There are more licensed agents in Westport and Weston, Connecticut, than there are transactions each year, Coldwell Banker agent Evi Coghlan reports.
The result? Homeowners get “bait and switch” letters from real estate agents who claim to have out-of-state buyers who want to live on their street.
“The agents’ purpose in sending hundreds of these a month to every neighborhood in town is to get an audience with owners who are likely to be selling their homes soon, so that they may develop an inside track to becoming the listing agent,” Coghlan says. “Mysteriously, after you meet the agent who authored one of these letters, the (out-of-state) buyers … ‘change price ranges’ or ‘find another house’ or ‘decide not to relocate after all.’ ”
Most sellers don’t even realize the buyers were never real, Coghlan says. Source: westport-news.com.
