Now that there is an end in sight for the pandemic, things are getting interesting. Cities are sexy again. San Francisco. Chicago. Boston and of course, New York. A large number of the people who hightailed it down to Florida are coming back. Many of the people who fled to the suburbs have realized that the white picket fence is not for them. The urban markets have come roaring back. Apartments that have been languishing on the market for more than a year are now selling.
When the markets are this frothy, brokers chomp at the bit and tend to lose their heads. Our job becomes difficult. When you have a lot of people wanting the same apartment, and only one apartment to sell to them, lots of people get pissed off. It is really important for the broker to understand who’s interests they are representing and to do it in the most ethical manner possible. But all too often, under these conditions, some brokers lose their focus, and with it, their decorum. They behave badly.
Here’s an anecdote for you from the past few weeks:
I represented a buyer who was interested in a $20M+ property that had been languishing on the market. When the exclusive agent re-listed the property, just as the market recovered, he received 40 offers. (Yes, you read that correctly!) So, he decided to go to a “best and final”. If you were interested in the property, you were to submit your best and highest offer by a certain deadline and the highest bid would get the property. My buyer did their due diligence, earnestly put together their strongest bid, and submitted their offer just in time for the bid deadline. (Friday afternoon 5pm.) The following Tuesday, we received a call from the exclusive agent letting us know that they were extending their “best and final” to a “new and improved best and final” deadline for the following week. (Deep breath.) Usually, this is the point in a transaction where I might advise my client to take a step back and bow out. However, this was a special property and he really wanted to pursue it. He would overlook the deceit. A week later he submitted his “new and improved best and final offer” before the deadline. (Friday afternoon 5pm.) We were immediately told that he would be receiving a contract of sale Monday morning and we had won the bid. (Yay?)
By now, I’m sure you know where this is going.
The following week Wednesday morning, we were still waiting for our contract. That afternoon, we were notified by the exclusive agent that if we met a certain (new and higher) number, we would once again win the bid. My client agreed. The next day, we were notified that they would be sending out five contracts, and whoever returned their contract first (with the least amount of comments) would be the lucky winner. (Yay?)
I’m not certain how many times a client can be misled (or lied to) before they bow out, but my buyer really wanted this property...so....the following week, he submitted a very clean contract and was at-the-ready to wire his deposit. Two days later, the exclusive agent finally called us back with his condolences that the property had been sold to another lucky party. (WTF!) Needless to say, I was pissed off – as was my client who had spent weeks of his personal time and money on pursuing the property. The tragedy of this particular story is that my client would have paid more for the property had the negotiations been conducted differently. How sloppy.
After I shared this story with a few of my associates, I came to find out that this was the way this particular broker always conducted himself.
You can spend a lifetime building a brand but it only takes one devious transaction to taint it. Frothy markets pass, and even though it can be a challenge, cooler heads should always prevail and the interests of our clients should always come first.
Let’s do this!
-Shaun