Publisher's Synopsis
You need to sell your house. So you paint the front door and clean out the garage. You put an ad in the local paper, build a website and hold an open house but you don't get any buyers. Eventually you call that "Top Agent" who has been pestering you to list your home in the local MLS. The commission is a lot of money but you rationalize the thousands spent will be offset by the top dollar the agent says you will get for the house. Once you sign the agent's unbreakable listing contract you naturally assume the "Top Agent" will handle everything. Really? Think again. Before you list your home with an agent, read Shady Agents and take a behind the scenes look at what agents do and don't do when selling your home. Most how-to real estate books written by top-selling agents explain the home-selling process but provide little insight about the role of the agent. As you can tell by the title, Shady Agents underscores the impact agents have upon the transaction. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the home-selling process and warns what can go wrong and what to expect from licensed real estate agents. The chapters are in sequential order reflecting the phases of the transaction: Prelisting (chapters 1-6). Agent-selection (chapters 7-9). Listing (chapters 10-20). Selling (chapters 21-27). Negotiating (chapters 28-32). Under-contract (chapters 33-36). Closing (chapters 37-39). Filing Complaints (chapters 40-42). The book does not delve into felonious crimes like loan or title fraud. It highlights the personalities, chicanery and incompetence of the repeat offenders who escape justice and remain selling for years. The book makes good study for agents pursuing a noble and rewarding career helping people buy and sell houses and broker-owners building an organization with a positive moral purpose. All the advice and examples provided are drawn from the authors thirty-five years of selling real estate and supervising agents. Nothing has been made up. Where possible, claims are supported by outside sources. The book separates what really sells a home from the baloney promulgated by Shady Agents who often say, "Just get the deal done; no one gets paid for being honest." Shady Agents also makes a great gift for the real estate agent in your life.
