The perfect home? Check. Motivated first time buyers with mortgage and down payment arranged? Check. Even a stickler for a Seller? Check. All we have to do is put the two parties together and work out a nice deal.
I have been working with this nice young couple for around 3 months now, first time buyers who saw the slow winter market as a perfect time to buy their first home. Prices dip a little in the winter (November to January) due to a lack of heavy demand, there is also less competition out there and it provides them with reasonable time to make an informed decision. After 2 months and 23 homes later, (a lot I know but hey why rush) we finally found it. I drew up the offer. We were excited.
I call the listing agent. In comes Cousin Bill who is a Realtor/Telus customer service rep/Gap sales rep on weekends. When it comes to phone etiquette Cousin Bill rocks but when it comes to negotiating …well, let us just say he’s a rock that sinks. Where do I start? First the listing agreement signed with the seller was on the table for all visitors to see when visiting the house; it indicated 1% commission payable to him. Nothing alarming at this point but right away this made my mind run, “tsk tsk” I thought, If this agent is not strong enough to negotiate his own self worth how is he going to protect, value and push the seller’s interests at the negotiating table?
The home we liked had been on the market for 4 months now and how Cousin Bill failed to sell the house in another record breaking year in Toronto real estate I do not know. The house was over priced of course and this sadly tells me he failed to come to an understanding with the seller on what reality looks like. Keep in mind some agents will take on an over priced listing, for them the objective is to get buyer LEADS and sell them OTHER homes, not yours. Would I personally want my sign out there for 4 months telling people I suck at my job? Not really my style.
It is only fair to mention that the house was ‘Sold Conditional’ before. Sold Conditional means that the seller had accepted an offer and the deal was 99% firm “if” one minor detail occurs. What is that one minor detail they took the risk on accepting? ‘Conditional on the sale on the buyer’s home’ - This is one of the riskiest conditions to accept in a deal, it basically means if the potential buyer’s house/condo does not sell within a specified time they have the right to walk away with no recourse, the deal would fall through, which it did. Genius advice giving Cousin Bill (did I mention that this dead deal’s papers were also lying there on the kitchen table? I basically found out what price and terms the seller was willing to accept and I used it to my buyer’s advantage. Way to keep your cards close to your chest Cousin Bill).
Shall I continue? Unfortunately for the seller it gets worse. We made an offer. I am in the office waiting on a sign-back from the seller. Been waiting since 7:00pm but its now 9:30pm. I call Cousin Bill “Okay Bill we are ready for you, where is the fax?” to which he replies “Oh I just left work (good old Telus again) and I have yet to send it to my seller” “Wait what? But I sent it to you 24 hours ago, we are waiting here!” You can see how important this is to Cousin Bill.
I will let you know how negotiations shape up but for now I want to close with some thoughts. Did the seller save or lose more money by getting a discount agent? And if the agent does a fantastic job and gets the seller more money than the original asking price would anyone still be grumbling about paying the going rate on realtor commission? If you need more convincing think of it this way, working for commission means you pay AFTER the successful sale of a house, if your house does not sell you do not pay! How many times did you go to a lawyer and paid him or her upfront whether you win or lose? How many times did you go to a mechanic and pay to solve a problem only to drive away with another? You felt robbed huh? Think about this next time the issue of commission stops you from hiring a great realtor.
