Thanks for the clarification. No worries. One of the limitations of this medium is that you aren’t able to see the smile on my face as I wrote the part about the ‘potential thief or assailant’. I just couldn’t resist. No offense taken.

I do admit that I have never before considered that my call to a listing agent might raise concerns about safety, I’ll be more aware of and sensitive to those concerns in the future.

There is an agent here locally who has tried tirelessly to convince me that all these rules and procedures are for my protection, but frankly, I haven’t felt very protected in the past. I’ll also admit to being a bit jaded but a couple of previous negative experiences.

Thanks also for your remarks about my home search. I’m not in the Texas market as was previously asked, but in Oregon. The market here has slowed substantially in the past 6 months, but prices are still holding fairly firm, which is a bit of a mystery to me. In any case, we continue our search.

Thanks again for the thoughtful reply.

R, Jon

There was no malice on my part, and I was not implying you are a thief or assailant. You are merely a stranger and as an unknown quantity, I don’t know what you represent until I know you better – certainly you see there were no pointed remarks about you specifically, and I’m sure you can understand my position regarding my safety. As a woman, I think a lot more about my safety than I believe most men do.

I don’t want to beat a dead horse, and certainly don’t think I can change your mind, but I wish you had taken away one more thing from the discussion: that the very rules created to protect you are the ones that bind us from helping you in the manner you want. The industry is changing, but our rules don’t change fast enough – real estate is far from a perfect business. Many times, we are as frustrated and hamstrung by the arcane requirements as you, I’m sure.

I appreciate the opportunity to see it from an outside view. Best of luck to you!

In any case, I’ve learned some things from the conversation:
- As a free agent buyer, I’m nobody’s customer, even when I buy a property.
- There is a mix of opinions above about whether it is appropriate for a listing agent to show me their listing, and play both sides of the txn – this is interesting to me.
- The agents represented here (however small the sample size) see themselves as indispensable to the real estate transaction.
- You are all very confident and secure in your role, and feel no threat from the trends I described. Glad to hear business is so good.

Best of success to you all (sincerely). Thanks for the discussion.

R, Jon

Your post has caused me to think about the free agency trend. Under current law and my current contracts, how about this: meet me at my office, I will run your credit report, and you pay me a refundable at closing retainer fee? You have already implied that you understand that I don’t work for free, and your retainer-let’s call it a “free agency fee” will compensate me for my time and my hard costs.

Jon, As you can see by the size of this thread, this is an issue which we in the industry do think about alot. You can holler “disintermediation-travel agency-whining about getting disintermediated” all you want, but you will still have to jump through the hoops that YOUR legislature has created for our industry. We practioners are simply following the rules, a concept that you seem to have difficulty grasping. Just because Jon wants unfettered access to people’s private property, doesn’t mean he gets it. I have seen nothing in your posts that indicates a willingness or a sensitivity to our need to comply with some very arcane and admittedly sometimes goofy rules. As a remedy, why don’t you gather up all your free agent buddies, you know, the ones who are the next big thing, and get the laws changed so we can all skip down the free agency path together as equals. The texas legislature doesn’t reconvene until 2009, so you have plenty of time to fix our industry. Unless, of course, you want to take advantage of this buyer’s market.

If you are really a home buyer in Texas, and you really want to see a particular home, I suggest that you find some Redpin/zip/Foxton’s type rebater and go shopping. The rules might have been changed by the time your get the 30 mortgage on your new home paid off.

With the mortgage meltdown, IMHO, we are going to see more “consumer protections” coming out of the legislatures, not less. I expect mortgage originators will get tagged with some kind of suitability responsibilities. In my mind, that means that even the most fiscally responsible free agent borrower/buyer will have to undergo a financial anal exam. When the lender and we agents are tasked with crystal ball suitability determinations under threat of some kind of federal sanctions, it will really constrain who we do business with. So call up some low/no service rebater and find yourself a house.

Another solution for you would be to hook up with the free agent sellers. That way no one would have to take uncompensated time with either of you. Just don’t dilly dally because 80% of the time free agent sellers end up listed with one of us.

Kelley-You are much more qualified to articulate this issue than I.

If I tell the person that the lot size is X. They are able to rely on that – whether I officially or legally represent them or not. If somehow they get all the way through the transaction to ownership and then find out that the lot size is not X, I’d better get the money together for my insurance deductible.

It is my obligation to check the voracity of anyone coming into the house I represent for sale. One of the conversations I have repeatedly with my clients is that they remove all valuables – which includes jewelry, cameras, prescription drugs, fire arms, and generally anything that can be pocketed or pursed – from the home. We’re talking about inviting strangers into homeowners’ one place of safety from the world.

In terms of showing property to free agent buyers, I have done that under very specific circumstances. One is if their agent is unavailable for some reason. If the person is not represented by an agent I refer them to another realtor in my office.

