Or should I call another realtor and ask him/her to show me the property?

This one.

You should really get a buyer's agent.
I have an agent that I love. I specifically looked for an honest open male realtor with an engineer's eye for detail and a history in home construction. He is a huge asset. He's not afraid to crawl under houses or go in attics. He can tell me whether something can easily be modified in a home and much it would cost to do it. He does all the grunt work research at the town hall, etc. for me. He knows the history of neighborhoods and can tell me if they have flooded in the past, were pesticide intense farms where we might need to be concerned about soil contaminates, etc.

Our contract is written such that if I find a FSBO I am not obligated to use his service. And since he is paid by the seller's agent, I have a knowledgeable, go-to guy for MLS listings.

Find a realtor you like, make it clear that you will monitor the MLS and call them if you want to see something and exclude commission on FSBOs. What have you got to lose?

I ditto what justusbarkers said. What's wrong with hiring a buyer's agent?

She thinks she can get a seller's agent to reduce his/her commission & she, the buyer, will pocket the savings.

It doesn't work that way;
no agent wants to do all work of 2 agents for the price of one.

That's the reason she's having trouble being taken seriously.

& having another Realtor show the property & then go directly to the listing agent is truly crappy.

If you don't want to pay someone for their services, *don't use their services*.

If you use their services, pay 'em.

Sylviatexas, you are wrong on all counts. All I expect of a listing agent is to SHOW me the property they have listed. They don't write a contract for me, advise me of comps or even suggest other listings. I do that all. Everything in my area is accessible through the internet- property records of recent sales, MLS etc. How is any agent doing the work of two agents for the price of one? In my area (small town) the listing agents (most anyway) PREFER to be the only agent working the sale because they get the entire 6% instead of having to split it with another agent.All they have to do with me is show me the house and present my offer (if there is one) to the sellers. I don't expect to pocket any savings so I'm not sure where you are getting that from. If simply driving to a listed property and letting me look around for 20 minutes to an hour (depending on my interest) or showing me a property a 2nd time is too much work, maybe the realtor is in the wrong line of work. I have not seen any response from any realtors that I've talked to that I'm not being taken seriously. Actually most realtors are shocked that my fiance and I are preapproved and have a lawyer to write any offers. Most buyers, they have told me, start looking and haven't even found out how much they can afford. Or they expect the listing agent to advise them of a price and write the offer for them!

Nowhere in my post did I suggest I was going to call another realtor to show me the listing agent's property and then go directly to the listing agent. I have no idea why you made that assumption. Maybe you should reread what I wrote. If I used another realtor to show me a property that was not their listing, then I would sign off that if I chose to purchase that property that agent would be the one representing me. That is the way it works.

I don't want to use a buyer's agent although the buyer's agent that justusbarkers has sounds like a great asset! Most, not all of the agents I've met with (listing agents and buyers agents) are nice but they are either 1)not organized 2)do not reply in a timely fashion (I am giving them days to reply) 3) do not seem very knowledgable about the market or the house they are showing me. I have looked at about ten homes in the last 2 months and in all but ONE case I knew more about the property I was viewing then the listing agents!!! All I did was some quick research on the internet. I caught several agents telling me things that were either false or they were mixing the house up with another one of their listings. One realtor kept trying to tell me the property tax estimate she had listed was for the year when I knew in fact it was an estimate for 6 months (right off the auditor's web site). Another had a home listed as 2 full baths when you could clearly see that one was a 1/2 bath because it had no shower/tub. This realtor (older lady- very nice) tried to convince me that a full bath was just a toilet and a sink!! Her listing still says (2 months later) that the home has 2 full baths. You can look at the property records and it is even listed as 1 full 1 half. Another realtor tried to tell me that the house had 80amp electric. I found that hard to believe and saw that even her flyers had the house listed as having 200 amp electric. What kind of agent doesn't read her own flyers? I'm not knocking the entire real estate profession but just the agents I've contacted, I wouldn't want any of them as a buyer's agent. I did interview a few buyer's agents when I first started looking and tried out one on a trial basis. I did not sign a contract with him (he said he would not ask me to sign a contract until we worked together for a month. He was personable and seemed to have knowledge of the area. Well, he was the realtor that kept sending me pages of listings that weren't even in the area I was looking, nor what I was looking for. I would tell him thanks but this wasnt' what I was looking for and reiterate what I was looking for. He would say, oh sorry and then send me the same crap again. I had asked him to send me anything that matched my basic criteria as soon as it hit the MLS. He agreed to this and I found houses that just came out on the MLS that were what I was looking for and he never sent me the listings. I called him and asked him about it and he said he didn't really pay attention to what was new on the MLS! This is buyer's agent!

