors and having the local Feng shui expert come in to say everything is swell, you better make sure you are going to make an offer!

• Not doing any research on where you want to live – If you are going to be looking at homes you at least should have a general understanding about where you want to live. Asking a real estate agent to show you a bunch of homes in a town that you really wouldn’t consider living in just doesn’t make a lot of sense. Do some research on the communities you would consider first before asking an agent to show you homes.

• Making unjustified low ball offers – Before you make an offer on the home your agent will do a considerable amount of research to determine what that offer should be. Part of this process will be looking at comparable sales – the prices of other homes sold recently that had similar characteristics. This is information he or she can show to you so you understand why the offer should be what it is. Yet some buyers will still insist on making low ball offers, which are both insulting and a waste of time. This is the quickest way to get a seller really pissed off to the point they will want to have nothing to do with you. If you really love the home you are making an offer on you best be sure that your offer is not insulting. There is a way of testing the waters without making an offer so low you come across as a fool. There is a fine line – make sure you don’t cross it!

• Making an offer contingent on selling your current home – Sellers are not going to accept an offer with a home sale contingency 99% of the time. This is something your agent will explain to you as soon as you mention the idea. Sellers naturally prefer to sell to someone ready to buy, not someone that will only buy if their home sells. As much as we explain this some people just won’t listen. They have to learn the hard way because they feel they know more than we do as agents. An offer contingent on selling another home is real estate fools gold. It’s like not having a real offer. So if you are serious about buying a home and need to sell yours first get it on the market!

• Negotiating home inspection items that were visible pre-inspection – If the deck on the home is obviously sagging or there is a leak in the basement that you can plainly see, your agent will craft your offer around this fact. You both saw the problem and you made an offer anyway. Yet some buyers will try to negotiate on those same issues after the home inspection is finished. Some will even do this if the issue was pointed out in a sellers disclosure. People do negotiate after a home inspection, obviously. If the home inspector finds a mold infestation or termite damage or anything else that neither you nor your agent was aware of when you made the offer, then negotiation is expected. But do not try to negotiate on things that were readily apparent before you made your offer. It just makes you and your agent look bad and has very little chance of succeeding. I just has this exact scenario take place less than a month ago in Bellingham Massachusetts. We made it very clear to the buyers agent the seller would not be fixing items that came up during the inspection unless they were major surprises. The buyer didn’t listen and tried to get an additional six thousand off the price of the home. Sorry not going to happen.
• Expecting the home to be perfect after the inspection – There are buyers who will ask the seller to fix the most ridiculous things after the home inspection because they want to move into a home that seems brand new. If the home was built in 1980, it’s not going to feel brand new. And the seller cannot be expected to make it that way, especially after you have already made an offer. There will be minor problems with any older home. Heck there are even homes that are only a few years old that won’t be perfect – very few homes are. Just be aware of this. It’s important to understand what’s important to negotiate after a home inspection. Bringing a punch list of minutia to the listing agent after a home inspection is not going to be looked at favorably. Understand what is reasonable and what isn’t. Your real estate agent should be able to guide you on this.

• Work with a buyers agent for months and then buy with someone else at an open house – real estate agents work on commission. Generally they do not get paid a dime unless they make a sale. Do you really think it’s fair to have a Realtor tote you around for months showing you property, only for you to decide one day to walk through a Real Estate open house and buy from the listing agent? This is about as low as it gets. Your agent probably has showed you homes at all times including nights and weekends giving up time away from family and friends. This is the way you repay them? Don’t do it! This probably tops the charts of things buyers do that real estate agents hate.

• Work with more than one agent – As mentioned above real estate agents don’t get paid unless they make a sale. You should not be working with multiple agents at the same time in the same area. While you may think this is super convenient for you, it is not fair to either of the other parties involved. If this is something you plan on doing it should be discussed up front with both agents. Let them decide if they are comfortable with such an arrangement. The only time this is to be considered kosher is when you are looking in two different areas and have not decided on one yet.