I do not represent both sides – buyer and seller. Although that is quite legal and common in my market. In my opinion, that is a conflict of interest. I was hired by the seller to get them the most money in the shortest possible time for their property. Because I was hired by them first, my legal obligation to them comes first. So when hired to get a seller the most money for their property, how can I get the best deal for the buyer – which is what every buyer is looking for?

I understand, Jon, what your premise is. However, the laws that we speak of were designed to protect you the consumer. If you choose not to follow the guidelines as suggested and provided for your protection, that is of course your decision.

We are not talking about a business model. We are talking about following the law and keeping alive.

Between 1982 and 2000, more than 200 U.S. real estate agents were killed. Just two months ago, we received a police bulletin about a mother-son duo who was robbing open houses in my area. Fortunately they have been caught.

My job is in no harm of being phased out. In as litigious country as we are in, my job becomes more valuable and necessary with every lawsuit. It becomes strengthened by the little time people have to devote to selling/buying a home, learning the do’s and dont’s, filling out paperwork in the proper way, holding their own open houses, having the network of agents and clients I have to market their home to, knowing the market comparables not by pictures but by walking through the house and looking at the size, layout and condition from floor to ceiling. It becomes more invaluable every time I keep another client out of court. I become indispensable the longer I stay in business, the more classes I take, the more I learn and am able to filter the important facts from the rest.

How does a buyer know what the typical funding is for a homeowners association without having seen hundreds of them? Is 57% funding okay? How about 67? Who pays for the county transfer tax in this county? What’s the best way to hold title? What if the pest inspection is done and there’s work required? Who pays for that work? How do you negotiate that? Who do you even call for the inspection? How do you know they’re reputable? What do you do if they aren’t? How much should your initial deposit be when writing an offer? Does this report make sense? Is this what they all look like or is the seller trying to trick me? Should I disclose this? What if one party does not meet their timeline as stated in the contract?

Most people have the sense and the wisdom to know that they cannot possibly answer all of these questions on their own. They need an expert. That’s what we are.

Somewhere back there I must have said something about a buyer being represented by the listing agent. Just my opinion again but it’s a bad idea in my market. Maybe in others there’s no issue. But I can think of plenty of reasons not to risk it.

So, Jon, you want to risk it? Go ahead nobody is stopping you. Don’t worry about us or our business model. We know how to take care of ourselves. And if we don’t, then shame on us.

There’s a big difference in how I handle someone wanting to see my listing and someone just calling and making demands to see someone else’s listing.

In one instance, I am indeed potentially working for free, taking someone that I don’t know is qualified or that is otherwise represented to see someone else’s listing. In the other, I have duties to my Seller that I must consider. Either way, we’re having a chat first, and meeting in a public place, preferrably the closest office. If you sound nice and there’s one close by, I might even buy you a cuppa at Starbucks.

AZ and my broker require we discuss agency at our first substantial meeting, and I do it at every first meeting. I’m not willing to break law and risk my license or my safety by showing a house to someone who won’t spend 10 minutes with me in a public place first.

Maybe Jon has bought 20 homes, maybe he knows what he’s getting into. Heck, I was Jon 7 years ago. We used probably 6 agents at our whim over the course of 2 years. Not a one of them demonstrated any value to me, they were interchangeable. And then I finally met one who sat me down and explained exactly what her representation meant – and then she lived up to every word. In this business, there is a huge chasm between even average and excellent.

Anywho. I don’t want to show Jon my listings if he calls. I don’t want to be on both sides, and most of my sellers don’t want it either. When Jon calls me, we’re talking about agency up front, so he knows I can take every word he utters directly to my Seller, that I will jealously protect and promote my Seller’s interests, and that he has to meet me at my office first, for my own safety, or meet me at the house at a time when the Sellers are also home. I talk about that with my Sellers too – since they understand I’m a human and somewhat value my life, they don’t want me showing their house to a stranger without meeting them in a public place first either.

If Jon has researched agency and is following his own path, that’s his right, regardless if I think it’s the best move or not. And it’s mine to refuse to show him my listings if he won’t meet the terms that my sellers and I have agreed to.

If I wanted to be really testy, I could tell the free-agent buyers that I am going to suck every last bit of information out of their head that I can and report back to my Seller in the hopes that the free-agent does indeed make an offer. I’d get my Seller a great deal. Oh, and sign here that I have disclosed that to you. Good, let’s go see that house, you’re gonna love it.

Increasing trend or no – I am bound by ethics and law, so that every word that comes out of my mouth has potential for implied, undisclosed agency. I must be extra super clear about who I represent and at what time. If I give off the cuff advice over cocktails at a party that turns out to be incorrect, I am potentially liable for that. Given that’s the risk I’m taking, I must treat “free-agent buyers” in a very specific way.