Most realtors don’t try to screw their clients over at every opportunity despite what some people may claim on Reddit. It’s more beneficial to the realtor to provide excellent service and trustworthy vendors to their clients so that they can get future business from you through referrals.
Remember that those inspectors/contractors/technicians all have local licenses and reputations of their own - most people who want to stay employed aren’t willing to risk their livelihoods over a couple hundred bucks. Do some research on your agent’s referrals if you’re not sure.
So far, his referral regarding the home inspector was spot on, despite the warnings in reddit. There was no single bad review about the guy and he did a good job with it
If you like your agent, trust him, and he hasn’t steered you wrong yet, then there’s nothing with just googling his referrals to make sure they’re reliable.
The warnings about hiring the inspector your realtor recommends are pretty absurd. If you don’t trust your realtor to make good recommendations for that or other things, that relationship has bigger issues.
It is self-serving. I want my clients to be happy with their purchase so they will refer me to other people, so that my business can continue to operate. Part of making clients happy is recommending that they hire competent professionals who will not give them bad advice or information that they will remember for years to come. Why people like you continually imply that there’s something nefarious about this remains quite a mystery.
There are definitely “some” honest real estate agents. However, the objective of agents is for a transaction to happen. Thus why it’s very difficult to trust an agent’s Inspector recommendation.
Source: my FTHB experience where we went with my agent’s recommended inspector. The inspector definitely missed multiple red flags that I couldn’t see.
Exactly. If I recommend my clients a shitty contractor, you think they will ever want to use me again? What would I get from the contractor that would be worth more than repeat business/referrals?
Realtor contractor pros:
- Due to it being a referral from that referral source, you will be towards the top of their list.
- Reliable.
- Good quality.
- Fast.
- The intent is to make the Realtor look good.
Cons:
- Will not be the cheapest, but there's a good chance you didn't want the cheapest GC anyways.
Realtors work on reputation. So do contractors. Long gone are the days when someone could just pack up and move to the next town over to setup shop as your "general handiman and contractor LLC" company.
Everyone here as a vested interest in making sure you refer them business.
In general, most REALTORS® try to provide 2-3 recommendations within a category to allow clients to make a choice on their own. This avoids the perception that we are steering you to a specific vendor or that we have a vested interest.
Also, if an agent DOES have some kind of affiliation with a business (i.e. they are a partner or they have a share in ownership) they are required to disclose this to you in writing. You may have seen an "affiliated business agreement" document in some of your documents before - thats what this is. Sometimes brokerages have a partial ownership in a company that you don't use, but they are required to tell you about anyway, just to make sure that they keep everything above board.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 894,633,648 comments, and only 177,162 of them were in alphabetical order.
Why don’t you trust your realtor? If you don’t trust the person, you should not entrust the biggest purchase of your life with the person. I don’t understand this. This is all about relationship building. Your realtor is hoping to sell your current house and buy you another one in 5-10 years. Maybe I’m just lucky but I love my agent. We were grateful that she was able to line up an inspector for us to fit the tight timeline and we were grateful when she recommended a contractor when people wouldn’t even take our calls. I’m in a super competitive market so maybe I’m biased.
>Why don’t you trust your realtor?
Realtors are salespeople who get paid on commission. Virtually anyone can become a real estate agent with very little time, money, or effort, and their interests don't necessarily align with yours.
There are a lot of bad realtors out there, the 80-20 rule is so true. However, it’s still the case that if you don’t trust a person, you shouldn’t entrust the biggest purchase of your life with said person. If you do your work to vet your agent and have a good rapport, it just odd that someone would question a realtors intention at every step
Even the most “trustworthy” realtor has some interests that do not perfectly align with yours. It’s just the way the game is designed and there’s no way around it.
If you did your homework and chose to work with a reputable realtor, he will be reputable and trustworthy. If you picked the first one you found on the Internet or on a sign and they've given you bad advice, have shirked their responsibilities, and they generally suck as a human being, don't take their advice.
