Wow, John, I guess you had a bad day and that agent needs to learn when to "Shut up shuttin' up!" as well as how to cancel an appointment and WRITE A CONTRACT! LMAO

Perhaps Ms Stahl met that guy before she did the expose' on 60 minutes a few nites which would certainly make her right in that case huh? LOL

Oh, and you were willing to do the work to? LOL Man, I think I would have been all over that! LOL

If they tell you they are ready to make an offer, then you do it right then.  Call the other agents for the showings and cancel and tell them they have just found something and are writing an offer.  

I've done this before.  And when I called the other agents, one was pretty nasty with me because I didn't want to show them the rest of the homes.  She said, you need to still show them my listing, they might love it more than that one.  I said, I'm sorry but we aren't coming, I'm writing the offer on this one right now as we speak as they requested me to do, and hung up.

That guy needs to get a clue.

I learned that lesson early myself.  

We walked into a home that had lime green walls in the kitchen, bright red dining room walls, and a fireplace that was painted some kind of blue.

I asked the buyer what they thought of the colors, and she said she  LOVED it.  Wow.  Never saw THAT coming.

They made an offer on the house which was rejected by the seller (the home was vacant and the seller had already moved).  The home eventually expired ( I think that the interior colors had a little to do with it!), the buyer went on deployment 4 weeks later, and I went home. Sigh.  We're going to try again in June.

Perhaps an old saying would have been of benefit here...

A bird in the hand?

John, isn't that what salesmanship is all about? Show every house in inventory until the buyer says I'll come back when I don't have so much to choose from. Let's just give the buyers our sign on and password to the MLS!

John, you're absolutely right: "THE BUYER ARE THE ONES WHO BUY!  Let them decide."

And, you gotta know when to shut up!  When a buyer gives you a buy signal, simply pull out the paperwork and start writing!  

'Nuff said.

"I asked the buyer what they thought of the colors, and she said she  LOVED it.  Wow.  Never saw THAT coming."

ROFL - Thanks Steven... you gave me my morning laugh!

The buyer's agent was "middle age"  but not necessarily what we would consider a "seasoned agent". Hate it when people have to learn the hard way,hate it more when they take us down with them. You are right and there is a "time to be silent". What in the world was he thinking?

If he was a sellers agent he may have breached his duty to your seller by not acting in your sellers behalf and presenting an offer.

I would then take him before the board and bar-b-q his ----- if I could and perhaps even seek compensation for the seller.We do have a duty to  seller clients. Ask him to send over his disclosure agreement or better yet seek legal council. Pretty sure he is in violation and I would have pulled him to the side and said excuse me to the customers and insisted that he allow them to make the offer or face disiplinary action.

It is a serious violation to not present all offers to the seller your legal duty to the seller is to report him and give the seller the opportunity to seek damages at this point. Unfortunatly you would be admitting liability yourself for not preventing the sellers agent from not presenting the offer.Chances are the seller will probably respectyour honesty and only seek damages from the other agent.

Now im not an attorney and I can be wrong but it makes an interesting senario.

If he is a buyer agent this wouldnt apply of course. If he indeed steered the customer away to sell his own listing that can be even worse.

In any case it was extremley unprofessional.

Tim I like to laugh as much as the next guy but its clowns like this that screw up this once respected industry of ours. The professionalism is not there as it should be. Call me a stick in the Mud but the humor has failed me in this case. I am probably the most non serious politically incorrect person you would ever meet. But we are entrusted with the most important investment in peoples lives and to be anything other than accurate and responsible is a travesty.

Thomas, how can he be a seller's agent when showing someone else's listing? The listing belonged to John and John's office. He can only be a transaction or buyer agent.

I was laughing at Steven's remark which had nothing to do with the original post.  Like Steven, I've had those moments when I had to bite my tongue regarding decor.

I'm still reeling from the fact that "fifty something" is middle aged...for some reason it never occurred to me. I'm already there! sigh.

Belinda!  It is NOT!  That silly John B. was just upset and misstated.  

"Middle aged" means 10-20 years older than I am.  Always.  It's a sliding scale.

