Homeowners do the hiring of the real estate agent, but the agent can also do the firing if the relationship turns toxic often due to micromanagement, mistrust or unrealistic expectations.
And while it’s not something that’s really talked about, agents told OneRoof it tends to happen more often in a slower or stagnant market when some properties can be harder to sell.
Ray White Manukau co-owner Tom Rawson said it was “reasonably common” for an agent and vendor to part ways, especially in the current climate when some vendors wanted prices that just aren’t achievable.
“It’s more frequent in a market that isn’t flying upwards – in a stagnant or downward trending market.”
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However, he said it went both ways with agents sacking owners and owners sacking agents.
“They go, ‘hey you haven’t got us what we’re after, we are not going to sell, we are going to cut the contract early’. And the agents also don’t want to work for an extra month knowing they are not going to get paid anyway.”
His agency just last week sacked a client who complained the agent couldn’t get them the price they promised three months ago when they first started talking about selling due to the market shifting, so began micromanaging them.
They were doing things like rewriting the ad, changing the suburb their house was in, re-ordering the listing photos, changing methods of sale and wanting different open home times in the hope it would get them the above market sale price they were chasing, Rawson said.
Ray White Manukau co-owner Tom Rawson said it was "reasonably common" for agents and vendors to part ways. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Not only was the agent not going to be paid on that particular transaction because they couldn’t get a result, he said, but they also had no time to look for new business because they were mentally occupied by someone who had unachievable expectations.
“There’s no point wasting each other’s time and wasting the time of Joe Public that comes along that want to buy the property, but if it’s above market levels it’s not going to happen.”
While both agents and sellers were bound to the standard contract length of 90 days, an exclusive contract could be terminated if both parties agreed. However, once the 90-day agreement expired there was no obligation on either party to renew the contract.
Rawson said the more successful agents were less desperate to take on clients who could be difficult whereas new agents were more likely to take on a challenging seller just to secure a listing.
“Our experienced, award-winning agents might go ‘I can see you a bit more difficult or the transaction might be unachievable – I’ve already got 10 / 20 / 30 listings on the go – I don’t want to take on another one’. One bad owner can be a massive headache – it can derail you for months.”
Earlier this month Christchurch real estate agent Caleb Griffioen decided not to take on a listing after several red flags.
Griffioen, who runs Christchurch real estate agency Griffioen, said the owner wanted top dollar but was unwilling to take on his advice around getting an unconsented bathroom in the home signed off by council and providing the building report to make it easier for buyers.
All the things he suggested were just shut down, he said. “And I think personality-wise we just weren’t gelling.”
In his 10-year career, he had sacked less than a handful of clients. Some before he had signed the listing up and some after.
“Sometimes it comes down to micromanagement, the client is just constantly second-guessing and questioning everything you are recommending as if your experience doesn’t count for anything.”
The only real reason an agent could legally terminate a contract without the seller’s agreement was around instructions not to disclose, he said.
Whereas if there was a relationship breakdown between the client and the particular agent then the agency’s management might step in and find an agent that might be a better fit, he said.
“Sometimes the relationship becomes toxic and it can get really fraught. In other cases, it is just amicable, both parties go ‘we agree, this isn’t really working – we are not happy, agent isn’t really happy then let’s part ways’.”
However, in most cases due to being bound by a legal contract both parties would let it run for 90 days when they could then decide not to renew it.
An Auckland agent, who did not want to be named, told OneRoof they had already parted ways with a couple of clients this year mainly over unrealistic price expectations. It happened more in markets like this when it was flatter and therefore harder for people to sell their houses for the prices they wanted, they said.
“Most of the time it’s because they’ve been over-promised. They believe their house is worth an extremely high price or they don’t want me to disclose something illegal – they want me to take a chance,” the agent said.
“In this market it’s very dangerous to over-promise. Some agents are even offering free marketing just for the market share purpose.”
The agent had learnt from experience and pulled the plug as soon they realised it was not going to be a good journey. “I just say bye bye – in a nice way.”
“What I’ve learned from previous experience is, if you’ve been soft, if you’ve been compromised – eventually you are going to hurt yourself and it’s not going to be a win-win situation.”
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