Are you looking to buy or sell a property? A friend has recommended a real estate agent they know from high school. However, your gut tells you something is off and you start getting uncomfortable. You feel stuck between a rock and a hard place not knowing what to do.
Many people settle for the first real estate agent that appears on their Google search or is recommended by someone close. They end up making a mistake since they don’t make efforts to verify whether the agent is worth their salt.
What should you look out for to know that you made the wrong choice? What should you do if you see these signs?
In today’s article, we’ll look at the signs of a bad real estate agent and how you can bounce back from this bad decision.
Signs of a Bad Real Estate Agent
These are signs of a bad real estate agent that will not deliver as per your expectations:
Inconsistent Communication
Inconsistent communication is one of the signs of a bad real estate agent. Clear and straightforward communication is always essential in any real estate transaction. A delayed response could make a deal fall through or frustrate all parties involved.
If your agent is taking hours or even days to respond to your emails, texts, and calls, it’s a sign that you should find another agent. Hiring an agent means that you’re trusting them to help you navigate the home buying or selling process and make things easier for you. Delayed communication will make you miss out on a lot and leave you stressed throughout the process.
In most cases, your agent will get back to you within 24 or 48 hours. The sooner the better. You don’t want to fail to make an offer on your dream home since your agent couldn’t communicate in due time.
The same applies to an agent that might get back to you in time but has an inappropriate communication style. This includes agents who respond while irritated, in a rushed manner, and who don’t give you adequate information.
Also, be on the watch out for agents who sugarcoat things. Some shady real estate agents may not have your best interest at heart and only care about the commission at the end of the deal. They’ll only tell you what they think you want to hear. Transparency is important. Your agent must be willing to tell you the truth even if it makes you uncomfortable.
While hiring an agent, always ask which communication channel they prefer. This will help you settle for a channel that serves you both and helps them reply in a timely manner.
Here are some pointers to watch out for to evaluate an agent’s communication skills:
- Do they demonstrate robust listening skills?
- Do they allow you to ask all questions you may have?
- Do their answers make you confident?
- Do they ask you questions too to know what your expectations are?
Leadership Struggles
Whether you’re buying or selling a property, always remember that you’re the boss. Your agent’s role is to help you through the process, not push you through it. If your agent pressures you to make an offer on a certain home or do something you’re not comfortable with, they may be more interested in the commission check than helping you.
Regardless of their opinion, they need to respect yours too and be ready to support it. Be cautious, especially if you’re a buyer, since your agent won’t live in the house they’re pressuring you to buy or make monthly mortgage payments for the next thirty years.
On the flip side, you need to work with an agent that’s confident to help you using their skills and experience. If the agent is merely a ‘yes man’ who agrees with you in everything, it’s a red flag.
As such, any agent worth their salt should take charge of the process and give you honest advice. If your agent always says what you need to hear and is too agreeable, they may not be experienced enough to negotiate a good deal for you.
Always ask for their opinion and what research they used to arrive at it.
Unprofessionalism
Unprofessionalism is a clear sign of bad real estate agents. There are various tell-tale signs that your agent is unprofessional.
Firstly, an unprofessional agent doesn’t value your time. They’re always late for appointments or fail to show up at all. A real estate agent who’s good at what they do is time-conscious.
Secondly, check the dressing and grooming. Drop your agent if they show up for meetings dressed in shorts, ripped jeans, baseball caps, t-shirts, flip-flops, or generally badly groomed. You won’t be comfortable being represented by such an agent.
Here are some of the signs that your agent is professional:
- Dresses well in clean and ironed suits, polished dress shoes, etc
- Drives a nice car that’s well-maintained and clean. Not rusty and no broken windows
- Speaks fluently and confidently.
Again, honesty also demonstrates professionalism. If your agent asks you to lie on a listing or make false claims to get more offers, it’s a major red flag. Don’t be unethical.
Lack of Experience
Let’s imagine your car has experienced a major mechanical issue and needs an engine overhaul. You know a recent graduate who’s fixed cars for about a month now and another mechanic who owns a garage and has been in the game for more than three decades. Who would you prefer? Of course, you’d go for the latter who’s fixed hundreds, if not thousands of cars in his career.
The same applies to a real estate agent. If you hire an agent who’s just obtained their real estate license, chances are that you’re going to experience a few issues along the process.
An inexperienced agent won’t have in-depth knowledge about your market and back their information with up-to-date data. Working with an inexperienced agent is one of the major reasons why real estate transactions fail. Don’t be part of the statistics.
You can see whether the agent is experienced by asking them about deals they’ve done in the past year, or simply asking for their resume. If they can’t provide either, you should reconsider hiring them.
Poor Negotiation Skills
Strong negotiation is an important ability for an agent. One of the leading reasons why investors hire real estate agents is to help them at the negotiating table. An agent with strong negotiation skills will not only make your work easier but also ensure you walk away with the best deal you can get. Nobody wants to give up too much for a home or receive much less than they hoped for.
