Not crazy about my RE agent

We listed out home and our selling agent was great, but she's really not 'working' for us to find a house, it seems that I'm doing all the leg work. Our price point isn't that high and I almost feel like what we are looking at is beneath her. She also isn't very familiar with the areas that we are looking (moving from Massapequa and looking in E Islip). How do I back out of using her gracefully?

Re: Not crazy about my RE agent

I'm hoping Beth replies, I think we would like to use her as our agent :)

Re: Not crazy about my RE agent

why dont you send an FM to beth

Re: Not crazy about my RE agent

I remember when we were looking. I did the leg work when finding houses we wanted to see. I would contact Beth and she would set up the appointment. Or we would go to open houses without her.
From what I understand that's normal.

Re: Not crazy about my RE agent

Did you sign a contract with your current agent for her to represent you as a buyer's agent? If you don't have an exclusivity agreement, you are free to go use someone else. (If not, you'll have to ask to be released from the contract.)

But assuming you are free to go to someone else, I would be upfront with her that you intend to start working with another agent. As an agent, I would rather someone be very upfront about whether they are working with me or not. The last thing I would want to do is spend a lot of time looking for homes for a buyer who doesn't intend to buy a house through me! (Even though you said it doesn't seem like she is spending much time working for you.)

I think you have a built in excuse that she doesn't know the area that well. You can always just say that you really feel like you need a neighborhood specialist for that area.

Although honestly, I sell houses all over Long Island, not just where I am based, and it's never really an issue for me...if I don't know the area as well, I familiarize myself with it. And personally, in the internet era, a lot of buyers tend to find homes they want to see and ask me to set up appointments. I am definitely proactive in looking at homes for clients online and previewing them, if necessary. But if I have a busy day and am out on appointments or at closings, and I don't get to check the new listings until the evening, then sometimes a buyer may find a listing before I send it to them. The value of a buyer's agent - to me - goes beyond finding listings, but is more about guiding you through the process and helping you navigate challenges. Finding the house is step one, but then there's everything that comes after: weighing the pros/cons of the house, doing appropriate due diligence on the house, making an offer, negotiating, inspections, applying for mortgage, appraisal, etc. That's where having an agent can really help, imo.

If you like your agent, maybe you can talk to her about your expectations and see if she will be a bit more proactive about sending listings or researching your area of interest.

If you'd rather go with Beth, I would just contact her directly (via FM, or even just get her email/phone number from the business directory). Sometimes I don't see every post on here, so she may overlook it!

Re: Not crazy about my RE agent

Just tell her that you would prefer to work with somebody local to the area you are looking in.

You never know, she may not even want to be your buyers agent due to the distance and is being courteous by doing this for you.

Re: Not crazy about my RE agent