A comment on real estate agent practice

[Hernandez]

There are times when a buyer will purchase a property that they viewed through one real estate company via another company, just as there are times when a buyer will try and buy directly through the seller in order to pay less as there would be no commission involved. If this happens, and a seller sells to a buyer directly or via another company, then the original real estate company has evidence that they visited with their clients, which can be used in any legal action against the seller.

You forgot to add that the chance that such legal action will end successfully for RE agent in Dominican court is 0.0%.

 

[drSix]

I am a broker here on the north coast for a major company. Let's get one thing straight, it is the SELLER that pays the real estate commission, not the buyer, (even though some of you might argue that ultimately it is the buyers money that is paying the commission). But not buyer can be obligated to pay a real estate company any sort of fee. I have heard of people trying to get clients to get the buyer to sign an exclusive buyers agreement, but these are very rare and certainly nothing that I would encourage, (we do not even encourage sellers to sign an exclusive listing contract).

One thing that you will find with some brokerages is that they ask you to sign a visitors sheet, a sheet that states the properties that they visited. The reason for this is to protect the agency from the seller, not the buyer. There are times when a buyer will purchase a property that they viewed through one real estate company via another company, just as there are times when a buyer will try and buy directly through the seller in order to pay less as there would be no commission involved. If this happens, and a seller sells to a buyer directly or via another company, then the original real estate company has evidence that they visited with their clients, which can be used in any legal action against the seller.

Somebody mentioned about the same property being listed with numerous different agencies at different prices. This can be down to a couple of different factors, one being the commission rate. Some companies may decide to cut their commission rate in order to make their properties more attractive to clients. The other reason, and this is the most common is that sellers list their properties with so many different agencies that they eventually forget who they have it listed with, and when it comes to them making a price change, be it raising or lowering the price, they fail to inform all the agencies that have their properties listed.

The same goes for when a property is sold, many times people forget or even do not bother to inform everyone that the property has been sold. I know of a few real estate websites where properties were sold but they are still present on the sites.

A comment was made by cjewell about what it is like to work in real estate here. Many people think that everyone are sharks when it comes to this business, and I am certainly not denying that they exist, but real estate is definitely not an easy business here, contrary to what most people believe. I can tell you that more than 85% of clients that make enquiries and the few that do eventually visit here, do not purchase. Many times you are nothing more than a tour guide but that is just part of the business and you really should be prepared to accept that before you get into this business.

Whenever we have a new agent start, I always prep them by saying to them, prepare to make no money for the next 12 months because that is a reality here....for some, it is very tough to make it in this business and not just because of their lack of experience.

Good info in that wall of text, formatting is your friend! Someone should come up with a DR MLS, and petition to make it 'the law'!

 

[Hernandez]

My overall opinion on RE agents in DR, after comparing them to RE agents in other countries where I bought/sold some properties:

In DR,

IF YOU WANT TO BUY, they are useless. None of them will find you what you want to buy. All Dominican RE agents have some (usually 10 to 20) properties to sell, and that’s it. They simply don’t have anything else to offer you. In normal countries if you need something and your RE agent doesn’t have it in his database, he/she search offers from other realtors, and if you like something from them, they just share the commission. Dominicans NEVER do that, as they don’t trust that commission will be shared with them. So, if you want to buy, just look for the property (on websites like supercasas.com), not for the agent. And consider the agent as the person who has the keys to show you the property, nothing more. Never sign any papers with them, never believe anything what they say. If you like the property, just ask for the meeting together with the owner, and talk to the owner, not to the agent. Remember, legally the agent is nobody.

IF YOU WANT TO SELL, you can ask as many agents as you want to sell your property non-exclusively, but NEVER let them put a "SE VENDE" sign on your window or front gates. Put YOUR sign there with YOUR phone number, and if the buyer comes to you because he saw YOUR sign on YOUR property, there is no point to pay to any agent for this. They have to put your property listing on their sites, on other sites (as they pay for listings there), but once again, NEVER let them put a sign at your place. If they disagree to work like this, just say BYE BYE to them.

Maybe some of you ask yourself, why the hell all photos on Dominican RE websites are so ugly, so you can never understand how the apartment/house/building looks like? Why there are no “view from the balcony” pics? I can tell you why. Because the worst nightmare of Dominican RE agent is that you can identify the building, go there yourself, ask security guard about owner’s phone number and make a direct sale. They prefer to waste their (and your) time and gas to go with you to see the place, and then you don’t like it because the building is ugly from outside, for example. They could avoid that time and gas loss by posting the correct picture, but they afraid to do it because you can recognize the place that way. This is the biggest stupidity in real estate business I have ever seen in any country.

In general, most Dominican RE agents are people looking for easy money. Something like parking helpers in the street who think that they “help” you to park your car and you give them some pesos. There are many of them who never sold anything to anybody, but they try to look like big guys, they give you some papers to sign, but that’s all bullsh1t. Remember, they are not regulated and not licensed in any way in DR.

 

[lovemedo]

loveMEdo: you are not developing good relations with vendors. Prepare for a difficult time here.

Tom if i get the chance ill tell you to kiss my a$$$$ to your face
Secondly do you think i care what some two bit vendor cares about me. Sales people try to control the situation so as to guie the buyer. I wont be managed or handled by them or anyone. Frankly, i here most of the vendors in Sosua are going broke..... im not to concerned about that. Maybe you are one. How will you maintain your lifestyle Tom, what will you do. Maybe you can work for me cleaning my pools and trimming my palms. prepare for a difficult time TOMMY

 

[lovemedo]

I can't comment on what realtors are doing today - I am referencing things many years ago (and I don't believe there were listing agreements then - or at least I didn't have one lol). I can comment on personal experience. I worked for 2 years at a Sosua real estate company again - going back many years now...

I WOULD NEVER WORK IN REAL ESTATE IN DR AGAIN.... here's why:

- You will show a client a property - they will try to go around you and try to work their own deal on a property either direct or through another agent
- You will kill yourself out in the heat to get a listing - then the day after putting your sign up, you will see 5 more from every company in town
- You will spend a week entertaining a client, showing them around, showing them every property under the sun - then you learn they have 3 other agents

I wasted so much time and money and I can tell you that the way many clients treated me was pretty bad - in terms of the work I did almost always for nothing..... or maybe I was just a crappy agent who couldn't close a deal to save my life lol. In 2 years I sold 1 condo and I worked bloody hard, every day.

I know you are going to say --- well that's what it is - but - there is a cost to doing business. Gas, sometimes meals, time.

This is why we have in our regulations in Canada, the concept of exclusive listings and also realtors opt to have clients sign listing agreements.

Now - with that said I get the OP's first post - and I think it comes down to choice. It's the agents 'choice' to ask for a listing agreement and pass if he/she doesn't get one.... the challenge is that in the current environment there will be 5 more realtors waiting to snatch up the OP's business because there really is no loyalty in real-estate in DR.

LOYALTY???? You expect loyalty. if im selling my property what business is it of the real estate to dictate how many people i allow to market my home. What say do you have? NO SAY. Dont over estimate your importance. My property , my choice

 

[lovemedo]

How so, i am not obligated to behave in any particular manner. Remember the line sales people used to say; you under no obligation too.....' Damn right im under no obligation to...' If i get a better deal down the road...... thats my good luck. And how exactly ddoes the real estate extract money from me a buyer if i choose to buy a property from another real estate after being show the same property by a prior real estate. GOOD LUCK GETTING MY MONEY

 

[AlterEgo]

Mr. Personality has had his say. We're done here.