Agents cutting other agents out of commissions and not representing their clients as they should.

Beware of these agents! Their numbers are small; however, the ones that do practice this are nothing but trouble. You will not be able to tell who they are by looking at them or by any specific mannerism; however, you will know them by their actions.

These agents are more interested in maintaining the entire commission than selling your home. If they happen to show their listed home to a buyer that comes without an agent, this agent believes they are the procuring cause and will demand referral fees from the absent buyer agent. Now, this agent does not realize or simply ignores the fact that the reason the buyer came to the house is due to the fact that the buyer’s agent has provided the buyer with home notification updates for that particular area. If the referral fee, is not relinquished the Cannibalistic Agent will then ignore the potential buyer. IGNORE THE AGENT OF THE BUYER. Read that again. IGNORE THE AGENT OF THE BUYER. Who is the agent helping the seller or himself?

As a seller its hard to determine if your agent is operating in this manner. However, the suggestion here by the Rogue Agent is for you to demand that the Selling agent provide a weekly list of everyone who has seen your home. Then demand that the seller agent provide written feedback from each potential buyer or buyer agent. If the cannibal is stupid enough to ask for feedback from the offended parties then the cannibal will be exposed. But that is highly unlikely, the cannibal is not that stupid. However, these simple steps at a minimum will force the cannibal to work a bit harder and may force it to think twice about screwing you or other agents.

At a minimum, you should be armed with the knowledge of how to identify and characterize the different types of agents you meet. Its not difficult to do. Now, of course my recommendation is not to work with any agent. But if you must… be prepared.

Many agents see themselves as a renaissance agent. This is probably 60% of all agents. Stay away from the renaissance agent. You will be frustrated and you will be disappointed. The renaissance agent is the classic jack of all trades master of none. You ask this person if they cover the north side of town. They don’t hesitate they say ‘yes’. Do you cover the South side of town, near the airport? They smile and say ‘yep. Do you cover the east side beyond the county line? They confidently say ‘yes’. What the renaissance agent is too stupid to realize is that just because you can find your way to a Mickey D’s 25 miles from your home doesn’t mean your an expert in the real estate market in that area. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid. These folks also supposedly understand short sales, foreclosures, single family investment real estate, first time home buyers, vacation home buyers, relocation needs, property management, and any thing else you might want to know. Anything you ask them they confidently tell you they can do it. True mastery comes from focused energy. Some of the most successful agents target one or two areas and only focus on specific types of buyers or sellers. If you find a true specialist, stick with them and you might even change your opinion slightly of real estate agents.

If you meet a renaissance agent run away quickly. Personally, I would rather work with an inexperienced agent that is providing a niche service than work with an ‘experienced’ agent that is all over the place and has no specialty. The niche agent is mastering her craft. She is focused and is concerned about the details. She will do her best. In addition, if her reputation is on the line, she certainly doesn’t want people to hear she is lousy working with first-time home buyers if her business card says, “We make Virgin buyers feel at home”.;) Even the General Practitioner in medicine refers patients to other doctors. Only the renaissance agent believes that she can diagnose, provide the anesthetic, complete the surgery and post op care.

RUN do not WALK away from these AGENTS!

One approach appraiser’s use for residential properties is the sales comparison approach. They look at homes within close proximity to each other and find comparable properties with similar features. If the subject house is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home, the appraiser will look for another 3 bedroom 2 bath home that has sold recently. In today’s market, a wise appraiser will keep the market window short when comparing properties. Some Realtor associations provide sold data on their associations web sites as a service this one in Charlotte. The best place to get accurate data for your analysis are the tax records. Check out this one in DC.