Buyers With Agents Calling Listings Agents, WHY?

Before the incident of buyers with agents calling listing agents happened yesterday, I had been rudely awakened at 4 AM. My fault, really, for leaving my Apple Watch on and not muting it on the charger. At 4:00 it went off, screeching with a Hawaii Emergency Alert that Hurricane Lane was approaching. Would the government purposely send out an alert at 4 in the morning if it wasn’t necessary? Must be important. I jumped out of bed.

Wasn’t much of an alert. Check media for an update was the message. I watched a CBS reporter talk about the flooding in High-Low as the reporter next to him lowered his head and whispered: Heeeeeee-Lo. Much of the flooding, raging rivers and landslides were happening inland or on the eastern side of Big Island. Hilo was hit extremely hard.

At the moment, I am in Kona, on the western side at our house in Hawaii for Labor Day. I wandered back to bed and fell fast into a deep sleep. Only to be yanked awake by the sound of my Apple Watch ringing like crazy a little before 7 AM. Wow, I had slept in. Sound asleep but able to dash for my phone in the kitchen, I grabbed my cell. This Hurricane Lane business has been exhausting.

I didn’t even announce my name; I was so groggy. Just mumbled: Hello. Did not realize this was a case of buyers with agents calling listing agents. The woman on the other end was rather brittle. She began firing off questions about a listing. Despite my present circumstances, I did my best to answer her questions.

Then she asked when she could do a “site visit.” A what? Is she local? She wanted to know if she could flip the house. If there was room for updates. I suppose so. Sounded like a flipper who might lowball, but I try to reserve judgment. Somehow I collected my wits about me and informed the investor I do not work with buyers. Not sure she knows how real estate teams work. Tried to be as nice and helpful as possible.

Well, she has her own agent, apparently. I began to explain that I was about to get blown away by Hurricane Lane in Hawaii. Which fell on deaf ears. OK, let’s focus on her. However, she really needed to engage her own agent. That’s why a buyer hires an agent. Buyers need to let their agent gather information from listing agents and to show homes. Buyer’s agents are more than happy to earn their commission.

If they don’t trust their agent, then don’t hire the agent. Buyers with agents calling listing agents are saying they don’t believe their agent can do their job. If they don’t think their agent will represent them properly, then maybe they need to find a new agent. Or, as I told this caller, she could work with one of my exclusive buyer’s agents.

It seems unprofessional and a bit rude to treat a buyer’s agent in this manner. Like, here, draw the contract, and the buyer will do everything else herself. Speaks volumes about how they view our profession.

Still, Hurricane Lane did very little damage to the Kona side of Hawaii Island. We prepared for the worst, and the best happened. Which was just a little rain. Off and on. Those clouds in the photo above passed very quickly over my house heading east within minutes. Seems like the storm is over for Big Island. I just lucked out.

Those on the other side of the island were not so lucky. You can help those affected by Hurricane Lane by donating to the Red Cross Hurricane Lane relief efforts.