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Annoyed with my agent
I've been working with my agent for about a month now. My husband and I sat down with her and gave a detailed list of 'must haves'. And our #1 item is price, we don't want to be convinced to pay more for a house we can't afford just because its nice.
Fast forward to today..... She sends me an email with a new listing that is $40K above our absolute max budget. I reply to her that while the property may be nice, that it's too far outside our price range for us to view it, then I thanked her anyway.
Her response: I wouldn't worry about the listing price at this time - every price is negotiable.
Ummmm, I highly doubt that a newly listed property will sell for $50k less than asking just because that's what I'm more comfortable paying. I refuse to be house poor and won't let anyone convince me 'just to take a look, or make an offer to see what will happen' if I don't think it's realistic.
There was a property I was interested in, in our price range, but we weren't able to view the entire property because we didn't have permission (new tenants, unknown to the listing agent, who hadn't given permission to show their place - we were viewing a multifamily property). Even though that property was in our range and I was really interested, my realtor never got back to me on that one AT ALL, even after I asked about it again.
Everything she's showing me is way above what we told her was our max budget. I'm starting to feel like I'm wasting my time.
Re: Annoyed with my agent
That is pretty annoying. There are scenarios where it *might* make sense to look at something outside of your budget but it sounds like you know your market well enough to determine that the recent one wasn't going to be an option.
Are you signed with this agent or her brokerage? Calling the managing broker to request a new agent is always an option. If you haven't already had a "tough talk" I would try that first, though. I would lay out your expectations in detail, let her know that your max budget is absolutely non-negotiable and that when she shows you listings that you know will not sell within it that it's frustrating. If she sends you something like that again, it needs to be accompanied by an explanation of why she thinks that might sell within your price range. I'd also tell her that you were disappointed in her follow through on the property with the tenant issue.
No agent is perfect. I loved ours, but we still needed to have a talk at one point.
I agree with PP some agents are better than others and some agents are just terrible.I would address the concern of max budget with her one more time and if she still refuses to show you houses in your budget say bye bye and go with someone else.
Is it a problem of being able to find a home in your ideal area in the price range you have with all your wants? I'm assuming that's not the case since you said you saw a house you really liked in your budget but I know for DH and I when we first started looking we kind of had to change our way of thinking just a little or go up in price a little.
We had a terrible agent at first and looked for her and waste several months. We got a new agent and we were under contract in two weeks. I think it speaks volumes about what a good agent can do for you.
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I think that it is really important that you are comfortable with your agent. If she is not respecting your wishes or really listening to you, then maybe it is time to try out someone else.
I will say that we got our home for $30k under list price after negotiations. We saw homes up to $50k over our max budget with the thought that we might be able to jump on them if they had a price reduction.
There could be a couple things going on.
1. These properties may be listed for more than they're actually going to sell and/or appraise for and your agent may know it. Ergo, she is encouraging you to look at them, and offer something that you're comfortable affording.
2. Your list of demands may be unduly limiting, so she's proposing things that are as close as possible. Maybe there's not much that meets your list of needs/wants AND doesn't exceed your price point.
3. Maybe she's not paying enough attention to your hard/fast budget and you need to work with someone else. If this is the case, change agents. But make sure it's not #1 or #2 before you do.