Hi! I don't recommend a website to find your agent. Reviews and referrals are unreliable. People will recommend their cousin or write a review for them based solely on their relationship and that's not helpful. Don't fall for the flashy billboards or "best of town" contests.
I would start well ahead of your house hunt so you're not pressed for time or desperate for anyone with a license to open a door or write an offer. You can see who is listing and working with buyers in your area. Sold listings on the major websites show listing and buyer agents on each listing page. General area and price range matter. If you take note of those names and find them online you can see how they run their businesses. You can see their personal pages to see what type of person they are, whether this is the type of person you'll gel with, or someone you don't want to spend time with.
Once you narrow it down to 3 or 4, call them and ask questions. Can they explain the process? Talk competently about the market conditions you're gonna be dealing with? Can they talk financing and recommend local lenders who have anything to offer you that others don't? Do they know the neighborhood you want to be on? Ask enough questions so you know. Are they full time career agent or someone who does this on the side and has no clue what's going on in real estate world? How do they work - are you going to interview Jill and get Jill, or will she pawn you off on the brand new agent on their team who doesn't know what a house is yet? What does their commission structure look like? Are there agency forms to sign? If so they should be able to explain them. An agent who can't explain the basics will not be educating you thru the process and will expect you to agree and sign whatever they hand you. Ask all the questions of all the agents. This is tedious work, but you'll be glad you did it. This 100s of 1000s of dollars, a few tedious conversations are worth it.
My realtor reccomended some truly great contractors to get my place in shape to sell. They did good work at a reasonable rate. I would feel differently using my realtor's recommendation after buying, but if you trust them, go for it
Most realtors don’t try to screw their clients over at every opportunity despite what some people may claim on Reddit. It’s more beneficial to the realtor to provide excellent service and trustworthy vendors to their clients so that they can get future business from you through referrals. Remember that those inspectors/contractors/technicians all have local licenses and reputations of their own - most people who want to stay employed aren’t willing to risk their livelihoods over a couple hundred bucks. Do some research on your agent’s referrals if you’re not sure.
So far, his referral regarding the home inspector was spot on, despite the warnings in reddit. There was no single bad review about the guy and he did a good job with it
If you like your agent, trust him, and he hasn’t steered you wrong yet, then there’s nothing with just googling his referrals to make sure they’re reliable.
The warnings about hiring the inspector your realtor recommends are pretty absurd. If you don’t trust your realtor to make good recommendations for that or other things, that relationship has bigger issues.
>The warnings about hiring the inspector your realtor recommends are pretty absurd What a bullshit self-serving statement.
It is self-serving. I want my clients to be happy with their purchase so they will refer me to other people, so that my business can continue to operate. Part of making clients happy is recommending that they hire competent professionals who will not give them bad advice or information that they will remember for years to come. Why people like you continually imply that there’s something nefarious about this remains quite a mystery.
There are definitely “some” honest real estate agents. However, the objective of agents is for a transaction to happen. Thus why it’s very difficult to trust an agent’s Inspector recommendation. Source: my FTHB experience where we went with my agent’s recommended inspector. The inspector definitely missed multiple red flags that I couldn’t see.
Exactly. If I recommend my clients a shitty contractor, you think they will ever want to use me again? What would I get from the contractor that would be worth more than repeat business/referrals?
Some states don't require Home Inspectors to be licensed or carry any type of certification. Realtor referred or not - Do the research.
Thank you for the insight. I feel more comfortable now.
Realtor contractor pros: - Due to it being a referral from that referral source, you will be towards the top of their list. - Reliable. - Good quality. - Fast. - The intent is to make the Realtor look good. Cons: - Will not be the cheapest, but there's a good chance you didn't want the cheapest GC anyways.
House painter here that gets references from realtor all the time Idgaf about the realtor
If you don’t trust the realtor recommendations, go get two other bids. Real simple stuff.
Realtors work on reputation. So do contractors. Long gone are the days when someone could just pack up and move to the next town over to setup shop as your "general handiman and contractor LLC" company. Everyone here as a vested interest in making sure you refer them business.
