Bad Real Estate Agents in NYC

With over 50,000 licensed real estate agents in New York City there are bound to be some bad real estate agents in NYC.  What are some of the most egregious examples we’ve encountered?

Bad real estate agents in NYC listing a property for sale

Here is an extreme example of unprofessional behavior by a listing agent which one of our affiliate brokers encountered while working with a Hauseit home buyer commission rebate customer.

This is how the completely infantile listing agent responded after learning that our buyer had decided to go forward on another unit in the same building.

You had contracts already sent out on 12F. What a scumbag thing to do!

Our affiliate responded quickly and very professionally:

We sent out offers on yours and 12F the same day actually. They accepted very quickly and before you countered at an attractive price we could not turn down.  Nothing unprofessional here. Good luck I’m sure you will find another buyer.

You would have thought that would have ended it.  But no:

Look at your email! Very unprofessional! what goes around comes around! you did not represent your buyer, do you they know you got more money steering them to take 12F when you did not even negotiate for my listing.  It will be an interesting conversation when I run into them in the building.

At this point, instead of wasting further time engaging someone who acts like an infant, our affiliate emailed our buyer client to give them the heads up on the situation:

Hi Jerry – just wanted to give you a heads up that the listing agent for 5F is behaving very unprofessional and childish because we did not choose to pay $90,000 more for an older apartment of the same unit on a lower floor!

For the record, we didn’t have much opportunity to negotiate for you on either 12F or 5F because we sent offers out on both the same day and 12F accepted your offer almost immediately.  5F meanwhile took a while to come back to us and countered $40,000 above your offer.  You were really happy about 12F and wanted to accept immediately – broker incentives/commissions to us did not influence the decision at all!

No worries about this character, but just wanted to give you a heads up.  Thank you for being so easy to work with and we’re really glad you finally found something!

Our customer backed us up and that was the end of it for this unprofessional troll.  Another person with whom the Hauseit affiliate network will not be dealing with in the future.

Hi, we also think the listing agent for 5F is behaving very unprofessional!  We are very happy to have you as our agent and thanks for your all help so far with our searching.

Bad Real Estate Agents in NYC trolling FSBO sellers

Examples of real inquiries from agents to a traditional FSBO seller on Zillow

Hello, Are you co-brokering with agent even though you are the owner and selling on your own? You can reach me at: [number redacted]   Can I come and take a look at it?

When this traditional FSBO seller eventually signed on with a Hauseit affiliate who asked this agent whether he had a buyer, the agent admitted:

Naw man. I’m fishing fsbo’s. 

Fortunately, troll inquiries from agents “fishing for FSBOs” are usually extremely unimaginative and the broker solicitation easy to deal with:

is this still available? You can reach me at: [redacted]

This agent from one of the largest brokerage firms nationwide was well known for trollish behavior.  Unfortunately for him, he almost got himself and his brokerage firm fined $10,000 for violating REBNY rules which strictly prohibit the solicitation of the client of another REBNY Member Firm.

This troll agent with no listings, clients or experience had acquired the contact information of Sarah, who is 1% for Full Service listing client, when she had previously tried to sell her property via a traditional FSBO.  He incriminated himself and his brokerage firm by soliciting her in writing.

Hi Sarah. Hope this email finds you well. I noticed this apartment is still on the market. How in the hell hasn’t it sold yet? If you choose to go in a different direction and interview new agents, I would love to be considered for the job. We have a lot of experience in this neighborhood.  Lets keep in touch.

At this point the Principal Broker of our affiliate brokerage forwarded the incriminating email to the Principal Broker of the offending brokerage.

Rob – it’s a pleasure to meet you over email and sorry that it had to be over something like this.  May we ask you to please tell Ryan to refrain from soliciting any more of our clients?  John Smith at REBNY mentioned you were the Broker A contact to speak with at [redacted brokerage name].

Thanks for your help and we look forward to continuing to work with you and your team!

The Co-Broker of Record for the offending brokerage responded:

Good morning. Allow me to introduce myself.  I am Rob’s Co-Broker of Record (Broker A) here at [brokerage name redacted]. We are in receipt of your email regarding our agent, Ryan contacting Ms. Sarah. Ryan and I have spoken this morning and he will not be further contacting this seller.

Should you have any questions or issues in the future- please – do not hesitate to contact me directly. We, as well, look forward to working with you and your team!

Our affiliate broker let the matter go as we are sure Ryan’s manager gave him a severe lecture on the fine he almost incurred on the firm and himself.  Per REBNY rules, fines reach up to $10,000 for the third violation and Ryan’s brokerage would have been fined.  Unfortunately for Ryan, those fines most certainly would have been passed on to Ryan himself.  Not a good situation considering that Ryan has no exclusive listings nor clients.

A Hauseit seller client utilizing the 1% Full Service listing option wanted to save money and only offer 2% to buyers’ agents (versus the traditional 3% commission split to buyers’ agents).

An agent from a major NYC brokerage firm wrote this to a Hauseit affiliate broker upon learning of the lower than typical commission offered to buyers’ agents:

[redacted brokerage name] does permit co-broking at 2% at this price point. Our minimum fee is 2.5% at this price point. Thank you.

