RealTown's RealTalk

James Beeharilal, GRI wrote:

It is a pity that the average consumer still looks upon real estate agents as individuals who cannot be trusted, as a result of their bitter experience with the few bad eggs(agents) out there. These agents also adopt cut-throat devious tactics on good, honest hard-working agents in order to obtain listings or carry out sales.  We need to find a way to weed out these people from our reputable profession.

Ronny Greenan responds:  I have heard different stories and those stories relate to a few good agents.

If the Real Estate industry has such a bad name, it is not caused by a few, but by many. Being more than 20 years in this business I have seen more bad apples than a few.

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As an industry, it seems to me, we’ve done a royal job of shooting ourselves in the foot!  Every year companies hand out awards to agents, announce to the public Suzie Smith of Grope & Fumble Realty has just received the Million Dollar Producer Award.  Now, 25 years ago that had a BIT of meaning (though still not much) when the average house was $70,000 or $80,000.  That meant that Suzie sold 13 or 14 houses…just over one a month.  Heck, now it means Suzie, in many markets around the country, sold 3 or 4!!!  But agents still tout it on their business cards…and what does the CONSUMER think????  The consumer thinks Suzie made a Million Dollars!!!  Do you think they might be a little resentful???  Some poor guy just lost his job, is forced to sell his home, and in his eagerness to get it sold before the bank comes knocking at the door…he hires Suzie (the “millionaire”).  And Suzie might only do this part time … yet she makes “all that money”….there must, then, be absolutely NO DOUBT that she’s WAY overpaid for what she does!!!!  Doesn’t matter that it’s NOT TRUE….Perception IS reality!

And the very nature of our business doesn’t help either.  That “free CMA” that consumers are encouraged to get (not 1 or 2…how about 3 or 4 to find out what agents REALLY THINK!)…what are they really getting?  Many of us, I KNOW, work very hard at trying to give that consumer a realistic picture of the market, and how that market impacts the salability and pricing of their home.  But what happens?   How many times have you lost a listing to someone who told the seller they’d get them a higher price…only to see price reduction after price reduction, until it gets down into the “real world” (the price you gave them in the FIRST PLACE!) and gets a contract.  That’s great…you were RIGHT.  Well, I don’t know about you, but my mortgage company doesn’t care whether I was right or not….they want CASH!  So the agent who “sold” the seller…rather than the one who “served” the sellers best interest…was the one who ultimately got paid!   What sense does THAT make!!!  I wish I could say that that sort of thing is the exception…but frankly I see it happen a lot…to a lot of very good, high caliber agents who I know would better serve the interests of the seller had they not been passed over for a “slick Willy”.   And please don’t misunderstand me…I’m not saying we don’t “sell”…of course sales is integral to the conduct of our business.  However, sales is not the ONLY necessary component.

And even IF the seller, for example, is savvy enough to avoid an agent trying to “buy their listing”, how TOTALLY UNBIASED can we be in giving a totally realistic assessment of the market to a prospective seller when we know that what we tell them will, in all likelihood, determine whether we EVER have the opportunity to get paid or not!!!   There’s an inherent conflict of interest in how we are trained to work.  I think that conflict (and the fact the consumer KNOWS there is a conflict) also triggers some mistrust in the consumer’s mind.  And why wouldn’t it?  Think about it….how often have you gone into a store where the sales people are commission based.  You ask a question … salesman gives you an answer.  How often do YOU question the sincerity of his answer when that answer might well determine whether he makes a sale to you (and gets paid) or not!!!  All of this contributes to public mistrust….EVEN IF THEIR OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH THEIR OWN AGENTS HAVE BEEN POSITIVE.  I forget that NAR stats, but as I recall, their surveys have indicated that about 70% of consumers said they would hire the same agent again (though I must question how valid the survey is…again, that whole “self interest” thing keeps cropping up in my mind).

All of this is exactly why I deciding to bring consulting into my business…it opens up so many doors!!!  People can hire an experienced agent to give them a TOTALLY UNBIASED assessment of a homes value, investment strategy, improve-or-move scenario, etc….and they KNOW it’s unbiased because they’re paying for it.  It’s much like shopping at a store where sales people are not on commission…I can ask the salesman “which is better, Brand A or Brand B”…and when he answers I’m comfortable that it’s his honest answer….because he’s paid either way.

In the interest of full disclosure here, I should mention that I’ve recently been named to the Council of the consulting program I’m with….ACRE, but I could only have accepted the post if I really believed in the concept AND in their approach to training and supporting it.  ACRE is a RealTown approved vendor, and if anyone is interested in learning more about it, simply click the ACRE link in my sig. 

I’ve said it many times before, and I’ll say it once more:  Our industry is changing, whether we want it to or not.  If we do not design the change to be productive for both our clients and ourselves, the change will be forced upon us by other powers with very deep pockets…and chances are those changes will benefit NEITHER ourselves OR the consumer!!!!

JudiB

Judi Bryan, Broker . . . . . . . . . . .email: Judi@HomesLady.com

RE/MAX Accord . . . . . . . . . . . . Direct:  (630) 605-8902

On the web: www.HomesLady.com

e-Pro® Certified Internet Professional

ACRE™ Accredited Consultant in Real Estate

ACRE™ is a RealTown Approved Vendor and has its Seal of Approval

Monday, December 17th, 2007, 7:55 AM PST

Ronny, I have to agree with you, being a real estate agent of integrity is more unusual than most of us would like to admit.  I know I do not do as much business as those movers and shakers but I sleep soundly knowing the people I have been involved with were treated right and may come back someday.  There is a lot to be said for doing people right, you know the old what comes around goes around thing.  If we want a better reptutation, then we need to start earning it, on client at a time.  Things could turn around very quickly if we did, but it would not be effective unless mandated in order to keep your license.  Too many have made too much doing things the wrong way, and like the old saying goes; if a majority in this industry keep doing business the same way, we will keep getting the same results.  

Well I think there may be more integrity issues on the mortgage side.

Do any agents use a net branch to originate loans for their clients like Apex Lending?