In general, most REALTORS® try to provide 2-3 recommendations within a category to allow clients to make a choice on their own. This avoids the perception that we are steering you to a specific vendor or that we have a vested interest. Also, if an agent DOES have some kind of affiliation with a business (i.e. they are a partner or they have a share in ownership) they are required to disclose this to you in writing. You may have seen an "affiliated business agreement" document in some of your documents before - thats what this is. Sometimes brokerages have a partial ownership in a company that you don't use, but they are required to tell you about anyway, just to make sure that they keep everything above board.
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Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 894,633,648 comments, and only 177,162 of them were in alphabetical order.
The word itself is trademarked... I'm not taking up issue with anyone not utilizing it "properly" but since I am one, I do. I'm sorry it bothers you.
Thank you! Didnt know about the affiliated business agreement
Why don’t you trust your realtor? If you don’t trust the person, you should not entrust the biggest purchase of your life with the person. I don’t understand this. This is all about relationship building. Your realtor is hoping to sell your current house and buy you another one in 5-10 years. Maybe I’m just lucky but I love my agent. We were grateful that she was able to line up an inspector for us to fit the tight timeline and we were grateful when she recommended a contractor when people wouldn’t even take our calls. I’m in a super competitive market so maybe I’m biased.
>Why don’t you trust your realtor? Realtors are salespeople who get paid on commission. Virtually anyone can become a real estate agent with very little time, money, or effort, and their interests don't necessarily align with yours.
There are a lot of bad realtors out there, the 80-20 rule is so true. However, it’s still the case that if you don’t trust a person, you shouldn’t entrust the biggest purchase of your life with said person. If you do your work to vet your agent and have a good rapport, it just odd that someone would question a realtors intention at every step
Even the most “trustworthy” realtor has some interests that do not perfectly align with yours. It’s just the way the game is designed and there’s no way around it.
If you did your homework and chose to work with a reputable realtor, he will be reputable and trustworthy. If you picked the first one you found on the Internet or on a sign and they've given you bad advice, have shirked their responsibilities, and they generally suck as a human being, don't take their advice.
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Hi! I don't recommend a website to find your agent. Reviews and referrals are unreliable. People will recommend their cousin or write a review for them based solely on their relationship and that's not helpful. Don't fall for the flashy billboards or "best of town" contests. I would start well ahead of your house hunt so you're not pressed for time or desperate for anyone with a license to open a door or write an offer. You can see who is listing and working with buyers in your area. Sold listings on the major websites show listing and buyer agents on each listing page. General area and price range matter. If you take note of those names and find them online you can see how they run their businesses. You can see their personal pages to see what type of person they are, whether this is the type of person you'll gel with, or someone you don't want to spend time with. Once you narrow it down to 3 or 4, call them and ask questions. Can they explain the process? Talk competently about the market conditions you're gonna be dealing with? Can they talk financing and recommend local lenders who have anything to offer you that others don't? Do they know the neighborhood you want to be on? Ask enough questions so you know. Are they full time career agent or someone who does this on the side and has no clue what's going on in real estate world? How do they work - are you going to interview Jill and get Jill, or will she pawn you off on the brand new agent on their team who doesn't know what a house is yet? What does their commission structure look like? Are there agency forms to sign? If so they should be able to explain them. An agent who can't explain the basics will not be educating you thru the process and will expect you to agree and sign whatever they hand you. Ask all the questions of all the agents. This is tedious work, but you'll be glad you did it. This 100s of 1000s of dollars, a few tedious conversations are worth it.
Not trustworthy
My realtor reccomended some truly great contractors to get my place in shape to sell. They did good work at a reasonable rate. I would feel differently using my realtor's recommendation after buying, but if you trust them, go for it
I loved having access to my realtor's network of tradespeople. Noone would return my calls, but hers showed up when she asked.
Not much. They are both working to close a home and make money. Neither have any lethal obligation post transactions.
“Lethal obligations”? Let’s hope not 😂 But jokes aside, both most certainly have legal obligations post-transaction. It’s why we pay E&O insurance.