Fortunately for this foolish agent, the Hauseit affiliate decided not to report this blatant admission of price fixing to the Department of Justice.

This is an extreme example of a reckless troll agent who tried to solicit, confuse and trick a Agent Assisted FSBO home seller. The troll agent worked at a REBNY Member Firm which means he was breaching REBNY rules against solicitation of other REBNY Member Firms’ listings.  The fine for this breach of REBNY rules can go up to $10,000.

“Anton” is the seller and “Ricky” is the offending agent. Names have been changed/redacted.

Good morning Anton. I am waiting to hear from the buyer’s broker but meanwhile i want you to confirm that you will pay us the 6% commission of the selling price. Thank you

Good Morning Ricky, We are doing a sale by owner and the % listed in the RLS is 3%.  Hopefully our buyer gets back to you this week. Let me know if you have any questions.  Anton

Thank you for getting back to me but in this case there is another broker representing the buyer that is why i am asking 6%. If it was a direct buyer i will take the 3%. Ricky

Hi Ricky – Will discuss with my wife if you think this is a potential buyer. If they are do you know what the terms would be cash, financing? Best, Anton

Hi Anton, please confirm ASAP that you will pay the 6% commission of the selling  price that I will share with the other broker. Thank you

At this point, our confused home seller copied our affiliate listing broker on the email exchange to put a stop to this ridiculous conversation:

Hi Ricky, I have added our listing agent to answer any other questions you have. Best, Anton

The Principal Broker of our affiliate brokerage responded quite kindly given the circumstances.  Our affiliate could easily have reported him first to Ricky’s Principal Broker which usually would have meant intra-firm disciplinary action.  And in case that didn’t work, our affiliate could have reported him to REBNY which would result in monetary fines up to $10,000.

Ricky – happy to show you the place if you have a buyer. Your firm is REBNY as well, please remember the rules and penalties around soliciting other REBNY Member Firms’ clients. Thanks.

Unbelievably, this junior “sales associate” continued to dig his own grave by calling and texting our affiliate “please call me to discuss an offer thanks” and emailing our affiliate:

Hi sir, please call me [phone number redacted], thank you

Instead of wasting time and energy to discipline this fool, our affiliate simply took the high road and ignored this ignoramus. There is no need to discuss a “co-exclusive” with a junior agent with poor grammar, broken English and zero exclusive listings. The fact that he is trying to broker a deal with another agent on our affiliate’s exclusive listing is absolutely ridiculous.  What is his value add?

If another broker had a real buyer, they would see the co-broke commission offered to them in RLS and automatically come to our affiliate.  There is no need for our friend “Ricky” here to be involved.  Unbelievable!

Surprisingly, the saga continued.  This troll agent made a completely B.S. offer on the property to try to confuse the home owners further:

Hi sir
On behalf on my client , I would like to submit an offer of $ 1.350.000 with financing , my client has already been approved by his bank
Please confirm that you receive this offer and submit it to the owner
Thank you
Ricky

Ricky – who is your client and have they seen the unit?  The first and only interaction we’ve received from you is when our seller client copied us on an email exchange where you were soliciting her to pay you 6% because you had a buyer through another broker?  We just want to make the best use of time for everyone here.  If you have a serious offer, please submit a full REBNY Financial Statement, pre-approval letter or proof of funds and biography of your buyer. Thank you.

Sir – My client saw the unit on Saturday , my client ‘s name is Jimmy [redacted], the broker that brought him to me is a Developer/commercial /broker, he is a very  good friend of the buyer and he is also my client I have been renting his properties , So that  is why he wanted to co-broke with me since he is bringing Mr Jimmy [redacted] the buyer . I hope you understand  the whole thing .Feel free to call me anytime

Any way please find attached the pre-approved letter from the bank , Mr Jimmy [redacted] is a well-known  Plastic Surgeon
So Let’s move forward , this is a serious offer and buyer
Thanks, Ricky

Ricky – our counter is $1,585,000.  Just to be absolutely clear, this is our exclusive listing which is listed in RLS and public websites such as StreetEasy.  There is no co-exclusive.  The only co-broke commission offered to buyers’ agents is 3% in RLS.  In this case, it would be 3% to [redacted].  If you have an outside referral agreement with another broker, then that is between [redacted] and the other broker and not us.  In any case, the commission owed to the agent(s) representing the buyer will not exceed 3%. Please acknowledge that you understand this.  Thank you.

Sir, The commission split is clear and understood .
I think the apartment is overpriced , my offer is based on the recent sale of the year 2016 , that I got directly from the management yesterday which you will find attached ,Even if you based the average price per square foot for 2015 on the 2 bedrooms only , the average price per square foot come to $1445,so that makes my offer very close to the market value . So please have the sellers  make a serious counter offer .
Thank you for your understanding

Thank you Ricky, we’ve discussed with the owners and are sticking to our counter of $1,585,000.  If you can get them up, let us know.  Thank you for your interest!