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Top five signs of a bad real estate agent

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In my own personal dealings with a lot of 'teams', usually the homeowner only sees the top of the team at the listing presentation and then never again. After that, it's the underlings who handle things. One even sent a brand new agent to deal with the offer negotiations (I had to teach her what Ontario laws were as she had just moved to Ontario from BC), she wasn't skilled at handling the sellers (they spent over an hour discussing the chandelier that WAS INCLUDED in the listing!) and she certainly didn't know the paperwork process. Throughout the closing of the deal, the team members were calling each other looking for documents, the left hand never knew what the right hand was doing, etc. Using an agent who works on their own means they are reachable, they have all the documentation in one place, they know all aspects about the listing/deal and they know the status of it all along the way. Also, a lot of those 'teams' are made up of one agent, the deal secretary (who every one else at the office uses), and the front desk secretary (again, who everyone else at the office uses) so there is, in fact, no 'team', just an agent who says they have a 'team'.
 
If they come onto a real estate forum, in a serious discussion about the qualities of a good vs bad agent, and they discuss farting, that just might be another sign....
EDIT: ahhh, I see he has now removed that comment from his post. Good idea!
 
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A few other signals of bad agents
  • poor knowledge of the area
  • poor negotiation skills
  • poor listening skills to understand the buyer/seller's interests
 
Too bad I missed this thread before I first tried buying a house otherwise I would've stopped working with my realtor earlier.
I eventually got fed up of their incompetence and spent months educating myself and ended up buying a home without a realtor.

I had a very poor impression of realtors, but after I started working by myself with listing agents, I found that you can't really paint them all of the same brush.
Some listing agents I spoke to were really pushy and tried to work as my buying agent when they found out I wasn't using a realtor.
 
The link doesnt work anymore but most of this is still valid. Id also argue that an important deciding factor is the realtors website. If it looks very dated and doesnt show the realtors listings, you know youve got someone who doesnt take their job seriously.
 
Utter ignorance of condo law, condo declarations, bylaws, rules, status certificates, reno policies etc. "Oh sure, you can tear down that wall. No problem."

We have also had agents selling suites who give fobs to open house prospects -- strangers off the street!!! -- to our amenities. "Oh sure, go and check out the change rooms." Now we have totally cracked down and they don't like it.

With so many condos being bought and sold, I suspect that they now form the bulk of the RE biz, at least here in the GTA. RE agents had better learn their stuff.

Oh and buyers ought to not use their cousin Ralph the immigration lawyer to seal the deal. Get a condo specialist!
 
As a uni student who is interested in the prospect of becoming a realtor I find threads like these helpful.

One thing I'm curious about is how real estate agents consistently gain new knowledge about the market. Wether it be reading Globe & Mail articles such as the one posted, to maybe following a realty blog. I'd really like to know the best sources of info you guys use to stay up to date and ahead of the curve.

Ps. Sorry if I brought this thread a little off topic but I cannot post my own threads until I've made some posts. Also any kind of input is appreciated.

I would say to thoroughly read CMHC reports and statistics, as well as MLS statistics, also would be good to stay in touch with appraisers and follow land use planning decisions.

And to stand out, communicate, be able to communicate your marketing efforts and show that you are actually working to sell the listed property.
 
Poor math skills. One time I made an offer without a buying agent, and I was up against one other buyer who has an agent. The other person offered 10k more than I did, so the selling agent asked me to match. I was like why? even after commission and all, you and your seller still makes more from my offer due to reduced/shared commission. In the end, they went with the other offer even though I have broken down the math to them. The owner got shafted so hard lol
 
Poor math skills. One time I made an offer without a buying agent, and I was up against one other buyer who has an agent. The other person offered 10k more than I did, so the selling agent asked me to match. I was like why? even after commission and all, you and your seller still makes more from my offer due to reduced/shared commission. In the end, they went with the other offer even though I have broken down the math to them. The owner got shafted so hard lol

i bet the agent was looking to double-end the commission from the seller.

was the other buyer's agent from the same r/e office?
 
Lack of construction and design knowledge and experience is one of them.
I had an argument with an agent at an open house who was boasting the condo has “solid hardwood” floors (if it hardwood, it’s most likely engineered), which was clearly laminate. I showed him the planks have the same knots and grain pattern which is not natural (not to mention it had a very tinny hollow sound and feel to it). This is clearly misrepresentation and who knows what other lies or ignorant remarks he was making.
Also some agents don’t know what is structural and claim that walls can be removed when they couldn’t, or that bathrooms can be moved, added or reconfigured.

I’m still surprised that some agents include balcony space as floor area (combined with interior), and calling dens bedrooms when in the builder‘s plans have it as dens (even when there is no closet, daylighting, or sized smaller than what is considered a legal bedroom by code). Again, this is misrepresentation, and I have seen a lot of this in the industry.

There was a sale in my condo (relatively new) that was cancelled because the agent overstated the floor area by 20%. I don’t know if there were any legal consequences with this misrepresentation. These days it is so easy to look up a building and their marketing plans with their floor area on Google.
Also in my condo I have seen listings from time to time where it said the amenities include a gym or even a pool when there isn’t. Have they even been in the building?!!! These agents should know the product they are selling or at least do some research or talk to their clients! It’s so funny that my concierge have these agents asking where the gym is and she would reply saying the Good Life is just down the street, lol!

Multiple representation is a bad thing and should be avoided, even when there are two agents from the same brokerage, as both parties can never be fairly represented and it’s too easy to do some funny business in the transaction.

I am also puzzled by listings represented by out of town agents. They can’t properly sell the property as they don‘t know the area very well or attend to anything in a timely manner. One time I was supposed to see a property but the lockbox was broken and the listing agent, who lives and work in Hamilton, couldn’t get there until the next day which didn’t help me which potentially killed a potential sale.

Agents doing their job on the side or part time is also a very bad trait. Ontario has over 60,000 agents and many of them are not doing it full time or have their license in their back pocket in the event that a friend or family member needs an agent. This is bad as they can’t properly attend to or represent their clients when they are working at another job, not to mention they lack the practical experience to know the ins and outs of the industry which leads to negligence or bad mistakes. They also lack the connections and network of professionals which makes for a good agent.
I think there is a province that prohibits agents from working part time or on the side which I think is good to protect the consumer.
 
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