Regardless of what your profession is, integrity is an integral aspect if you wish to truly claim your success. In this regard, honesty is paramount–even more so in the real estate industry. After all, buying real estate property is probably the most (if not one of the) significant investment you will ever make in your life. For some, it takes years upon years of saving up until they can finally afford that piece of property they have been wanting for years—whether that may be a unit in condo BGC or elsewhere. From this, we can say that you are entrusting the most substantial transaction of your life in the hands of a real estate agent. While all is well and good if you can find a trustworthy agent who only has your best interests at heart, it is an unfortunate reality that much like any other industry, you have a select few charlatans in the trade. For years, the reputation of real estate agents has been saddled with ill-regard by buyers as the industry is riddled by agents who practice deceit and other machinations just to close a deal.
Some agents cannot differentiate between truth and lies. Moreover, as the real estate industry has been seen as an avenue for easy money, there has been a steady rise of people wishing to dabble in the business. Unfortunately, not all of these people are either qualified or dependable enough to do any sort of transaction and as such, the industry is riddled with unscrupulous individuals who see it as a fast track for making a lot of money. In any case, it would bode you well to be meticulous in selecting which agent you wish to be working with. Moreover, it might be helpful if you can easily determine whether they are just trying to make an easy buck out of you or are doing an earnest business transaction.
Here are some of the dodgiest misrepresentations real estate agents will tell you:
Real Estate Experience
Deceitful real estate agents tend to bloat their experience in an attempt to bolster their credibility—particularly if they are rather new to the field. After all, how do they expect to have clients if they do not have any legitimate experience in the field? If your real estate agent does not have any proof of the years he has been working as a licensed agent, chances are he has none or very little experience. To convince you to work with them, they may throw around other numbers at you (number of years they have lived in the state or the like). But remember, only the number of years they have been in the industry counts.
Real Estate Listings
In the world of Internet, almost everything can be found online and real estate agents have aptly taken advantage of this by having their own websites. Most of these websites would feature a particular agent’s active listings and as a savvy prospective home buyer, you should check for a link as to whether your chosen agent has any listing at all. Very few agents refuse to take listings (such as in the case of an exclusive buyer broker agents) as it is considered as the cardinal sign of a seasoned real estate agent. If you cannot spot a listing anywhere, it is because there is none. Be careful in looking over your agent’s listings however, as some agents without listings tend to advertise another agent’s listings in their own company. Be carefully to read through these listings and ensure if they do belong to your agent.
Real Estate Specialty
Typically, it is a practice among agents to advertise their speciality whether that may be a neighborhood type of property, a condo unit or any specific type of buyer they wish to represent. Agents may try to misrepresent themselves by posing as an exclusive home specialist and showcasing only lush and high-end homes when the reality is they have never sold anything in that price range. In other cases, they may claim to be an expert in selling homes in a particular neighborhood but have not closed a deal there in years.
