My first agent who sold me my house five years ago patiently took me to homes until I found one I liked. I don’t remember how many I saw, but there were quite a few — adn I loved my final choice.

Now, in my second purchase I am having nothing but problems — exactly of the kind described above. I described the area I wanted along with the price range. I even mentioned that I wanted walking distance to the metro. What my first agent showed me were homes a good $200k beyond my price range. Yes, I coudl affrord it, but no, I didn’t want to go that high — especially when I could have better value for money elsewhere. He also lied and said there were no homes on the market in a specific location I asked about and then proceeded to show me homes further away which were hundreds of thousands of dollars more. He then tried to convince me how close to the metro it was by startnig at the metro and then driving the house. It was a good 15 minute drive. Yes, I would love to spend an hour walking each way to get to the metro.
As soon as I perked up about one home in the higher range, which I thought, ‘might work,” he then began forwarding multiple listings in that area of the same range in an area that I had informed him would be a horrible commute for me — all the while homes in my price range and ideal location were sitting on the market.
Once I found out through my own research, I cut him immediately.
My second agent is more on the ball, but I also get this sense from her of “just buy already.” Gee, I have only been out with her once and for an hour. She is showing me great matches, but she interrupts and cuts me off and acts as though she is so put out having to show homes. While she is very competent, I wonder why I would want to give a commission to a person with this level of disrepect. Can’t she at least feign civility for the short time I am with her?
Agents just want to slam us into houses, take the moneye, and leave. A good agent puts his client first and tries to make them feel comfortable and to find a good match for them.

okay.

Successful agents learn to recognize buyers who are less than forthcoming (for whatever reason) and focus their attention on buyers who are self-aware and honest.

The latter type of buyer is indeed valuable. Relationships of all types are typically based on reciprocity. A client that is forthcoming about what he or she can actually afford and is honest about their intentions will garner the attention of a good agent who will be patient, diligent and focused on their goals.

My sympathies to the unfortunate agent you treated with such discourtesy.

We thought we were ready to buy but really, we weren’t. He hung in there and we eventually came around. I think another thing that happened is we put a lot of thinking and reasoning into our decision. And hey, it’s a pretty big deal and we wound up in a place we love.

So if I had to do it over again, I probably wouldn’t do anything different.