Okay, honestly, I do think realtors get a lot of money for what they do. I have this image because when I sold my condo my wife and I really did have to do everything; We took the photos, wrote the MLS description and was involved in the negotiations (our agent even cried out, "They bought a place and have no money! They need to sell." Thanks for nothing). To top it all off, we got very little notice for showings (Agent Idiot gave the okay and then decided to notify us). All in all, a pretty bad experience.

While I have that image in my head, I do think people should get what they deserve. It's obvious that realtor did a lot of work and should have been compensated for it. The guy on the television show is a huge turd. You suck, Yousuf.

The episode with Mr. Saddiqui was a memorable one. I was shocked that he went ahead and purchsed the house on his own and thought what a low-class scum bag he was for doing it. Unfortunately, it has been my experience and the experience of friends and family, that a truly honest, genuinely good real estate agent, that has the buyer/seller's concerns at the forefront is hard to come by.
Nevertheless, Sandra Rinomato is a good one and should be commended for keeping her cool and dignity.

Just an FYI - Sandra wasthe host, was not Yousuf's real estate agent. As you have noted, A Buyer Agent Agreement must be signed PRIOR to a realtor showing any houses. Yousuf would have been in breach of contract should he have purhased the house using another agent.

The show is fictional and paints a picture. Perhaps you have taken television too literally and need to take a step back.

Okay, I became aware of this and thought I would get a few laughs. Ha ha ha...okay that was moderately satisfying. But I will make Jo's long short story a long short 'Correct' story...As a previous buyer and seller of several homes personally I can say that some agents are great and others need to leave the business to the committed professionals. Okay personal pitch aside….I know someone who worked on the shoot…Here is where we must make the correction...Sandra did not find the home that was ultimately purchased! Mr. Saddiqui after growing frustrated with the agent/production team's poor selection of homes had to contract his own agent in order to meet his personal deadlines. Ohhh, did the network production team forget to mention that...hhmmmm. The man simply did not like the three homes that Sandra was showing him and they could not fit it into their deadline show him more homes...ya he is such a turd for being selective on the biggest purchase of the former property virgin’s life… The Lesson: get your facts straight, leave emotion out of it and get some sleep!

Please see my response on my new post:

The Case of the Decency-less Property Virgin Continued...
http://www.thinkjoanna.com/blog/2007/6/20/the-case-of-the-decency-less-property-virgin-continued.html

my comment has to do with last night's episode. i thought sandra, the host, was particularly impatient with the young woman and her mother who were looking for the woman's first place. sandra was making faces whenever the woman or her mother expressed a problem with a property. she also literally made the young woman cry when the woman didn't like the first place she saw, by being rude and in-your-face and extremely insensitive. i really wonder why sandra treated these women this way.

hmmm....very interesting!
thanks google

HGTV just rebroadcast this show tonight (April 20, 2008) and my reaction is the same as it was nearly a year ago. I found Saddiqui's conduct and attitude offensive. Sandra Rinomato was trying to conceal her hurt and betrayal, but it was all over her face. Saddiqui squandered what looked like a professional contact worth keeping and cultivating.

That Sandra R. is one fine...woman. How is she running around Toronto with no Wedding Band on. Are you guys nuts? Or is she promised to some big Italian guy?

I came in late to this post through a huge circuitous route of other blogs so please forgive the late comment.

Whether the show was fictional or not and whether the host was the client's actual agent or not is beside the point. The point is that a lot of the time stuff like this happens in real life.

I've been a Realtor myself for almost 10 years and while I still get the "I've been doing this for 30 years." from some agents, I've been around long enough to know that lots and lots of transactions go awry.

Sometimes it's as bad as the show. Most of the time it's just that the buyer gets tired of looking, screws up his/her financing or, in reality, has a cousin/sister/in-law that just got into the business and needs some money.

Realtors get a bad rap because there are a lot of them out there like the one that Bean Boy (see above) had for his condo. They're inconsiderate and unprofessional. Seems like that's true of a lot of professions. However, we Realtors tend to get emotionally involved in the life of our clients and it's tough when it's the client who is being callous and inconsiderate.

I still get ticked when a "friend" or someone I know well uses another Realtor to list and sell their home. Hey, I have a mortgage and grocery bill, too! I get ticked when buyers run me around and then tell me they decided to "wait until the market turns/hits bottom".

The thing is that there are always plenty of people who want to buy and sell real estate and if you build a good personal rep. and keep your sense of humor, you'll be able to make a good living. For every Yousuf in the world there are people who send you Christmas cards long after they've moved (and a referral or two, to boot!)

As someone who was a "virgin" on the show I can only say from my experience that the television show takes priority over the person/couple's purchase. I don't think I've seen the episode under discussion, but we were promised great negotiators, lots of personal attention, and excellent advice. In return we never negotiated price, found the house ourselves, and gained nothing by being on the show. Our reason for applying to the show was to have an excellent realtor. Sandra was only the television host and again, we found the place ourselves. Very disappointing all around so I do have some sympathy for a situation that doesn't sound too dissimilar from my own.

Quit your complaining. I would fire you in 1 second if you ever had the audacity to solicit me. You clearly are not a decent salesperson and you could learn a lot from a GOOD Realtor. I hope you can find a way out of the hole you've likely dug yourself into... Probably several properties taken out on neg am loans, and now no lender will touch you. Good luck and god bless.