So after all of these experiences I'm sure most can see why I'm not interested in using a buyer's agent.

As for the situation I posted about I will just contact another agent who has a property listed I want to see and ask them to show me this other property as well (and sign an agreement with them about this one particular property)

"I really dont' care to see the property now anyway (too far of a drive and property was in town when it was described as being out in the country) "

Should you double check to see if this property that was supposed to be in the country was actually a different road than the one mapquest sent you to in town? Like Broadway Dr. vs. Broadway Rd. or something?
Call the county if you have to.

As for the other property - I would drive by it first. Why go through all the hassle trying to call the realtor only to have it turn out to be something you aren't interested in? I always drive by first. And hardly ask to see anything.

I'd love justusbarkers realtor too - but I've had mostly the same experiences as newhomeseeker. This has been discussed on this board before. Realtors old primary job of searching the internet for people becoming one of door opener. The really great realtors know how to provide a more custom service, but really great realtors are hard to find and many realtors just haven't adjusted to the new times.

A listing agent that doesn't accommodate a potential buyer who wants to see a property is doing the seller a huge disservice. I can't believe this woman didn't follow-up with you after the missed appointment. If I were the seller, I would want to know about this.

Find out if this person is even licensed as a agent and who her broker is. Then talk to the local RE Board and put in a complaint and also to the State Board. People like that don't need to be in this business.

well, in that case, there's no reason for you to keep banging your head against a wall, is there?

You've been looking & looking & looking,
& insisting that you don't need a buyer's agent,
& complaining about listing agents & writing contract offers & whining when they aren't accepted or sometimes even taken seriously
*& then saying you didn't really want that house anyway!*

(remember the mobile home? how much of someone's time did you waste going to see that one?)

You've been arguing about contract forms & broker relationship notifications, &....

you still don't have a house.

but cheer up & hang in there, I think you've found a really satisfying hobby (as long as there's even one real estate practitioner in your area who hasn't experienced "working" with you)!

newhomeseeker, there are some decent buyers agents out there, sorry you haven't found one yet. My suggestion would be to go to s state specific site like city data, then post asking for referrals. You can also try a site like yahoo real estate where you can find a REALTOR. You will see a button, buyers start here, you then fill in your criteria, agents will see it "posted" then you can look at their info and decide if you want further contact. I used it when I wasn't happy with my 1st sellers agent. None of them pestered me. There was one that responded, he was about 45 minutes away, saying, "I have a buyer for your house" I replied to him to bring them over lol never heard back. I did find one great agent team but to sell, they were 30 minutes away and I was looking for local.

I also wonder if the road you were looking for was different in some way, when I was looking, there was one house we couldn't find, it sent us about 30 minutes out of the zip code. My agent at the time had GPS and didn't pay attention to where it was taking us.

My problem is the agent not getting back to you, nor providing you with her cell. I think you're better off if you try to find one agent to work with.

With the MLS, the info is only as good as the person entering the info. As a seller, I've had to watch over both of my listings even when I email a bulleted list or drop off tax records. One day my hubby looked at the MLS sheet attached to our fliers he said, wow, look at all of the stuff that's wrong. I hadn't noticed because I'd sent everything in writing, had something else going on at the time.

