Taking Advantage of Real Estate Agents

The article on owner-sold residences (“FSBO Can Spell Success” by Ilyce R. Glink, Oct. 29) advised homeowners to obtain a market price of their house by asking real estate agents to prepare a marketing plan and comparison pricing data without telling them they intended to sell the house themselves.

This practice, similar to the ethic that leads people to shop at high-end computer or electronics stores and then purchase items at discount or by mail order, is unethical and immoral.

In rabbinical tradition, one is forbidden to ask a shopkeeper for prices if he does not plan to buy or is not in the market for the item. To do so unfairly raises the merchant’s expectations and takes up time that could be applied to genuine customers.

Even without reference to Jewish legal rulings, the advice in the article is still wrong. Real estate agents’ prime assets are their time and knowledge; to use that with the sure knowledge that you will not list your house is, simply put, theft of service. It is no different than asking someone to perform work and then refusing to pay.

It is reasonable to offer to pay for the information; since most FSBOs eventually are listed, an agent may choose to do so as a gesture of goodwill, in hopes of becoming the listing agent. However, the owner should be forthright about his or her plans.

GREGORY BEARMAN, Pasadena