The developer "hates" resales because they take away buyers from his business. Yes, the VLS will do 5% if you list and buy thru them, but they refuse to negotiate otherwise! When we listed our home thru VLS at the suggested list price it was slow to show. We realize that we were 10k overpriced and adjusted accordingly and finally saw some action. One of our neighbors had their house on the market thru MLS, and during an open house they overheard a VLS agent telling his clients that if they liked this floorplan/house, he could sell them a new house for less. He was asked to leave immediately! The developer hates competition!

Hmmm, if I was buying a house I would be upset if my agent did not tell me about a similar house I might be interested in, esp. a new one, that cost less.

Like any marketable item, if what you search for is highly desirable for any number of reasons it will sell and sell quickly.


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Would your home be in the Orange Blossom area or in Silver Lake. As soon as we sell our home we will be buying a home in that area? PM us if your home is in those 2 villages.

The purpose of a "open House" is to sell the the house, not use it as an example for something the VLS employee can use to push their own agenda. My neighbor said the clients were quite interested in his house, but the agent interfered. At the very least the agent should have taken the clients outside to have that conversation. The main purpose of VLS agents is to sell new homes, used ones are ok, but new is the main goal. This happened during the initial phase of Fenney, and there was a lot of chatter on here concerning the "tales" and promises made by VLS employees concerning how quickly the developer was going to provide this and that. The VLS people pretty much do what they want to accomplish what they need to do, whether they cross the line or not is up to each person to decide. And let's not forget that the VLS was not going to get any compensation if his clients decided to purchase my neighbor's house! With that in mind, one has to question what his motives were.

Would your home be in the Orange Blossom area or in Silver Lake. As soon as we sell our home we will be buying a home in that area? PM us if your home is in those 2 villages.

If I,as an MLS agent, which I'm NOT, were to bring a ready , willing buyer to YOUR agent the compensation would normally be half. A buyer is a buyer! If the house is priced right and sells quickly, great! Savvy MLS agents know good quick sales opportunities right away, no matter what the compensation is.

Might it be possible the VLS agent encouraged you to list your home $10K too high so that VLS agents could first show your home to buyers, then steer the buyers to the new homes they are motivated to sell by the developer, new homes which might then appear to be a "bargain"?

Certainly the seller's agent holds an open house to sell the house, but the purpose of the buyers agent is to represent the buyer, not the seller.

I'd say it's a bit tacky for the sellers agent to openly tell his client about a better deal while still at the open house, but if I were a buyer I wouldn't have a problem with it. For sure the buyer would want to know the comparable prices of other houses if only to negotiate a better price on your neighbors house.

But I don't understand why a VLS agent would take a client to an MLS listing? I'm sure there was a good reason but, as you said, there was nothing in it for the VLS agent.

Many listing agents hold open houses to attract buyers and sellers to employ their services. Whether or not the lookie-loos are are interested in the particular house held open is of little consequence to them. The sellers usually assume the open house is primarily being held to sell their house but that may or may not be the case.

:confused: You're saying a VLS Agent took a buyer to a MLS open house?:shocked:Find that hard to believe.

If I tell this story to someone..... would it be 3rd. or 4th. hand info.? I've lost count.:ho:

I believe that TV will charge 5% if you are purchasing another TV home. That being said, I recall when we were first looking, our TV sales rep would show us a preowned home that we wanted to see, and then mention that similar new homes had nicer features. I wondered whether TV sales reps make a higher commission upon selling a new TV home as we were not too subtly encouraged in that direction. Perhaps it was just how our salesperson operated, but it might be a consideration when deciding with whom to list your property.

Speaking as a retired real estate broker, the purpose of an open house is for the agent to pick up new clients.
If the home sells during an open house, it's a bonus!

Whatever the reason, I believe the TV sales agents are now very interested in showing pre-owned homes. Basically, there is a "build-out," if you will, between 466 and a little south of 466A. Nothing new available south of 44 (maybe in Pine Ridge? But they have higher taxes.)


When we listed our house with TV, it was because they gave us a presentation that convinced us that they were very much interested in showing used homes. This was not the case when we were house hunting in 2011.