Discover Greedy and Agressive Real Estate Agent Secrets
That They Don't Want You To Know

I vividly remember the first time I met a real estate agent. It wasn't all that long ago that my lovely wife Jessica and I were driving our Honda Civic across town to meet him.

Our conversation was not about the house we were going to see but the agent we were about to meet.

It was our first time meeting an agent and...

we were scared to death!

"I hope he is not pushy" I said.

"Me too" said Jessica. "I just want to look at the house without getting a sales pitch."

We pull up to the old blue colonial and we know immediately that we are being duped by some selective picture taking. The quiet side street turned out to be at the corner of Route 1. I approach the front steps with apprehension. I don't like the look of that crumbling second concrete step so I go over it stepping right from the first to the third.

We knock on the front door and the agent who is listing the house yanks on it and it only makes a obnoxious rubbing sound. He yanks again, harder this time, and the door noisily opens.

As we cross over the threshold we step into an amusement park fun house. The plaster walls are cracking at an alarming rate. Old yellow paint that was once white is dangling from the ceiling. The window mounted air conditioner is working double time trying to pump cold air into the room faster than it is escaping through a broken window.

This agent is following us so closely we are afraid to talk to one another.

We are getting the song and dance about what a great house this is and with a little tender loving care blah...blah...blah...

After the tour we sit down at the dining room table. The agent has two pieces of paper and a pen in front of him.

"So how much do you guys want to offer?"he asks.

We both laugh and politely tell him that we are not prepared to make an offer today. Here comes the second piece if paper. At the very top it says 'Exclusive Right To Represent'.

"What's this?" I ask.

"It's a contract that makes me your agent" is his reply.

"Not bloody likely!" I am thinking to myself.

Soon, we part ways without signing anything. It‘s a good thing too. It turns out that the ‘The Exclusive Right To Represent‘ (sometimes called the ‘Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement‘) handcuffs client and their money to the agent.

We now know how to protect ourselves and our money from predatory agents.

It turns out that if we sign an 'Exclusive Right To Represent' we can't buy a for sale by owner. Actually, that's not true. We can, but we would have to pay out of our pockets, not the sellers pockets, whatever commission the agreement binds us to. I would have been contractually obligated to fork over money to him for buying a house that I found all on my own that wasn't being sold by another agent.

Better options will likely save you $5000 on a typical purchase.

These other options are outstanding. There are ways to minimize and completely eliminate your risk so that you don't get stuck paying out money to agents that they didn't earn.

You can request an agreement called an 'Exclusive Buyer Agency Agreement'. It has a pretty crazy name but the concept is very simple. Basically, if you find an agent that you really like and want to continue working with you can sign this agreement. You will be bound to that particular agent so you must be 100% positive that there is nobody else out there better. The up side is that you can buy that for sale by owner and never have to worry about owing your agent anything.

I think you have a couple better options though. One of them is actually a form of the first mentioned 'Exclusive Right To Represent' agreement. This can be written up on a property by property basis.

For example, if you were to go tomorrow to look at 100 Main Street you can use this agreement written specifically for this property and it would only be in effect for 100 Main Street. Any other property no matter how you found it would be absolutely nobody‘s business but yours.

However you have a better option still and it allows you to be in a position of absolute power and control.

The agreement that you want to ask for is the 'Open Buyer Agency Agreement' and you should seriously consider it. With this agreement you are completely free to try out every agent in town without worrying about any repercussions.

You can become the ultimate employer of agents and interview them until your hearts content. At least until you finally find that agent that is a perfect match for you.

I hope you enjoyed this down and dirty guide to agency agreements and that when the time comes you will be prepared with the knowledge to confidently head to that first meeting with an agent.

If you would like to see an example of one or all of these contracts I would be happy to send you one. I'll even highlight the parts of the contract that spell out your rights to make it a little easier for you.

To get a sample of the contracts that you might be asked to sign you can call me at (203) 218-3109 or e-mail Scott@cthousehunting.com and I will get it out to you immediately.

Happy House Hunting,

Connecticut Realtor©