Windermere - Spokane

Please Read before signing Windermere Spokane Buyer Broker Agreement If you are reading this, you should use a different brokerage plain and simple. Not only was our agent dishonest and lie directly to our face, but the broker did the same thing. It isn’t uncommon to get a dishonest agent, but when the broker is just as corrupt, you have no protections as a buyer. I will not go too far down a rabbit hole on the details of my experience as a buyer, I will only tell you that after signing the buyer broker agreement, after being lied to by the agent, I am committed to using the agent and broker for 120 days regardless of the fact the agent was not good at her job and lied. To make matters worse, the broker took it a step further when we tried to ask to use a different agent (in same brokerage mind you), by insulting my husband and questioning his integrity. Their resolution was we could get out of agreement if we paid them $1,000 for 2 ½ hours of opening doors and maybe 1 hour of scheduling our appointments. If you read and follow my advice below, you will save yourself from being forces into a bad agent/client relationship. First- It just became policy in August 2024 that a Buyer broker agreement must be signed for an agent to show you houses. Before this, the buyer and agent could go off trust and mutual consent to work together. Now that agents can tell their clients it MUST be signed before thy can show you a house, they have figured out a way to trick you into using them and only them to purchase a house within a certain time frame. To make things worse, if you do not get along with the agent and don’t want to work with them, you can “fire” them and go with another agent, but you will still owe that agent commission on the house you buy with a different agent/broker. They can tell you anything they want to get you to sign. They can flat out lie to you but in the end there is nothing you can do to get out of the agreement unless you get an attorney. Second- What they won’t tell you is you can have them prepare a buyer broker agreement and they can represent you in a non-exclusive agency (under Agency in contract). This means, you can work with them, or any other agent you choose, without the commitment to just them. If an agent is honest and good at their job, you will want to work with them and you won’t seek alternative representation so there is no harm to them to prepare contract this way. If they refuse they can trap you into using them, regardless of how terrible they are at their job. If they wont represent you in a non-exclusive agency, you can default to the third tip below as a last resort. Third- In contract under TERM- do not allow them to leave the term blank. Have them put in 3 to 7 days. This will give you enough time to get to know your agent and see if you like them and want to continue working with them. If you don’t, then you will be able to find another agent after the 3 to 7 days is over. If you go this route, it is VERY IMPORTANT that this section is also completed. Under COMPENSATION AFTER TERMINIATION OR EXPERATION- have agent fill in the term as 1 day. DO NOT LEAVE BLANK or you will be still be committed to paying commission to this agent for 60 days after contract terminates. By having one day listed you must wait only 1 day after the contract terms to be fully released from your contract. I hope for reading this it helps you not get tricked into a contract using a shady brokerage. This information is not disclosed by the brokerage for obvious reasons. There are honest real estate agents out there who don’t want to or have to take advantage of clients to make a buck. Best of luck in your search.

We decided to use Windermere to sell our house because of its size and internet presents. Michael Keller was our agent. This guy was the most unresponsive agent I have ever used. After we sign the contract and purchased the inspection, he did not contact us for over three weeks. No updates, no advise, no showings, it was substandard. We had to call him every time we wanted an update on how things were going. As a way to market our house better, He talked us into a home inspection for buyers insurance. What a waste of money. After a couple of months, we fired him.ise

Everyone estimated it would take three months to sell our home and he was able to sell it in 10 days because of how well he wrote up the description and advertised it. He is a very nice guy.