Have you ever been in a situation where it just totally blew out of proportion? Ever had a conversation that ended in a way that you not only could never have predicted, but never desired? Well, just recently, a friend of mine who's a real estate agent told me of an experience he had with a "would-be client" that...didn't quite turn out that way, to say the least. So, my friend had made a call to this "would-be client", after seeing a sign advertising an apartment that was for sale in a nice, suburban area. He made sure to let him know that he'd like to view the apartment as a real estate agent, to which this "client" responded positively, and scheduled a meeting for later that day. Much to my friend's dismay, however, it became apparent after a while, that this person had no intention of relating to anyone other than prospective buyers! Yup, he had led my friend on with some weird desire to somehow swindle him into buying the property instead of trying to sell it! So, what would you have done in this situation? Is there any way that this could have been remedied? Let me know!!!
That's not cool. I'd just simply work away. You will always get situations where people try to game the system, whether that's because it's a seller's market or because there are some inefficiencies in the system that they can abuse. Your friend can always name and shame some how, though I'm not sure how successful that would be.
Just as Onionman says, naming and shaming would work marvelously,...a sort of lesson to anyone trying to joke around, possibly put up a post to specify that the land is for sale via the stated real estate agents and no one else, that might make the scammer scurry away in a heartbeat...just my $0.02!
I guess the 'would-be-client' was really trying to mess with your friend because first and foremost, your friend clearly stated that he was a real-estate agent and not a prospective buyer. Anyway, these kind of situation cannot be avoided no matter what your job is. There will always be those kinds of people who will try to blow your patience off. You just have to be professional about it.
I feel for the property owner. He placed an advertisement looking for someone to buy his property and a real estate agent responded. Thinking the Real Estate agent was interested in buying the property he went ahead and showed it not realizing the man wasn't interested in buying it but was trying to make money off the sale of the property. This is definitely a situation where the seller is not experienced enough to have stated in the ad No Agents as poster dianethare has suggested. This would kept the Real estate agent from wasting his time too.
That's exactly why this individual should have made sure that he appointed someone to sell his property for him. He obviously didn't have the knowledge necessary to really proceed in a very intelligent and comprehensive manner. It would've been best for him to have someone else sell the property for him.
It is not unusual for outside real estate agents to go thru a property with the intent of then showing it to one of their potential buyers. Real estate is a very dog eat dog world and there are many agents that will steal a client away in a moments notice. be it buyer or seller. I think a stand up agent would have just let the other real estate agent go view the property alone, this is really the best course of action. It is to easy to get into a situation where the agents let out to much information that could be detrimental to the sell. Remember the listing agent has a goal to make the home seller as close to their asking price as possible. I usually feel the real problem is an agent that represent both the buyer and the seller. This is, at least in my eyes, a very huge conflict of interest and has the greatest potential for someone being misled. I know people like a quick sale, but this is probably not a good road to take. In the end someone will get a short end and it will not be the agent.
I think there are a variety of ways you can go about the situation. I'm very big on making sure the information is available about this person to prevent this from happening to someone else. I thin there are so many real estate agents who go through with this practice without truly using a sense of civility. I also think the comment provided by MY401K is right, you are really stuck with the prospect of if the real estate agent is representing the buyer or the seller.
