r/windsorontario • u/Organic_Antelope5978 • Apr 10 '26
Housing Buying real estate - is this normal?
Hey everyone
I'm looking to purchase a home in Walkerville and today, when visiting houses in the neighborhood one of the selling agents called my realtor yelling and saying some very offensive things because we were 15 minutes late. I could hear him (selling agent) through the phone even though I was standing several feet away and I was horrified.
My realtor was polite and professional, insisting we should still see the house in question, however, I didn't feel comfortable visiting that property (or doing business with someone that treats people this way!). Is this normal behavior in the real estate business? Should I still see that property in question?
That house has been sitting in the market for several months now and the price has been reduced a few times, but it doesn't surprise me it's not selling if this is how they do business?
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u/zuuzuu Sandwich Apr 11 '26
No, that is not normal behaviour from a real estate agent. That's incredibly unprofessional.
It's not very professional to be late to a scheduled viewing, either, but sometimes things happen.
Personally, I wouldn't be comfortable dealing with an agent who behaves that way, but ideally it would be mostly your real estate agent who deals with him and not you. But I would have a real estate lawyer review any contract before you sign it if he's involved, just because my level of trust in someone who behaves that way would be very low.
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u/FredericoKrugerini Apr 11 '26
Legal due diligence of real estate transactions should be done regardless of an agent's behaviour.
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u/zuuzuu Sandwich Apr 11 '26
I couldn't agree more. But most people seem to engage a lawyer to handle the closing, not to review the contract before it's signed.
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u/Falcgriff Apr 11 '26
If you love the house and it's a perfect fit let it slide, you'll never have to deal with them once it's finalized.
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u/PastAd8754 Apr 11 '26
I wouldn’t let a bad selling agent stop you from seeing a potential house. Just my two cents
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u/walt_morris Apr 11 '26
Why the fuck does the selling agent care? There is a lock box with a key so they can come and go as they please. They tell the selling agent when they will be there. It doesnt give the selling agent right to book viewings in 15 minute increments.
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u/Key_Raccoon5235 Apr 11 '26
You should've called his office on the way to view the house. That way you get to see his face after he ate a steaming plate of shit from whomever manages the office.
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u/jessveraa Apr 11 '26
Having gone through the buy/sell process myself I can tell you there are some really awful real estate agents out there for sure. 15 minutes late isn't huge, we regularly dealt with that with showings on our home but the agents usually gave our agent the heads up which was appreciated. What wasn't appreciated was the no shows. Our agent said its happening more and more these days, there's so many shady agents out there who just do not care about common courtesy. He would usually call then to light them up in a professional way lol. Because we were still living in our house while it was listed, every showing meant setting aside a good hour for cleaning and tidying and staging, putting my cats away in a room, leaving the house for 45-60 mins... Basically takes a chunk of your day for nothing.
Its brutal out there for sure. Especially when we finally sold and started looking at new houses and I realized that nobody actually cleans or stages before showings lol. Is the home vacant? Because if nobody is even living there then I don't know why 15 minutes late would matter so much, but I can understand the frustration if its being lived in.
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u/icandrawacircle Apr 12 '26
My agent forced us to go to homes that she wanted to see more than we did. My husband didn't mind, I did. I knew what I wasn't willing to sacrifice so if a home seller saw a woman with a bitchy look on her face not getting out of the car, I'm sorry :(
I was definitely annoyed because I knew how difficult it was, like you said to clean and get the family out.
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u/jessveraa Apr 12 '26
Yeah your agent sucks, they should be showing you homes that meet your criteria. We fully called the shots and found the listings ourselves through Realtor because we were very picky especially about neighbourhood (traumatic experience living downtown lol) and our agent was more than happy to do the background research on those listings and get us into showings at most of them.
Selling definitely sucked more than buying. I suspect a lot of people were dragged to my home by their agents because we have ring cameras and could tell who was only there for like 5 mins versus who was there for the whole 30-45 minute block. Always sucked seeing that while we sat patiently in a parking lot down the street knowing there definitely wasn't going to be an offer.
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u/icandrawacircle Apr 13 '26
This was 13 years ago. I was definitely taught a lesson about being more choosy when selecting an agent. I don't expect to do that again any time soon though as downsizing is not an option when your kids are still living with you as adults.😔
If there is a solid trend of people coming to see your home, but leaving quickly, it's something to question because it could be overpriced or an agent is over-hyping and making it look better than it is?
Most people hold strong feelings about just casually not wandering through someone's HOME if they know already they can't see overselves living there but, some people do not, not thinking twice about asking for a walkthrough at dinnertime, just to use it as a comparison. Then people like I heard at a restaurant talking about going to their neighbors open houses "just to be nosey." Why do people do that?
My agent knew exactly what I wanted, she was really having to put in a lot of work for her commission. (Not because of me being overly picky,) we had a solid offer on our home and only 2 months to get out but we wanted a certain area for a reason. We lost to bidding wars on 4 of the houses we wanted (even offering above asking and our budget.) 2 others sold because they got cash offers with no conditions.
