Don't sign anything - Real estate ethics in question

You may have heard of Neil Jenman's mission to inform and protect consumers from the dangers involved with selling or buying real estate. I thought I knew and observed enough to know that one had to be very careful in dealing with real estate agents. But after having read one of his books, I realised I could never trust them ever again.

I'm not saying they are all money hungry and ethics deficient but they have been endoctrinated in believing what they're preaching and when they start to realise the extent of lack of ethics and fairness of their practice, they either quit or look the other way.

If they don't quit or look the other way, they may try to change the system more or less successfully due to the pressure of the industry controlling them.

Jenman says that the consumers who suffer the worst financial losses are generally the home sellers. They suffer because of:

• Up front expenses

• Adverstising

• Kickbacks from newspaper

• Auctions

• Conditioning

• False and misleading offers

• Bait prices

• Open inspections

• Betrayal of confidence

See details on Jenman's website

In today's online environment, it has become very easy and inexpensive to market a property that will be viewed by buyers all over the world and sell it without the involvement of the real estate industry. Home sellers have the choice to research and post their property for sale on the web themselves or employ the assistance of ethical professionals who will only charge a little fee for their work in helping them promoting their property.

How to know where to list my property for sale

How to market a property yourself


View website for the NZ market

Credentials: selling houses

I was sitting in my car today waiting for a friend and facing yet another real estate company FOR SALE sign. I should be used to it by now but it still amazes me how they have made a profession of how to advertise themselves for free.

This particular sign didn't even show a photo of the house, just the face, name and contact of an agent as if he was the one up for sale. The house simply didn't matter as much as the agent himself.

I know why they do it but I just can't get used to it. The agent gets 2 main benefits from it. He not only gets the calls from potential buyers passing by (providing they manage to notice the house) but also and above all shows his smiling face to any potential vendors wanting to find an agent to sell their home who will themselves contribute to more advertising for the agent. It simply snowballs.

In the meantime, the house owner is promoting the agent while losing any chance to sell privately to the buyers passing by.

You may think that if the sign is great with beautiful pictures of the property, that's alright then. Well think again. The people passing by will indeed notice the property more but who will they call if they want more information and ultimately buy the house? The agent of course. The sign was put up on the house owner's own turf. Consequently, they deserve to sell without giving any commission away if the buyer finds them this way.

It's a bit like having a car for sale and driving around with the name of a dealer on it, so people call the dealer and you pay them a commission !!! How crazy would it be?

Yet, the real estate industry has been indoctrinating us with the belief that only they can sell real estate and therefore all vendors ans buyers should always go through them.

The truth is that however successful an agent may be at selling properties, he will never be the reason why a buyer buys a house. A house will sell because there is someone who likes it and can afford it. There is no point for agents to show off how many houses they have sold. These are not convincing credentials, they are merely the consequence of having advertised themselves more than the others, thanks to their generous clients.

A vendor nowadays doesn't need and cannot afford an unnecessary expensive intermediary.

This industry will have to change dramatically or disappear.

SOLD -- Yes right !

I found a flyer in my letter box from a real estate agent who was trying to get some business out of me. The flyer features a house in my street with the word SOLD mentioned 4 times.

Underneath it says: "You may have noticed that we have just put up a SOLD sign on this property. If you would like to see the same on yours, please feel free to call me ..." bla bla bla

Very well you may think. Hey why not telling everybody that you have finally sold a house. But wait.

Underneath, in small print it says: "The above information has been furnished to us by the Owner. We have not verified whether or not that information is accurate and do not have any belief one way or the other in its accuracy. We do not accept any responsibily to any person for its accuracy and do no more than pass it on. All interested parties should make and rely upon their own inquiries in order to determine whether or not this information is in fact accurate."

I re read it twice wondering if I had misunderstood the statement somehow. But no. They were really insulting their potential clients' intelligence and making a fool of themselves at the same time.

Not only they admit that they have not sold this house themselves, otherwise they would be certain of the accuracy of the SOLD statement but they also subtly hint that the house may have not been sold at all.

Why on earth would anyone contact this real estate agent after she admits that she put the SOLD sign only for the benefit of her advertisement?

It's beyond me. They may think desperate times call for desperate measures but this real estate agent only showed her dishonesty while trying to disclaim all responsibiliy for her actions.

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