Negotiation skills don’t only come in handy when settling on a price for your home or making an offer for a property you like. The skills also go a long way to help you get a better deal when getting a home inspection or when finding contractors to carry out repairs.
If your agent isn’t a good negotiator, you’ll end up getting the short end of the stick in an inspection deal, or have to fix some trivial items after the home inspection.
To ensure that your agent has great negotiation skills, you can ask for recommendations from former clients or look up reviews online.
Poor Marketing Skills
If you’re selling your property, an agent with great marketing skills will be very instrumental in the sale. An agent who understands marketing will help you attract the kind of buyers you’re targeting.
How can you tell the agent has strong marketing skills?
Successful real estate agents understand the importance of the internet in building a robust real estate marketing strategy. As such, they have websites and are present on various social media platforms.
Simply jump on Google and search the agent’s name. If they have a well-constructed and updated website, that’s a good sign. They should also be active on social media and have high-engaging profiles on the platforms. These are signs that they have a good reach which will be helpful when selling the home.
If they don’t have a website, social media profile and you can’t find any online presence, you should reconsider working with them. You want your home to get maximum exposure when selling.
Also, always ask what their marketing strategy is, and how they plan to reach potential buyers.
Shows Desperation
If you’re selling your home, you want your agent to help you find a buyer soon. However, one of the signs of a bad real estate agent is one that will do anything and everything to sell the home.
For example, be wary of an agent that promises to sell your home for $20,000 more than all other real estate agents have indicated. You should be careful if they promise to sell for more than the market price.
A desperate real estate agent will make empty promises to convince you to list your home with them. Be cautious since overpricing your home is one mistake that will make your home remain in the market for long.
What to Do if Your Real Estate Agent Is Bad
Even though you now know the signs of a bad real estate agent to watch out for, sometimes you may not realize until after you’ve signed the contract. What should you do on such an occasion?
Firstly, you need to realize that the contract is legally binding, and it gives the agent exclusive rights to sell your property for a certain period, mostly between two and six months. You don’t want to remain stuck in an agreement with a non-performing agent.
This is why we advise you to include a clause that gives you the right to cancel the agreement in your contract. Include the clause before signing the contract as it’s meant to protect you. As always, ask for a copy to keep for yourself.
Here are some options you can pursue once you’ve noted the signs of a bad real estate agent and decided you no longer want to work with them:
- Write to request a release from the agreement via email. Include in the email why you want to be let go, whether it’s due to poor communication, not meeting your expectations, or any other reasons. State exactly why. If you’d included a “release clause” in your contract, there won’t be any issues. If you didn’t have one, the agent may still be willing to let you go, albeit at a small fee.
- If you didn’t include a “release clause” and the agent won’t let you go, you can still write to the agent and ask them to withdraw your property listing from their website. With this option, you may have to wait until the contract expires to list with another agency.
- You can also write to the brokerage firm and ask them to assign your listing to another agent. Your contract is between you and the brokerage not necessarily the agent. Don’t forget to explain exactly why you’re not happy with the specific agent.
If you’re selling the home and your agent has already gotten a buyer under contract, it may become a bit trickier to navigate such a situation. If this is the case and you still want to let go, you’ll have to pay commission fees.
How to Avoid Unethical Real Estate Agents
As you can see, signs of a bad real estate agent are glaring, and working with one can put you in a fix. This is a situation you want to avoid altogether from the beginning.
We’ve seen that you can’t really rely on recommendations from friends and family. It might also be hard diving headfirst and trying to filter a good agent from the over 2 million agents in the US, especially if you’re a beginner.
This is where the Mashvisor Real Estate Agent Directory comes in. This is an online tool for real estate investors to find ethical and experienced agents in any US housing market. Real estate agent profiles on the platform include the following details:
- Name
- Phone number
- Real estate website
- Real estate license
- Real estate experience
- Overview
- Areas served
- Specialties
- Office agents
- Reviews
- Active listings
- Off-market properties
- Real estate blog posts
The Mashvisor platform helps you choose top-performing agents in any market. Use this tool to find one whose skills and experience will help you achieve your investment goals.
To get access to our real estate investment tools, click here to sign up for a 7-day free trial of Mashvisor today, followed by 15% off for life.
Key Takeaways
Buying or selling a home is one of the most important transactions you’ll take part in your life. A real estate agent will be instrumental in this transaction. As such, you need to find one that understands your needs and expectations so that they can help you achieve your investment goals.
Like any other profession, there are some shady real estate agents you should stay away from. Don’t ignore signs of a bad real estate agent, such as poor communication, unprofessionalism, poor negotiation skills, and poor marketing strategies. Don’t settle for a mediocre agent just to get the deal done.