rrah - I am considering reporting this deal to the Realtor's board. The brother was was also extremely rude to my agent and my mortgage broker. I haven't had any direct dealings with him, though, so the rudeness is hearsay. Oh, and he isn't just an agent, he IS the broker. The second lender actually worked out fine (junk fees actually a tad lower than the original lender), and the brother did have to pay a point to get me back to my locked rate (!ha!). If we didn't have personal reasons why we had to be in the house by the end of July, I might have pushed harder to keep my lender and push closing back 90 days. That would have given us three fewer months with two mortgages! The red flag was the contract that had been changed from "Mr. and Mrs. seller", to "Mr. and Mrs. Seller and assigns" to "Brother Broker." I did sign for the changes, but the lender found it fishy nonetheless. Everything, it appears, has come together. We did the walk through this afternoon (should I have written into the contract they had to take the dogs with them?) and closing is set for 2pm Friday. Thanks, all, and keep your fingers crossed.

I am an attorney and handle probate sales. I really would be happier if buyers used certain realtors who have some clue how probate sales go. There is nothing worse than buyers getting an arrogant "know it all" realtor who actually does not know what they are doing in an area that is a little different. If the bank officer wants to sell the property (and they are anxious to do it) then directing you to somebody who will sell that property and knows how to do a bank sale seems sensible. An outside realtor might just direct you to one of their own listings and the bank would lose a sale. Yes, they are giving you inside information as to what they will accept--other sellers who are anxious will do the same thing. I don't understand the problem; the bank isn't supposed to pretend to be coy--a real estate owned property is a black mark against the bank. They made a mistake lending money --they want to sell usually. I have never received kick backs from anybody I deal with--escrow companies, etc. but its so much more work dealing with people who claim they know how to do certain types of sales and do not. Usually about 1 day before the close--suddenly they realize that a city needs to do an inspection, the lender needs a second set of Certified Probate Letters, etc. We call & write often --do you need anything? but it doesn't help if you are dealing with a "know it all".

I've been watching our old neighborhood in SoCal (Orange County) since we moved to another state last November. We had originally listed for $600-615k. After our first buyer fell out in escrow, we had many showings but no offer for about another month. Finally sold our house for $589k minus $12k closing costs (they're high in California) after about 2 months on the market. The house directly behind us, which was bigger but on the same size lot, was also for sale. Their list price for a long time was $650k. They didn't start reducing the price until several months after we'd moved. Now it's still on the market and they've just reduced the price another $20k - it's now at $460k - $190k below their first asking price. According to zillow, they bought the house in 2004 for $475k, so they'll sell it at a loss. BTW, the zillow estimate for that house is currently $622k, so their value estimates are way off base for that area. I know some other sellers in the neighborhood were upset with us for selling at the price we did, but we needed to move so we did what it took. We were in a rapidly declining market and wanted to stay ahead of it. Others, who waited, have now lost more money or have taken their houses off the market. We were fortunate to have an experienced realtor (17 years in the business) who had seen ups and downs and knew how to price accordingly. And we took his advice, and I had read a lot of information here on this forum that also helped us sell. Declining markets are hard ...

Marys100- I wasn't trying to be mean by telling you that I don't have time for Goldilocks. I thought like you before I got into the business. The truth is that a lot of buyers waste our time. I don't have a problem working with someone 3 years, if they are up front about it and don't go looking at properties with someone else. If you would sign a buyers agreement with me for 3 years, I would gladly work with you per diem. The problem lies in the fact that buyers don't want to sign an agreement for that long. They tend to be very cagey & lie. You have no idea how disrespected this profession is. Sometimes it makes me feel like a doormat. I love parts of my job and I HATE other parts to the point that I'm thinking of restructuring my way of operation. I work for a large outfit and must abide by their rules for two looong years. I would like to make this profession work. I think there must be a better way. The RE industry as it exists today is very clicky.Most agents are protecting the system because they don't know any better, and are afraid of change. I would welcome to work as an agent/broker for myself, like someone mentioned-like accountants. The fees have to go. It's a monpoly and people are paying for it. If I worked for myself with just the licensing fee and the MLS, I could afford to give people a big break on the RE charges. It would be a win, win situation. NAR & local Ars are very powerful. IMO,they want to make sure that the public doesn't figure out the monoplized system. Before I got my licemse, I helped many family and friends buy and sell, for no compensation. This year, I decided that I may as well get paid for what I love. The truth is that it's not all fun. Most of it is a lot of aggravation and hard work. Many agencies are getting sued nowadays, so as an agent, you have to cover yourself with a lot of extra paperwork. It's costing me over $4000 in fees this year (including the school, E & O insurance). That does not include my own advertising. That can cost thousands more. RE is not what people think. There are too many agents out there. In today's economy, the commissions are not coming. If you haven't been in the business for many years, your commissions are tiny. They are split many ways. The broker keeps a lot of it. The fees eat up most of it. Most agents are not reliable and are not very bright. The funny thing is that the good "sales people" are not very bright, but they have a knack for getting clients by gabbing, I guess. They have the best sales pitches. Who doesn't like a dippy and gabby REA? You need a friend? Go work with a realtor. They'll be your friend forever-lol. The intellectuals, the responsible ones with integrity spend too much time being informative and self-rightious, rather than procuring clients. Many agents are busy doing non-productive work, because people are abusing their time. Many are not responsible, no matter what they would do for a living. When an agent gets burned by many buyers, they tend to let the good ones fall through the cracks with the users. That is why you don't get a call back. Heck, I cannot get a hold of some agents in the office. Some don't return my call when I have a question while I'm writing up an offer on their listing! Anyway, there you have it-confessions of a frustrated with the system realtor, who honestly loves helping people buy and sell. The money is secondary. However, I don't want to be used, either. Respect would really be nice, too.