Nowadays you hear about all kinds of codes of conduct and codes of ethics being broken in all facets of business and business services. But as of late I have been seeing some really horrible things being done by Real Estate Agents and Agencies.
One of the questions on a forum was, have agents and agencies lost their code of ethics? I think in some cases they have but the reason isn’t beyond anything but money. I suppose people like this have subsequently become rich because of people like you or me.
People that entrust them to be ethical when it comes to certain things, yet sometimes they just aren’t. For example, with code of ethics a lot of people are having things not being disclosed to them when they are being shown a property.
If you look up lack of ethics in real estate on some of the search engines you will find hundreds of thousands of people complaining about this type of behavior when it comes to agencies and agents.
One lady complained about how the real estate agent she dealt with knew about all the repairs this specific house needed but chose not to tell her. Then, he did an overcharge on the sale kept the profits as a commission. This lady later on moved into the home to find that there were thousands of repairs that needed to be made.
Granted the Real Estate agencies are supposed to recommend a home inspector. This real estate agency did not. Not only did they not recommend an inspector, but they also said none was needed.
This is a teaching experience for all of us. Obviously it doesn’t matter of the Agent or Agency is “well-known” it’s always important to follow through with certain things even if the agent/agency says its unneeded – like an inspector.
On the other hand, real estate agents and agencies say that certain things shouldn’t be their problem anyway – repairs, and inspections are the responsibility of the could be home owner.
While this is partially true, the agent should still be up front with you! Imagine someone showing you a house and “selling” you on the idea of buying the house only to find out it’s a crock! The reasoning behind agents getting away with these things? Loop holes. Plain old (sometimes fake) loop holes.
Fortunately there are also ways for you to get around this as well. First off it’s important to be smart. For example, hire your own inspector even if its out of pocket and make sure its someone that does not have any relationship with the actual agency (conflict of interest).
Make sure you find out if it’s allowable by state laws for them to mention or not mention Disclosure of Defect, among other “laws”. And lastly make sure YOU keep on the codes for housing properties. Even something as simply as a creaky floor might not be a creaky flo
or and if caught in time you could either be saving yourself from a creaky floor inspection or a $500,000 termite damage inspection. Be on the look out for the small things, they seem to always be the things that turn worse in the end. Call it what you will but use common sense when looking at a home, any home new or old!
This Author is a huge fan of Elders Real Estate Castle Hill
[tags]elders real estate, elders real estate castle hill, elders real estate kellyville[/tags]
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