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I've had quite a few interesting experiences over the years in real estate, that are far from what you see on TV. Be forewarned, these experiences are on the darker side of what happens in real estate.
This post is the first in the series and is a lighter one with a happy ending, but it serves to highlight a common misconception the public has when dealing with Zillow.
This incident occurred when I was selling a home in Lynn Ranch on Calle Las Trancas some years back. A potential buyer had seen the house on Zillow and clicked the "Contact Agent" button to request a showing. He thought he was contacting me, the listing Broker, however what people don't know is that Zillow sells those leads to the four top paying agents in an area. Not the listing agent, not the most qualified agents, just the ones spending the most per month to buy the leads.
The buyer has a back-and-forth conversation with the agent over several days. At no point does the agent counter the buyer's belief that they are the listing Broker. This is a violation of the Realtor Code of Ethics and a Real Estate Law violation, violation of their fiduciary duties to the principle. This goes on and the buyer schedules a time to see the property. This is where it gets even more interesting. The agent then looks at the listing in the MLS only to find that it is a vacant, staged home, where the LISTING AGENT WILL ACCOMPANY the showing. This agent then tells the buyer that "The owners are not showing the home at this time due to having family in for the holidays." It was Christmas time... which was the only bit of truth in what they told him!
How did I find this all out? Well, the buyer never got the message. He got to the property, waited for the agent to show, then after a few minutes called the number on the sign. My office answered, informed him that we had no requests for showing the property from any agents or buyers at that time, but would be happy to show them the house. That's when he realized the agent he had been talking to from Zillow was lying to him! He was not happy and was going to take action against them.
Now this story does have a happy ending. He was looking at the house for his mother and determined it wasn't the right one, but we showed him another listing of ours on Marview and they fell in love with it and bought it!
So let this be a cautionary tale, the agent you connect with on Zillow most likely is NOT the listing agent!
Still to come in this series are tales of fraud, elder abuse, law enforcement action, bank fraud, extortion, attempted theft of real property, more lies and deceit, and stories that end in jail time and more for the perps!
