I will bet just about every middle aged and older reader of my blog recognizes the face of Sergeant Schultz of Hogan's Heroes. He's the guy who when confronted with direct evidence of wrong doing simply looked the other way and stated "I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing!" By his action (or inaction) he avoided responsibility for dealing with whatever substantive issue may have given cause for concern.
A couple of weeks ago a fellow Realtor pulled me aside during a showing and told me I talk too much. I do. Unlike Schultz, I probably would have ratted out Hogan and the show would have been cancelled because the POWs would have been exposed for their acts of sabotage. Hogan and his band of men would no longer have been merry.
Several years ago while showing a property to a buyer, I pointed out some issues that the buyer needed to be aware of. The listing Broker called me aside and told me I should not point out issues like that - that it is the buyer and the buyer's home inspector who should look for issues that may be of concern. I told her that is not how I view my responsibility. My buyer bought the property in spite of the issues.
A couple of years ago I recall showing a local couple a house located a couple of blocks from the Atlantic Ocean. The entire area around this particular house flooded during Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Everybody in town knew this part of town flooded because furniture and debris from theses houses littered the streets for a couple of weeks until removed by the city trash trucks. My buyers knew the area had flooded when I asked the listing Broker the simple question "Did this house flood in Wilma? to which she replied "I don't know. I wasn't here." Maybe she was in Miami - or Germany - when the hurricane happened.
I remember a different showing with a different buyer who was both a Realtor and an insurance agent in Connecticut as I recall. We were looking at a house which had just been totally renovated. It looked very good. I asked the listing agent a simple question about the remodel to preferredhe replied "I don't know." A couple of minutes later I asked a different question about something else. The agent again said "I don't know." As we were walking toward my car my buyer said something like "I would never buy anything from that guy. I don't trust anything he says."
My purpose is not to discuss the Realtor Code of Ethics or Standards of Practice, but rather to address my propensity to talk too much. I am not a Sergeant Schultz. I will point out things that are wrong about a property as well as features that are beneficial or attractive or both. Being a "know nothing" is of "no use" to a buyer.