Searching the MLS can also be a crap shot. I've searched for one town on realtor.com to get that same town in another state mixed with stuff from my state.

FWIW, agents do talk. Over at another forum some agents were venting about buyers that call the listing agent but never buy anything. How many houses/agents have you called?

In a period of about 5 months, I have looked at 9 houses. I don't think that is excessive at all. Some were FSBOs. (3). So 6 different listing agents (or someone in their office) have shown me homes. I put in ONE offer which my lawyer looked over (listing agent insisted only she could write the offer up) and it was countered with a $1000 difference and accepted and it wasn't until the inspection turned up some huge issues (and the sellers didn't want to lower the price even though these were fixes that would cost about $10,000 and the sellers weren't aware of them when they went to sell the property). I only actually looked at the property twice before making an offer so I certainly don't see how that was wasting anyone's time.

I don't see how looking at 9 homes and not buying anything would cause me to be labeled as a buyer who calls to look but never buys. It's not a pair of shoes, its a house which is a big purchase and not taken lightly by me.

Sylviatexas not even sure why you take such a dislike to my posts- are you a realtor who doesn't like her job or something? You keep pulling things out of thin air and I'm not sure where you are getting your information. I haven't been making offers and "whining when they aren't accepted or sometimes even taken seriously." I've only made one offer, it was accepted and I've never been not taken seriously. Not sure what your problem is but if it causes you so much anger to read my posts, please for your own sake, refrain from doing so!! lol. To everyone else thank you for your input.

And as far as the road being the wrong road etc. I have no idea what happened with the directions from Mapquest. I normally do drive by the homes before I call the listing agent. However, this time I really liked what I saw on the agent's homepage and I knew I wanted to see the house. I had gotten directions for another home in the area that was having an open house that same day and the directions to that home were accurate. The directions for the home I couldn't find were WAY off. By about ten miles. (the road I actually needed was about ten miles down the road than the directions stated. Interesting thing I found out last night- I called the listing agent to appologize for missing the appointment and talked to her in person. She had FORGOTTEN about the appointment and wasn't there anyway!! So I guess everything happens for a reason.

I re-read your posts (go to the Buying & Selling Homes message page & type newhomeseeker in the search box).

I'm a Realtor who loves my job.

This is the last time I am going to respond to you. This thread is not about whether you enjoy your job or not. You say you love your job. Great! It is always a good feeling to enjoy your work. However, you are just adding to my negative perception of the realtors I've come in contact with. I had no idea you were a realtor when I made the comment. The way you kept criticizing and exagerating everything I said just led me to believe you were somehow offended by my posts.. I am not bashing the entire real estate profession- all I have to go on are my own experiences which most would agree were not the best. If you as a realtor feel that someone is wasting your time by asking you to show them a property YOU have listed or that if someone doesn't buy a home after looking at 5-10 of them then you and I just have different expectations.

"She had FORGOTTEN about the appointment and wasn't there anyway!!"

No wonder you don't like buyer's agents! :-)

When DH and I were looking for a house, we went to an open house but the house wasn't open and the realtor was not around. I called her and she never returned my call. That house sat on the market quite a while.

Some realtors are better than others. I've worked with a couple duds myself, but my best experience with a realtor was one that came highly recommended. I'd suggest getting some referrals from friends and coworkers. A good realtor is priceless.

I know there are good realtors out there. I just have not had positive experiences with most of the ones I've encountered. My ex bought a house several years ago and used a buyer's agent. The realtor was a very nice guy and fun to talk to and showed us about six properties before my ex bought one. Again, really nice guy (retired now) but wasn't very helpful in the process. He did show us the homes we wanted to see but disclosed the max amount my ex was willing to pay for one home to the listing agent! My ex never made an offer but still that wasn't a move that would benefit my ex in any way. He also advised AGAINST having the home my ex purchased inspected. Told him since it was a newer home (built in 1994, purchased in 2002)that he wouldn't have to worry about any problems. Also when it came down to negotiations the buyer's agent was more of a cheerleader than someone who was adding their expertise. He didn't bring comps (I ended up finding those myself). It was an easy sell because as soon as we saw the house we fell in love with it and knew we wanted to buy it. I guess that feeling is what I'm waiting for now when I look at houses.

