Sandbagging Your Own Listings
The lowest of the low… REALTORS® who are so greedy, that they violate the responsibility they have to their own sellers.
Here is how Sandbagging works:
REALTOR® gets a new listing. REALTOR® brings his own buyers to see the home prior to any other REALTOR® getting the opportunity to do so. Said REALTOR® sells his own listing to his own buyer, then submits the property to the MLS. Other REALTORS® then call to show the home only to find out it is no longer available.
As an experienced agent for eighteen years here in the Philadelphia real estate market, I have indeed been called on the carpet for Sandbagging. However, I have never done so without full disclosure to my particular seller.
I think it is important to let sellers know that you are presenting an offer prior to any other buyers getting a crack at their home, and that they may possibly lose out on a competitive bid scenario. If the seller has no problem, and feels he is getting the best price for his property, and is willing to sign the agreement I am presenting, with full disclosure of the above, then I don’t see a problem. Am I wrong in this instance?
The differentiating factor between selling your own listing in a day, and sandbagging, is full disclosure. Full disclosure in this circumstance means having the seller sign off on a statement saying they understand that the home has really not been offered to the buying public. Some sellers are looking for a “bird in the hand” and don’t care. However, I would suggest that this is not the case for most sellers.
I would love to hear input from other REALTORS®, buyers and sellers on this topic. If you get a minute, please post a comment, good or bad – please!
Thanks so much…..
Mark Wade
Prudential Fox and Roach REALTORS®
530 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19106