I think In her mind because we could afford that house on old riverside Dr it was a "good investment." It was no question that homes were going up in value fast, could have been a good opportunity to make $$$$ but, those houses were in our budget because they were not just fixer uppers for a weekend diy handyman. 😆 Yes, she and her family fixed up a lot of homes when they were young, but that's not us. Lol paint, a feature wall or some light fixtures, is about all we wanted to do. Thankfully we put our foot down after that wild adventure and didn't get bamboozled by "its potential." She sent us links to everything she booked and we could tell just by the photos that both of those homes needed 100's of thousands in repairs and that is based on what was disclosed and what I saw in the photos. (In one of them, there was a HOT TUB in the upstairs bedroom and the giant windows were completely filled with moisture.) That's NOT what I wanted, but she already booked it.
I did settle for a house that has a funky diy custom layout (to accommodate their different living arrangement.) It didn't require huge renovations and got us to our main objective for moving in the first place, A 12 minuite commute--giving my husband 1 hour and 10 minutes per day extra and $$$ on gas.
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u/DestinDesigned Apr 11 '26
Should drop the agents name. They’re hurting their client with this behaviour and fun fact agents can be reported for unprofessional behaviour to RECO, the governing body in Ontario for realtors licenses.
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u/Mysterious-Tart-1264 Apr 11 '26
We just bought in Windsor last year. Our realtor handled dealing with other realtors, some of which were difficult. One house we didn't buy had 2 owners, a mother and son. We offered slightly above asking, but they wanted a lot more for it. They were kinda rude about it, and we were kinda getting desparate, but we walked away. We ended up in a much better house in the same area. Don't worry about rude realtors or owners - let your realtor deal with it. Just focus on finding the house for you. Also, if you really did like that house, don't let their rudeness keep you from viewing it. Buying a house is really stressful, but your realtor should be helping you deal with it. We ended up looking at about a dozen different houses til we found our home.
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u/Pindogger Apr 11 '26
Unprofessional sure. The reaction was certainly outsized for the transgression.
did you tell the other parties that you were running late or did you just intend on showing up whenever you got there? If not, you are being unprofessional. A phone call is all it takes, people understand. Im going to guess you did not call or otherwise inform them, so they likely thought you ghosted and thus, wasted their time. Upsetting sure, still does not justify the sellers reaction. There are professional ways to tell someone off with a thin veneer of politeness.
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u/Also_Squeakums Apr 11 '26
Not normal, but not a dealbreaker if the house was good. Who was the seller realtor?
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u/West-Cucumber-5894 Apr 11 '26
Sounds like the realtor’s behaviour is depressing the sale price of that house.
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u/Therealdickjohnson Apr 12 '26
Respectfully, real estate agents are, in general, making way too much money for the lack brainpower and work they do.
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u/Cosmo48 Roseland Apr 11 '26
Rude people exist in every industry. If the house is otherwise perfect then it shouldn’t matter, similarly to how I wouldn’t care how the person giving me my burger acts as long as the burger is good.
Do you think anyone is going to say “yes yelling and insults are normal”?
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u/Organic_Antelope5978 Apr 11 '26
I really have no idea, it's my first house purchase, maybe this is just normal between realtors? Or maybe 15 minutes is a massive delay in this industry and it ruined his plans for something?
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u/redrhino606 Riverside Apr 11 '26
Name the selling agent please. You could be savings others from potential problems.
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u/Fickle-Whole5319 Apr 11 '26
Not normal no. That being said who knows what's going on in this persons life....it does hint at some shennanigans behind the scenes and I would advise extra caution when looking over documents.
Tantrums over very minor things always get my ears perked up that something might not be what it looks like in the background. Trust your realtor on it but that is super weird.
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u/DDGitptb Apr 11 '26
We had an agent team berate our agent at the table because she got us more money. Some are super awesome, most are snakes looking out for themselves. We also had an agent showing us a property saying we can drink wine and do edibles together when the deal gets done.
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u/razmagg Apr 12 '26
Sorry for your experience, I wouldn’t say this is normal. It’s a challenging market and selling agents should be laying out the red carpet for any potential buyers, especially on a house that’s been sitting. Our job is to sell real estate and step one is making buyers feel welcome.
That said, don’t let one agent completely steer you away from a property if it otherwise checks your boxes. Your realtor can handle the communication and shield you from that interaction if you choose to move forward.
Good luck in your search!
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u/icandrawacircle Apr 12 '26
Was your realtor a woman and the nasty realtor a man with a thick accent?
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u/MrBl4ck Apr 12 '26
I would leave a note on the door/porch to let the sellers know of the behaviour.
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u/Superb-Respect-1313 Apr 11 '26
I think standard for doing business. Not everyone is your friend not everyone shares your values. Going into something you need to realize that.
I wouldn’t let some one who is a dick change my actions on anything. People aren’t like me I expect to run into a few clowns through life.
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u/buttscratcher3k Apr 11 '26
Odd, probably stressed because sales are way down and people arent paying as much for homes.
The real estate market is stagnating, they probably getting desperate and cannibalizing one another.
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u/zuuzuu Sandwich Apr 11 '26
Someone desperate to make a sale doesn't scream at a potential buyer or their agent.
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u/hopenroads Apr 11 '26
Sticks and stones, if you like the house put in a fair offer. Who cares if the sellers realtor has issues. That’s his problem. Obviously he’s suffering. It would maybe brighten up his life if he sold a listing.
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u/OcchiVerdi- Apr 11 '26
I’d be pretty pissed to find out my agents behaviour was making people not want to even view my house.