And then Tim and Susan go and laugh about something!  Of all the gall! :)

To paraphrase a quote:

"Samson slew a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass.  Every day, thousands of sales are killed using the same weapon."

The worst part about that agent is he doesn't even realize that those clients are not coming back this fall. They are coming this summer and they won't be using him.

They also know the signs and they also more than likely realize that they had an agent that wasn't listening to them and their needs.

Todd

That was a lesson that I had to learn as well.  When I first got into the business, I was definitely guilty of two major mistakes.  I imposed my own view of a house on the buyer and I felt like I always needed to keep showing them more houses.  I am SO over that!!  

I was showing a property with my husband one day.  It was in the price range and area the buyer wanted but it was a little rough around the edges (however, for the price and area, that was actually the norm.)  I didn't want the buyer to think that I would actually think they would want to live there.  I thought they would be insulted.  The garage had been converted into a kitchen because the kitchens in this part of town are notoriously small and the existing kitchen was converted into a dining room only.  The conversion wasn't done that well, but it did add space.  Well, I started in with how the house was too small, how awkward the add on was, why would a seller do something like that, etc.  I couldn't get them out of the house fast enough and we showed them a few more that day.  Well, as it turns out, they liked the house.  The buyer told my husband they only thing they DIDN'T like was the pit bull next door but other than that they would have written an offer.  So, my hubby asked me to "shut up".  OK, he said it nicer than that.  But we sold them a house on the next outing.  We had about five to look at.  We sold them the second one and stopped looking at that point.  

I used to show an average of 10-12 houses and sold a house to about 50% of the buyer prospects I worked with.  I now show an average of 3-5 houses and sell a house to most buyers I work with.  I have written contracts on the first home I met someone at and I no longer feel guilty about that.  The buyer knows what they are looking for.  It is my job to let them decide and hit them with trial close questions to move them toward writing an offer once they find one they like.  I like real estate more and more all of the time.  And my buyers like their houses even more than when I tried to put them into something I liked.  Great post!  Great lesson we all should learn if we haven't already.  

Marcia

Oh, and one more thing I struggled with.  I was afraid that I would offend a client if I actually asked for the sale.  My husband had to remind me that is what I am there for.  The client wants to buy a house.  They expect me to sell them a house.  Rapport is great, but it isn't about getting to know one another.  It is about locating the right house and motivating the buyer to buy!  If I am not doing my job, they will find another agent who will.  

And you are right Todd.  I am sure they are looking as we speak and using another agent.  Hopefully, for John's sake, they will come back around and tour his listing again.  

Look on the bright side, Bee.  Fifty-something used to be considered "old age"!  LOL

I enjoyed your comment Appio,  consider it stolen.

John, lose the daggers, think spontaneous combustion!

Gregory, believe it or not, there are states where agent who brings in buyers is still working for the seller. In IL we're fortunate that buyer's agent is a buye'r agent and seller's agent is a seller's agent (in general) ... but I belive that for example in Wisconsin, just a few miles away from me, their rules are different.

I went to a star power convention last year and one of the presenters touched on this subject.  I think it was Ralph Roberts.   He said:

"If you like it, I love it"

Gregory and Michaela,

My state (SC) is one of those where I work for the Seller technically if I do not have a signed agreement with the buyer I am showing around.  I have duties owed to them, not the buyer customer, if they are looking around wanting to buy but haven't decided to use me as sole representation.  Once we sign an agency agreement and they become a CLIENT, all my duties are owed to them.  It is a sticky and sometimes mind boggling situation.

Michaela and Kristi, Thanks for the info. It amazes me the differences from state to state.

Gregory, I was about to say what Kristi said. Here in Texas there is "subagency" where you can show homes listed by others to a buyer but be representing the seller. In fact this was the norm for many years. No agent truly represented the buyer. The buyer was customer and both agents represented the seller. Now of course there are buyer's agents and I understand there was some resistance to this when it first became a practice in this state. Buyer agency is good thing, however.

I too am 50 something and yes it is "middle age"....if we are going to live to 100 something! ;)