The internet has made the consumer ever more demanding in their quest for real estate listings and information. Most MLS systems have a method to attach documents to listings. These might be surveys, restrictions, legal descriptions, disclosures and the like. Though they may not be accessible by the public, they are there for buyer brokers to pull and email to interested buyer prospects. Here's a real-life recent situation:
Listing brokerage attaches documents to only 26 listings out of the last 377 they've taken.
Out of area buyer is searching listings on multiple web sites, and they've had email contact with a buyer broker (Broker B) about listings a few times.
In trying to get the plat on a piece of land, they contacted the listing brokerage and had it faxed to them. Their words later were, "We were in a hurry to see the shape of the parcel so we just called the listing office to get it."
They contact Broker B to show them the property and make a trip in from out of state to see it.
In the interim, listing broker's agent emails them as a prospect and is told that they are interested in the property and were working wth Broker B to see it that weekend.
Listing broker's agent makes remark to the customer that "I wouldn't have done all that work if I'd known you were working with someone else. If you don't have a written agreement with Broker B, you should work with me."
Remark highly annoys the customer who comments to Broker B that they would never do business with someone who exhibits that type of behavior.
Listing broker agent emails Broker B with "Procuring Cause" as email subject, then calls and states they want the commission. When Broker B laughs, they then decide that a referral would be acceptable. Broker B tells them to get a life and go do some real estate.
Basically, either this listing brokerage is just inefficient and doesn't see the importance of making their client properties' documents readily accessible, OR they have a nice little game going with Procuring Cause as a revenue generator. Either way, it would behoove them to understand the nature of the internet's changes to our business practices and work on their clients' behalf rather than from a self-interest perspective.
There is no outcome to talk about, as the customer didn't like the property anyway. However, they're now a loyal buyer customer of Broker B and know to ask him to get them documents in the future.
