Bernard Laffer

MY goal every day is to advocate for my clients  I do this by supporting my clients position , protecting their interests and  attempting to save them money. Most often my clients interest are in conflict with those of their opposites ,be it buyer or seller. My client right or wrong is my motto .These days negotiations can be difficult and lenders  uncooperative. The end result is that your opposition can feel wronged.  I would like to believe that the real estate community is one happy family, in reality we are not. Realtors compete for business and look to protect their client's interest at the expense of their colleagues clients. I recently completed an escrow where my buyer due to work schedule and self absorption acted as if they did not have to adhere to any schedules. They took their time processing their loan and would regularly ignore my phone calls and emails. Work schedule was blamed. The agent on the other end and their clients were upset.To add to the confusion the seller was  receiving roughly 250k less then what they originally paid. The negotiations were difficult but the seller consented. My client (the buyer ) had reservations through out the transaction.  To hold the deal together I agreed to credit my client a large portion of my commission. I admit that my client was difficult but it was her first purchase and she was completely overwhelmed with work. She was traveling continuously through out the transaction. The listing agent was aware of the difficulties and the seller had the option of canceling throughout the transaction. They were desperate to sell the home and they completed the sale.   I basically did the transaction for free, In the long run it was a great purchase for my client. The appraiser had trouble finding properties that were cheap enough to use as comps.The property was actually worth 10% more than she was paying . After the close the buyer sent me an email thanking me for putting up with her uncertainties and has referred several clients to me.  The end result is that the seller blasted me online.It was actually kind of funny because the listing agent was well aware of the problems with my buyer and we discussed canceling the transaction on numerous occasions. If I was on the other end I would have reduced my commission to defer some of clients costs They had purchased the place through them at a much higher price. The seller should have been thankful because I sacrificed my commission to make her sale work. Obviously the listing agent never informed them of this action. I guess this is the price for doing business successfully. I never forced the seller to accept the price and I regularly made my client aware of the deadlines. In the long run I aggressively protected my clients interests over those of the sellers. She ended up moving into a property that had built in equity.If that makes me a bad agent , I will wear that classification proudly.