Background: I've worked for a couple real estate appraisers, my darling mother is a licensed appraiser, I am experienced in running comps, and I have very particular wants and needs in a house that a generic MLS search will not fulfill (not to mention they're all automated anyway and it takes like 5 minutes to put in the search terms).
We're PCSing (forced move due to needs of the Army for all y'all non-military folks) to the Colorado Springs area this week, and I've had just terrible luck trying to find a buyer's agent who is willing to negotiate rates. The best I got was 0.5% cash back, not negotiable: it was only because the mister is Active Duty.
I thought I'd go the other way and work the seller's agents for the homes I'm interested in. Surely they'd be willing to negotiate, considering they're scheduling showings anyway, and if I buy with no buyer's agent, they get DOUBLE the commission for the cost of being present during the appraisal, right? Wrong. They won't budge at all; I've been talked down to and outright contradicted. More than half the time, this includes a long tirade about how they earn their rates because of the legwork they do (even if it's legwork I don't need them to do and actually prefer that they DON'T do because I'm going to have to do it myself anyway) and it's none of the buyer's business what the commission is.
Honestly, if I had less of a handle on the English language, I would put this down as my own fault, a communication issue maybe. But I've spoke on the phone in some instances (my job right now is as an account manager, I'm the one who calms you down when your thousands of dollars of service a month goes out and we don't know what's wrong yet), and I still can't find anyone remotely open to the idea. I feel like I'm back in the times when travel agents ruled the world. Is there a mustachian out there to help me? I'll take advice on approaching the issue, or a name of someone you think might be willing to talk, or literally anything.
Thanks!