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amiller · 03-01-2017, 11:34

I had an experience recently that I don't quite understand.

I found a boat that I liked on sailboatlistings.com, so I clicked on the link to send the lister an email, and exchanged 2 brief emails with the person who responded, who turned out to be a listing agent.

I thanked him for the info and said that my buyer's agent would get in touch. Immediately his email tone changed, and he says that by contacting him he is my agent.

I'm confused by this. I wouldn't reach out to a broker directly on yachtworld, but the website I used seems to have a lot of private listings.

Please help me understand how the workflow is supposed to go. I'm inherently a bit type A so I like to be involved in the search.

tomfl · 03-01-2017, 12:29

First off most of the time every boat sale is a little different.

Without seeing the ad and what I will call local laws related to advertising it is only possible to speculate on how to recognize the boat was being listed by an agent and not the owner. I seriously doubt unless the ad clearly stated by contacting the person who placed the ad he is now your agent, and even then I am not sure that would be the case. Which raises the issue of some agents being "good guys" and some agents being "not so good guys". Given the response from this guy I would run away as fast as I could.

One thing lots of folks seem to over look is there are a lot of boats for sale; probably more than the number of folks trying to buy them. So some folks/agents selling boats place ads that are too good to be true to attract unsuspecting buyers. When the buyers are faced with reality they may be unhappy.

My suggestion is if anything (like an agent hiding his true identity till the rubber meets the road) goes wrong chalk it up to wasted time and look for another boat you don't have to ask questions about on CF.

Cheechako · 03-01-2017, 12:39

I think buyers agents are not the norm. They hate sharing money on commission. Not sure what you can do. Not sure his tone matters, the listing is either open for sharing commissions or not.

denverd0n · 03-01-2017, 12:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by amiller

...he says that by contacting him he is my agent.

Well, we can start with the fact that this is BS. He is not "your" agent until you sign an agreement with him. I'm not a lawyer, but even if there was something on the website that very specifically said that, by clicking on the link, you were engaging this guy as your agent (and I've never seen anything like that), I sincerely doubt that would hold up in court.

My guess is that he doesn't want to share the commission, and so he is trying to bully you into not using your own agent. Instead of asking questions here, I would be talking to the guy who really is "your" agent. See what he has to say about it. It may be worth the effort to work through this issue, or it may not.

Good luck.

Shrew · 03-01-2017, 13:04

If I had a Buyers Agent, I would not be circumventing them by reaching out directly to a listing agent. I would not assume a listing agent would be interested in splitting commission.

If this were real estate, and you approached the listing agent directly, then came back with a purchasing agent, the listing agent would balk and claim that the purchasing agent had no claim. The listing agent wouldn't even entertain a purchasing agent unless the listing agent agreed to an MLS listing to begin with.

I don't see much difference here.

If you want to reach out to listing agents, then drop the buying agent. Otherwise let the buying agent do their job.

Lepke · 03-01-2017, 13:09

If you go to a broker and ask for help finding a particular type of boat beyond his listings, and he makes contact with the listing agent, then your broker is entitled to some compensation.
When you contact the listing broker, it's his sale, his commission. He did the work, paid for the ads, was responsible for your contact, and so on.
I'm no lawyer, but that's generally how it happens. Many contracts are exclusive to the listing broker to ensure he is compensated for his work and costs.
Often brokers will list boats on other sites to reach as many people as possible. Sometimes the owner will post on additional sites even though he has signed an exclusive contract.
Sorry, just realized I should have used he/she/it for you libs.

tomfl · 03-01-2017, 13:42

Without seeing the ad, specifically the contact information, it is not easy to say if the listing agent has any exclusive claim. While I know sailboatlistingsdotcom has brokers listing there there are also a lot of for sale by owner listings as well. The OP left the impression with me that the agent did not identify his self to the OP until the OP mentioned a buying agent.

I still stand by my position that I would run away from this situation. If there are problems with which agent gets what what happens when there are problems with the boat. Too many other boats for sale.

amiller · 03-01-2017, 14:38

Interesting, sounds like some slight shades of gray in the above answers.

I'm only familiar with real estate where there is almost always a buyer's agent and a seller's agent, as it seems prudent to have different agents representing the different parties' interests.

My bad for assuming the same in the boat market, it seems the commissions are much more competitive. Lesson learned!

Now I get to tell my buyer's agent what I did by trying to be proactive!

Pelagic · 03-01-2017, 15:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by amiller

. Lesson learned!

Now I get to tell my buyer's agent what I did by trying to be proactive!

Unfortunately some answers were grey as brokers often like to live in the shadows!

It really doesn't change anything as brokers deal with this all the time and often split a commission based on prior agreements.

Tell 'your' broker that you found this boat that interests you.
Explain that you thought you were talking to the owner.
Ask if he wants to follow up on whether it is worth pursuing?
I am pretty sure he will huff and puff and then say 'OK'

If not, pursue it yourself as another learning process getting all the details and prior evaluations/surveys you can from the other broker.

This gives you a comparison to what your 'own' broker finds.

Key thing's to Remember: Brokers work for themselves. Need prodding at times.
Pay only what you wish to pay
Always be ready to walk away.
It is always a Buyer's Market!

valhalla360 · 03-01-2017, 23:42

Not a chance that it holds up but expect both brokers to be a hassle as they fight over the commission and create problems. Just make it clear that you won't be paying anything extra to either broker.

I would try to move forward by having your broker contact the other broker. It may have just been a bluff but be ready to scuttle the deal if it gets messy.

hamburking · 04-01-2017, 10:09

In looking at lots of sailboat ads locally, including broker listings, I saw some boats that were listed with several brokers. I know one broker personally, and asked him about it. He said they sometimes just take ads from other brokers (or private) and post them as their own. If someone contacts them, they become the buyers agent. Even though they have no knowledge of the boat, seller, or anything. They do this because it works, and in the end they get a commission if you buy the boat.

If you see an ad for a boat you like, good idea to do a google search for that specific boat (use the ad title) and see how many hits you get. My preference has always been to speak directly with the owner...he's the one who knows the boat best. All that broken-telephone to get answers to simple questions is a big waste of time.

amiller · 04-01-2017, 12:47

"If not, pursue it yourself as another learning process getting all the details and prior evaluations/surveys you can from the other broker."

Perfect, this became my plan. I did some more digging, some more chatting, a little Google, and discovered a surprise conflict of interest that this "objective and impartial broker" hadn't disclosed.... the boat he is listing is his son's boat!

jeagles · 04-01-2017, 22:48

I agree with tomfl. There are far more boats for boats for sale than buyers. Be ruthless in your buying process. If you get attitude from a seller - move on.

valhalla360 · 04-01-2017, 23:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeagles

I agree with tomfl. There are far more boats for boats for sale than buyers. Be ruthless in your buying process. If you get attitude from a seller - move on.

Correction:

Be ruthless and willing to walk away if you don't get the deal you want.

Be kind and positive in actually dealing with the seller. There's often a lot of emotion on both sides. Be heartless without reason and the seller is less likely to deal. On the other hand, if you come across as wanting to love their baby as much as they do, they may even go lower than they planned because they want their baby with someone who loves her.