The owner of the home my ex bought actually contacted him after we left and told him that he was going behind his realtor's back to do this but he wanted to sell the home and he told my ex exactly what his bottom line was (they really wanted to move) and told my ex to make an offer for that (about 10,000 off list price off a $120,000 home) and he would accept it. My ex told his buyer's agent about the "deal" and the buyer's agent didn't say anything to the listing agent.

So at most the buyer's agent was a nice guy who told funny stories who was pleasant to have showing us the homes. He really didn't offer any expertise or assistance other than getting us into the homes. It was nice to have a familiar face show us each home but all in all there weren't that many benefits. The buyer's agent wasn't even the one who alerted my ex of the home he bought. I found the house on the MLS.

I did ask for recommendations before I started house hunting and instead I got "beware of this agent..." stories and not really any recommendations other than "so and so is nice" but no one really had any recommendations other than who to stay away from. And I asked a wide variety of people.

Whatever you do I know things will turn out. Just sending hugs for you.

I was responding to the question you asked.

Getting Realtors to show you homes that you don't intend to buy is disrespectful of their professional time, & I'd guess that one reason you're having such trouble getting someone to help you is that your reputation has gotten around-
you're a browser, not a buyer.

Any time someone tells me (s)he can't get *any* agent to help, or that several agents in a row have behaved in ways that do not facilitate a sale, I start looking at the buyer's behavior.
Real estate is a serious profession, with serious obligations;
practitioners are very happy to show homes to serious buyers, nobody has any reason to "help" you waste their time as well as yours.

Enjoy your hobby.

Getting Realtors to show you homes that you don't intend to buy is disrespectful of their professional time, & I'd guess that one reason you're having such trouble getting someone to help you is that your reputation has gotten around-
you're a browser, not a buyer.

Sorry, I had to quote you because this made me laugh! Thanks I needed that.

Hmm- I didn't realize that seeing 6 homes in about 3 months (through realtors) was an obscene amount that labels one a browser. I also don't believe that "getting realtors to show you homes you don't intend to buy" makes any sense in my case either. I never look at homes that I can't afford and I don't consider it wasting anyone's time to ask them to show me a home that I may be interested in. I have no way of knowing if I am going to buy a house until I see it. I can narrow my search by what I find on the internet but you have to actually SEE the house to make a decision.

You sound like an extremely LAZY realtor. Hopefully I am wrong, but if you don't consider it part of your job to actually show the homes you have listed to people (who the majority of the time do not purchase that house- unless you live in an area where houses only sit on the market less than a month) And wow, if my "reputation" has gotten around then I must be pretty important considering none of the realtors who have shown me houses are from the same agency, that if they have all starting calling each other (when they work for different agencies) to compare notes about the woman who was so disrepectful of their time because she asked them to show her ONE house and gasp! didn't buy it. Considering almost every house I have looked at has been on the market at least 2 months or more (one- over a year) I would guess that I am not the first person who has looked at that house and NOT purchased it, you think? And NEVER once did I say I could not get a realtor to help me. My experiences were that most that I talked to weren't much help! (because they gave the wrong information, did not know their properties etc) Not that I couldn't get them to help me.

My original question was if I should call the agent that was supposed to show me a house I couldn't find (and had no way to contact her on a cell) or if I should ask another agent (who would be acting as a buyer's agent in this case) to show me another home the original agent had listed. I felt terrible for "standing her up" when I couldnt' find the home. It turned out that the agent totally forgot about the appointment anyway and did not show up herself! So my original question was already answered.

