Bergen County Blog

Buyers are Liars and Sellers have Secrets.
Do clients trust their Realtor?

A couple of weeks ago a couple of agents and I were having lunch together and one of the agents was telling of a particularly hard time he was having with one of his transactions. It seems his seller hadn't disclosed to him some problems with the listed house that was uncovered during the home inspection.  Another agent who had been in the field for a long time chimed in,"Well that just proves the old saying, Buyers are liars and Sellers have secrets!" 

Afterward I thought about the phase and wondered why that is true.  Why would buyers and sellers not be honest with their agents?  The only answer I could come up with is they do not trust their agent.

I have always made it a point to be totally honest with my clients. It is just the way I am and in addition, ethically and legally I am bound to do so.  I feel when working with buyers and sellers you must enter into a partnership with them with the specific goals to buy or sell a home.  In this type of arrangement both the agent and the client have specific obligations to each other and should be spelled out in the beginning prior to any activity or agreements are signed.  When each party knows what is expected of them and what the other party is doing, there is less chance of gaps to occur.  As things progress each "partner" sees the other performing as expected and trust is developed.

I believe some agents feel total honesty will cause them to lose some business.  This is seen when agents try to buy listings giving potential sellers high price comparisons. Yes, in the short run, it may cause some lose of business, but in the long run, sellers will not be happy when they have their home sit on the market and then have to adjust the price to where it should have been in the first place.

Practice what Mark Twain once said "Honesty is the best policy - when there is money in it".