I learned of Robert Whitfield on a site for real estate investors. I was searching for a buyer's agent who had experience working with investors since I was seeking to purchase a small multi-family rental property. I primarily selected Robert because his site states "we will send you the BEST PROPERTIES often before they hit the market" & he has home inspection experience that I thought would be very beneficial when reviewing prospective properties. He searched the MLS and looked for off-market properties with minimal success. Ironically, I ended up finding the property myself on Zillow & made him aware of it so that he could draft the offer. Once the offer was submitted, he stressed that I needed to schedule a home inspection ASAP, so I did within 1-2 days. I was really looking forward to attending the inspection with Robert to glean from his home inspection experience and expertise so that we could walk through the property together, make notes, & develop a punch list, especially since this would have been the first time we were able to meet in-person as well as actually go inside the property since it was fully rented with tenants at the time. Nevertheless, Robert informed me that he would be unable to attend the inspection. He asked me to take pictures to send to him. So, I ended up attending the inspection by myself with the inspectors. Following the inspection, Robert reviewed the inspection report with me via phone call, & we put together a list of 5 or so items that we requested that the seller address. Within a few days, Robert scheduled a visit with the seller to verify that the agreed upon items had been addressed. I was not available to attend during the time for which the visit was scheduled & asked if it were possible to reschedule for a time that I would be available. Given the tight timeline for when we were trying to close, it was determined that we would not reschedule because it may cause a delay. At the time, I was a bit disappointed but felt confident that Robert would represent me well as my agent. He confirmed to me that everything had been addressed & even provided a few pictures. Unfortunately, I later found out after the closing when I went back to the property myself that only about half of the issues had been resolved, and I ended up having to pay for the repairs/additions myself. Needless to say, I was not at all happy about that. Overall, I thought that Robert was okay. He was very knowledgeable about the general process and kept me informed at each stage. He worked very well with the seller's agent and did all that he could to push the process along in a relatively timely manner to close. Considering that I mainly selected him to gain exposure to off-market properties & draw from his home inspection experience, I do not feel like I benefited from him much in those areas. As an investor/buyer, he charged me a "fully refundable" $1500 retainer upfront that he informed me he would return to me at the closing. He presented it as a way to encourage me to proceed through the entire process with him. He said that he would be spending a lot of time researching and physically checking out properties for me which would be a big investment for him only to have me turn around and go with another buyer's agent down the line. I had no issue with the retainer based on his explanation. However, I was a bit taken aback when the day before the closing was scheduled, he was making me an "offer" for him to keep the $1500 "fully refundable" retainer for him to continue to work with me as my consultant after closing. He told me that I could think about it and let him know at closing, but I IMMEDIATELY told him that I appreciated the "offer" but it did not sound like something I would be interested in based upon his generic description of what was included. Plus, in my mind, I already had plans to use that money to go towards repairs on the property I was purchasing. Not to mention, half of the services he listed were things I already had plans to take care of myself. As I was trying to explain this to him via phone, he just seemed so dead set on convincing me otherwise. I felt like he was being a bit pushy and like I was being pressured to change my mind. I finally wrapped up the conversation by requesting that he send me an email detailing the offer. Around this time, the closing that was scheduled for the next day ended up being postponed for almost two weeks later which made the situation awkward. I was trying to plan my next steps for post-closing and was seeking advice from Robert as my agent as I had done throughout the entire process but was feeling as though this advice was now being considered as "consultancy" so I reluctantly gave in & agreed to forfeit the return of my $1500. I later regretted this & made him aware of it. The "advice" he gave me made it hard for me to evict bad tenants, & the lawyer I later hired confirmed it was bad advice. I will be using a different agent next time. read more