BTW, Mapquest is not always correct. I was looking for a business and Mapquest sent me to a town nearly 15 miles away. I have seen other weird Mapquest errors. So when it comes to country roads, always get information from a real person.

I know, I've had issues with Mapquest in the past as well. I had two homes to look at in that area and I drove by the first one to check it out (using the mapquest directions) and found it just as the directions stated so I assumed (wrongly!) that the directions to the 2nd house were correct as well. I had asked the realtor for directions (to the house I couldn't find) when I set up the appointment. She told me she was not familiar to the area and had never actually been to the house and advised me to find directions online. I also had (the same) directions from Yahoo driving directions. Both sets were incorrect. Lesson learned!

Actually, I work very hard, & I enjoy it.

but I don't like manipulation, I don't like dishonesty, & I don't like being used.

Getting someone to show you houses that you don't want isn't nice, & it isn't honest.

Writing contracts on houses that you don't want isn't nice, & it isn't honest.

If you want to look at other people's houses & get an education about real estate, by all means look at open houses, & sign up for a real estate course.

sylviatexas, you're overreacting. If you've been manipulated or used, you shouldn't take it out on others on this board, especially on a thread in response to someone asking a question.

How does one know if they want a house unless they see it? Isn't this how house shopping works?

newhomeseeker did nothing dishonest or even not nice. She was in fact interested in the house she had an appointment to see and became less interested only when she found out the location wasn't where she thought it was. And I've read her other threads, too. I don't know what you're basing your assumptions on. But I think you should lay off.

Good luck in your search, newhomeseeker. I hope you don't feel the need to further respond to sylviatexas's nonsense. Ridiculous.

I've been a Realtor for a very long time, & I've been a contributor to this forum for a very long time, & I do have a pretty good bs detector.

Looking at a *mobile home* & then saying that of course you'd never think of buying such a thing is a waste of someone else's time.

OP has posted thread after thread about how she doesn't need a buyer's agent, yet

1.she's no nearer to home ownership today than she was when she started, &
2. the questions she posts & the issues that she gets over-wrought about are simple basics that anyone should know before they start looking for a home.

As I said, I think she's got a really good hobby.

Wow I even have people I don't even know sticking up for me on this forum. It is really sad that as a realtor you could have offered some advice that may have helped me see things from a realtor's point of view on the question I asked. Instead you chose to claim I said things I never did, and basically attack me and my views on things. You have been condescending, sarcastic and mostly have just amused me with your anger. I have no idea what bad experiences you had had with buyers (I'm sure you've had at least as many as I've had with realtors) but all you have done is give me another negative perception of a realtor. I'm sure your profession appreciates you representing them so well!!

Newhomeseeker, I think that the reason that Sylvia may be upset is that you've started numerous threads over the past few months that are mainly complaints about agents with whom you dealt and realtors in general. In addition to this thread, here are the titles of some of the others that you started:

Why do some realtors lie when advertising a house?

What is wrong with the realtors in my area?

Does this sound like a scam?

Can't get rid of realtor.

Listing agent wants me to sign something before I look at house.

Agent calls right after showing (in which you asked the question: "Is this just a slick realtor?")

Now, I'm not taking sides in the spat between Sylvia and yourself, and in fact, every one of your posts may be warranted; I'm just trying to offer an explanation as for why she (and perhap other real estate agents reading this board) may be perturbed by your postings.

"Getting Realtors to show you homes that you don't intend to buy is disrespectful of their professional time, & I'd guess that one reason you're having such trouble getting someone to help you is that your reputation has gotten around-
you're a browser, not a buyer."

SO? Browsers do sometimes eventually become buyers. I looked at probably 75 houses with 5 different agents over a course of 3 years before I bought a house. One agent dropped me, but I dropped the other 3 before agent #5 helped me find the house I bought.

OP is not a browser. Now me? Definitely a browser who became a buyer.

Where are you looking to purchase a home?

Hmmm, I hope they say enfield, CT.