What I can't figure out is how any reputable agent would present just three properties to a virgin buyer and expect them to choose! Did you see the choices given to the couple from France looking for property in T.O.? Are you kidding me? Pleas tell me the couple was shown at least two or three more properties. Please, somebody tell me we didn't see the whole story!

First things first,
Do your complete investigation first and then have your remarks.
1. Do you know, Sandra was host or Real estate agent in this case?
2. Do you know, was there a Buyer Agent Agreement? IF NOT and what was a reason?
3. Do you know, is it possible a Real estate agent will show you a house without any Buyer Agent Agreement?
4. Do you know, was there any mutual agreement before the show?
5. Do you know, anything about real state or just watching TV shows.

I think you will get all your answers when you yourself prepared.

What i laff about is Sandra talks to the ppl at the beginning of the show for what 4 mins, and then she knows what kind of place they would like? How is that possible?? When we looked for our house we looked at more then 3 houses, our realtor spent time with us (more then 4 mins) and was able to access what we wanted! The french couple were shown 3 duds, in my humble opinion, i would not of chosen any of them and would of prolly looked on my own, since the realtor did not deliver. Realtors make way too much money on houses, i don't care if they drive u around and put in ads, it still does not equate to thousands of dollars out of their pocket that warrants them getting the kind of money they get! After-all they do not live in your house nor have they paid the kinds of money u have paid, like mortgage, property taxes and the like for YOUR property! I understand that if the person does not buy from that realtor they have lost that money, but that is the chance the realtor is willing to take in order to make that sale. Besides Sandra is prolly aware of these risks going in! It was not nice what Yousef did, but he was not satisfied with the results he got, and he should be able to do what he wants, since it is his first place and he wanted it to be what he wanted, not what Sandra wanted for him!

Ok it's almost a year later, and I am dying to write about the Host of Property Virgins. Sandra Rimonato talks down to property virgins. She has an atlas syndrome on the show. For the price that a buyer wants to pay, she will either show a run-down place, a decent place in a bad neighborhood, or a fixer upper in an unpreferred neighborhood. What my point is, why show a place to a buyer it does not meet their minimum criteria for their price point. Whatever happened to common decency and logic and telling the buyer that if a place comes up in the preferred neighborhood at their price point, that she will notify them Vs trying to make a quick commission by pushing or forcing property virgins into homes they will most likely be unhappy with. What Youssuf did was exactly that. He chose the place he was most comfortable with. Sandra Rimonato FAILED as a realtor to show the buyer what he wanted. And I can say that about most realtors. You guys focus first on making the sale and commission Vs addressing a buyers needs and style

Ash, the problem with some property virgins, and actually most people in general, is that their eyes are bigger than their wallets. Most times people have unrealistic expectations, so real estate agents have to first do the dirty work of showing them whats really out there in their price range to become educated on the market. I can't speak for all agents because this is an independent contractor business, so there is no consistency from one agent to another, but it is necessary education. If the intention is to buy and the expectations are unrealistic, it's just not going to happen without compromise.

The other thing you have to remember is that no one - not a realtor or anyone else can force someone into a property. After a realtor does the job of finding and showing the property, there are a lot of initials and signatures that a buyer needs to make before a deal is finalized (i.e. the offer, condition waivers, mortgage docs, lawyer transfer docs, etc.), so there's a lot of time and room for a buyer to change their mind if they really wanted to. Real estate is not or should not be an impulse purchase and if the client is on the tilt, then they shouldn't be engaging the services of a real estate agent and looking in the first place.

I've said this before and I'll say it again - the agent's role is really that of a facilitator and not of a sales person. When a client has indicated an interest to purchase and sell, it's the agent's job to do what it takes to make it happen (and yes, there may be some agents that have ulterior motives, but same can be said for any industry)... if the choice to buy a particular property or to buy at all turns out to be wrong in hindsight, the blame can't all be attributed to the agent. You know the old saying... when you point one finger out, there's three fingers pointing right back at you.

I can not wait till they get Sandra off the air, Im sick of looking at her and listening to her downgrade people. She is rude, pushy and needs to be fired. If I have to watch one more commercial or episode of her on HGTV, Im changing my station to something else, my tv is on HGTV 27/7 but not for long. Get that abusive lady off the air!

The last three episodes of property virgins I have watched have ended up with the buyers walking away from the "Realtor" Sandra. This does not surprise me one bit. Sandra badgers buyers to put in an offer after every house they look at and tries to up sell them out of their price range in every episode.Buying a house is the single largest investment most people will ever make, and to try to rush their decision is greedy and immoral. I guess you could say it is Realtors like Sandra are the ones who are trying to do the raping.

Yes, the guy should not have went behind a realtor's back after they've done all the work for him. However, in this case, Sandra had it coming to her. She's condescending and talks down to her clients over and over again. I just watched an episode with the firefighter and his wife looking for a home in Dallas/Fort Worth. She has to the nerve to make a comment about how much money they can afford, saying, "oh we'll look at the homes you are willing to spend your money on...oh I mean how much you ARE ABLE spend". Okay it doesn't sound as bad as reading what I just typed, but the way she said it on the show was rude. I think the show would be better with a less bitchy host.