Using Multiple Realtors Can Be a Bad Strategy

Do you have a Realtor on your current property search, or are you utilizing Realtors? It's an important distinction, and, believe me, more is not better when you are looking for a new home.

A Realtor friend of mine called recently to tell me about her very frustrating day showing property to a prospective buyer. Over the course of the day, my friend discovered that this buyer had been out with no fewer than three other Realtors in recent days, and had even written a contract with another agent.

This was a very frustrating situation for a very good Realtor, who had cleared her Saturday calendar, and taken precious time away from her family,  for this buyer.  And yet, while my friend had gone all out preparing for this buyer, the buyer was fielding calls from other Realtors while in my friend's car.

I can tell you from 12 years as a Beaufort, SC real estate agent that this is not uncommon.

There is a belief among many buyers that the most effective and efficient way to search for a property is to "play the field," and utilize numerous Realtors.  This is actually the most ineffective way for a buyer to search for a property. What the buyer ends up with in this situation is a handful of half-committed, half-hearted real estate agents who are not going to go all out for them, because the buyer has demonstrated no loyalty to the agent. In the meantime, these same agents have very serious commitments to other buyers and sellers who are loyal to them, and have made a serous commitment to them.

So, is the Realtor's loyalty going to lie with the committed, loyal client, of the prospective buyer talking simultaneously to numerous agents? Thats a no-brainer. So, the wandering buyer ends up with less information, and less thorough representation.

My friends, there is no need to play the field in real estate.  Every Realtor in Beaufort, SC has access to the exact same real estate information, which is provided through the Beaufort Multiple Listing Service.  There is not one bit of information Realtor A is going to provide about available homes that Realtor B cannot provide. That's just a fact.

So choose a good Realtor, and stick with that Realtor. Conduct interviews, if you would like.  Ask for letters of recommendation, a resume, etc.  But you do yourself, and those agents, a disservice by playing the field.

Realtors are commissioned sales persons. We get paid for helping our clients buy and sell  real estate transactions. We don't get paid hourly, and we sure as heck are not salaried. Our time is all we've got.