(flickr photo by E>mar)
When listing brokers won’t return telephone calls or e-mails to schedule an appointment, the buyers and their representatives understandably become frustrated.
I, for one, entertain fantasies of turning those brokers into the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) for violation of the Code of Ethics, contacting their managers or firing off nasty e-mails. I also imagine ways to let the listing broker’s seller know.
Of course, doing so would be counter-productive, wouldn’t it?
Instead, I persist like a demented toddler denied ice cream with my voicemails and messages, and eventually I get a response. My impatience is not only consistent with my personality but is connected with my desire to provide the kind of service my buyers deserve.
Tempting as it may be to go around the broker and try to deal directly with the owner, that is really a bad idea. For one thing, it amounts to interfering with a brokerage relationship, and it’s illegal.
As REBNY’s residential counsel has pointed out, New York law states the following:
No real estate broker shall negotiate the sale, exchange or lease of any property directly with an owner or lessor if he knows that such owner, or lessor, has an existing written contract granting exclusive authority in connection with such property with another broker.
The clock may be ticking on a buyer’s time, but there obviously is no excuse for sidestepping the listing broker. Although asking for assistance from the agent’s sales manager may produce immediate results, heaven help any negotiations that could follow.
Sometimes, it’s just better to go easy.
Tomorrow: Queens auction results
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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022
M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201
Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
Web site
Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022
M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201
Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
Web site
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