What to do when a real estate agent has blatantly lied to you?

[jonbrooks1962]

Hi all,

My real estate agent did our first open home for us yesterday. After the open home finished he texted me to say that 4 lots of people had visited our place. This morning he visited us and in detail went over the 4 interested parties. He said one particular gentleman spent 15 minutes looking through the place and set down in the living room for a while.

Well, we have 3 CCTV cameras in our house. When we had a look at footage from yesterday we found not a single person came for the open home. All we had was over 30 minutes of the agent walking around the house.

We haven't approached the agent about this yet. We're not sure what to do here. We chose this agent as he has over 20 years experience selling houses in our area.

What can you do if you found out your real estate agent has blatantly lied to you?

Cheers
Jon

[cube]

I wouldn't talk to the agent, but go straight to his boss or the reinz with the evidence.

[Hound]

Mmmmm...interesting. I'd hold back myself, if the agent concerned is good at selling property let him get on with it. Obviously you need to take his feedback with a grain of salt, but sometimes these things are all in the game. The information you have may come in handy later on, but maybe no need to jump the gun by acting on it now. Alternatively if you're uncomfortable proceeding with him, pull his contract via the agency & get another agent elsewhere.

[donnyboy]

dump him, how can you trust someone who cant even be straight with the amount of people through the open home?
just wait till he suggests that 'x' price is the top amount that you will get, and you should meet all conditions to make the sale process smoother

[jonbrooks1962]

How can the information I have come in handy?

[Xav]

That would be a deal breaker for me. Agree with Cube's suggestions.

[Petals]

dob him in..........you will be helping to improve the industry..

[TheLiberalLeft]

OR........

tell him about the CCTV and the fact you know he's a lying a-hole and suggest that if he doesn't agree to halve his commission, you'll dob him and his lying arse to the powers that be.

[Keys]

I suspect he is about to condition you to lowering your asking price.

[essence]

LOVE TLL's comment and agree wholeheartedly. Make them pay YOU to keep quiet.

Also Keys is right. He'll now go very quiet and you'll hear nothing from him for a couple of weeks. Then he'll say to drop your price. After he's approached you to drop the price, make an appointment to see his Manager and take the CCTV footage as proof. Ask for compensation for misleading actions by the company representative and loss of sale opportunity and wasting your time.

My worry would be - What's he saying to the potential purchasers?? (to your detriment). The ultimate aim of his actions, is to get you agree to a lower price. His actions are designed to lead to a lower sale, therefore what he is doing is unethical.

That sort of behaviour costs the company in the long game ie you're not likely to a) use the company again b) recommend anyone you know uses the company either.

If you're really annoyed, report him to the RE Institute.

Edit : He probably bulldusted the listing price to "buy" the listing.