Let me share a story with you. This is a situation that caught me totally off guard, although being in the business this long I thought I was prepared for almost anything.
The story starts out fine. One of my best friends, who was also my college roommate, and his wife were looking for their first house. So we sit down and talk about his price range, towns he was interested in, and so forth. I set him up to receive properties daily from me so he can learn the market. Over time he sees places he likes and I setup appointments to see the places, and go see them with him. He even saw places he liked so much he made offers. He could never quite seal the deal though. He is a bit stubborn and thought the seller was trying to rip him off. I tried to talk him out of it, but the stubbornness kicked in.
A little over a year goes by. He and his wife have been looking the whole time. Over the course of the year I showed him a little over 40 houses and sent them the list of open houses every Sunday. We also made 3 offers on different properties that he did not get because he would not bid high enough, even though it was under his price range and against my advice.
Out of the blue I get a call from him on Sunday telling me he has something he needs to talk to me about. He proceeds to tell me that he has decided that he is not going to use a buyer’s agent to buy his house. To be honest when I heard this I was caught completely off guard. I should have said more, but mostly I listened to his reasons. He told me this has nothing to do with the job that I did for him. According to him I did a fantastic job and he would recommend me to anyone who was looking. His only reason for not using me as his agent was he thought the listing agent would try harder to get him the property if he went in there alone and they would get the full commission. I told him the listing agent had to present all offers and the seller made the final choice, but his mind was made up.
I also asked him some questions. Here are some of the questions I remember and his response. For this argument we will use his “fictional” name of Joe.
1.)
Me: “Don’t you think I deserve to get paid for all the work I did no your behalf.”
Joe: “Of course I really appreciate all you did for us.”
Me: “I don’t get paid anything if you do not use me.”
Joe: “I want to take you out for dinner.”
Me: “You are not taking me out to dinner.”
2.)
Me: “Don’t you think this is kind of a dick move on your part? Have you thought about this from my point of view?”
Joe: “I don’t think it is a dick it is a dick move. I think that if I were in your shoes I would be disappointed that we were not using you, but I would realize the friendship is more important.”
3.)
Me: “So you have made a conscious decision to cut me out of the buying process after a year of work. You do realize that you have decided that all the work I have done for you so far is worth zero dollars to you.”
Joe: “No, I am going to take you out to dinner to show my appreciation for all you have done for me.”
Me: “You are not taking me out to dinner.”
Joe: “I know you think it’s gay, but I am taking you out to dinner.”
Me: “Joe it is the difference between $100 and $10,000. I have spent well over $100 in gas alone. There will be no dinner.”
4.)
Joe: “Another reason that I have decided not to use you guys is that it isn’t good to mix friends and business.”
Me: “Don’t you think it is a little late for that?”
Joe: “Well that is why I am ending it now.”
Me: “Like I said it is about a year too late.”
There were many more hilarious exchanges between the two of us, but as I said I was caught a little off guard and did not ask all the questions I should have.
Since the exchange I have been very upset and started thinking that I was overreacting to the whole situation. So I posted a question on Yahoo! Answers from his point of view asking if what I did was the wrong thing to do. Here is the link. I think it speaks for itself.
Hopefully he does something to rectify the situation, but people certainly get crazy when house are involved. Feel free to share your options on this matter. I would love to hear them. Thanks for listening. Writing it down is therapeutic in a way.