Firing my realtor

[Brent Paul]

My realtor just isn't cutting it for me. He takes forever to get back to me and I constantly have to send him reminders on houses I am interested in. This week I sent him a message Monday twice and Tuesday. He replied once with I will get that to you tonight. My very first house I looked at he stood me up and didn't even bother calling. I left him a message and he said a family member died or something like that. Then I have the same problem again where it takes him 3 or more days just to get back to me on a house or two. Houses are selling way too fast for me to wait on this guy. Every time I tell him I am going elsewhere then he is more responsive for a week or so. But then back to the same old lazy realtor. His excuse is always that he doesn't see my message. But I have his cell number so.... On top of all that he sends me zero listings I have to find all the houses and send him the MLS#s.

I had talked to two other realtors at open houses on Sunday and they were shocked he behaved this way.  My question is can I just leave this guy and go to another?  I really am tired of it.  I don't recall signing any documents with the realtor but I have been with him since the last week of march.  I am getting nowhere with this guy and it feels like he is holding me back.  I feel bad that he did give me a great referral to get a mortgage approval.

Any Guidance would be greatly appreciated.

[JD Martin]

Just like any field, there are a whole lot of duds and a few good ones. Move on. Caveat: be sure that you are not a time waster. Do you have funds to buy or have been approved to buy? Are you a reasonable buyer? No agent wants to spend all their time on tire kickers or dreamers, people who want to get into real estate but have no apparent means of doing so. Being responsible works both ways, so if you don't have any money to buy anything, and are only trying to get an education, you need to be upfront with the agent so that there are reasonable expectations both ways. My agent sells a lot of houses, but I can have him at a house the same day if I call him up. I have bought a lot of houses through him. A lot of realtors suck, but a lot of customers suck too.