"Caveat Emptor:" Let the buyer beware! As a real estate professional I was taught to tell the buyer that they should be aware of what they are buying because once the house is closed, it is very difficult to go back to the seller for any defects not discovered by the buyer prior to closing.

There was also tremendous focus on who the agent actually represented -- the buyer or the seller and who has the agent's loyalty. Then came the disclosure laws that were slanted in favor of the consumer (as they should have always been) and the agents were required to offer that information (of who they represented) to the consumer before the buyer worked with the agent.

So this brings me to the topic of Disclosure and "buyer beware" in another way.

I recently listened to a radio talk show host who helps people get out of debt...I thought; now here is a person who is a real consumer advocate and he cares about his listeners. He routinely recommends real estate agents to his audience as "preferred real estate agents," and, according to him, agents have been pre-screened by his company so that the consumer will get a good agent.

So I called to see what his requirements are for his "preferred agents." I was told that the agent must close at least 150 houses a year to become one of his preferred agents. How is that possible; I asked? That breaks down to 12.5 houses a month! It isn't even possible to represent 12.5 people buying or selling houses in one month. How could any agent possibly juggle 12.5 clients a month, much less actually represent them; that is insane! To which his representative said: Well unless they are producing that many sales, we won't recommend them.

So the real truth is that the agent has to be a money-making machine and the agent has been pre-screened to make sure that the talk show host gets paid for his recommendation of that agent. The referral is not about the quality of the agent, it is about the amount of money the agent can make for the radio talk show host! 

So it is simply a numbers game. Let's get serious...how can anyone get quality representation from a person who is managing that many people at once? 

So beware! Talk show hosts make money recommending vendors to their listeners, so that's the motive, not to actually help consumers. So who does he represent? His listeners, himself or the agent? If a person is getting money for referring you to a vendor.. how can you trust that referral?

So just be careful. I would like to think that the person who refers a vendor to me actually knows the vendor that they are recommending and that their referral is not motivated by money. And that the person being recommenced has integrity and is honest and does good work.

There are plenty of commercials and advertisments shouting at us about their products and services, so when we hear from someone we trust, telling us to use someone's services, we think we are getting a good recommendation by someone who actually cares about us.

So always ask the person who is referring someone to you if he is being paid for the referral and if they have personal knowledge of that referral's competence. I think the answer will shock you.