Respect for the Real Estate Agent

What's happened to respect for people's professions? I guess it must have been replaced by technology. When I first started to sell real estate a few of my close friends had asked me why I wanted to be a member of a profession that was consistently made fun of. They joked that I might as well have been an attorney; at least they got paid by the minute. I had never had any disrespect for a real estate agent and for that matter nor did I for attorneys. I never even knew that agents were the butt of jokes and rated even lower on the totem pole.

Sure there are good and bad professionals in all professions but what has been lost is the way that the general public treats real estate professionals. I'm wondering why people who have been in this industry for twenty years ever lasted that long with the treatment they receive and the pay they don't. A little consideration would be nice but it doesn't put food on the table or pay for the gas we use when chauffeuring around potential buyers who appear to be loyal, even signing a buyer's agent agreement. What everyone seems to ignore is that we do not get paid until a title has passed. We are the first to reach into our pockets and often nothing comes of it. Sure it's a write off but it would be nice if there was something coming in so that we can deduct it!

How often we find that after spending countless hours searching for the exact property that these buyers describe, speaking with them on the phone, setting up appointments, sometimes having to cancel and start all over again we find that they went to another agent who showed them one property and finalized the deal with them. Sure we could probably sue them which will take time and energy that we need to focus on real prospects. In the long run we're probably going to be bad mouthed for the rest of their lives so we've just ignored it. I'm surprised that there are any agents left or maybe they just have really thick skins or have learned to recognize who is seriously going to buy. In short they have trained themselves to be mind readers.

Now how about the sellers who we just can't seem to convince that their house is just not worth the money they thought it was. We show them the facts and figures but they've always got a comeback "can't we try it just for a little while"? So often we have to prove it to them after we've thrown out advertising money and no one calls. Now it's our fault for trying to please them and sometimes the listing gets expired till the sellers finally come down to a realistic price and that's usually after the third agent gets it.

Now if you've got a few moments read on as to of how one agent gets treated by insensitive buyers, sellers and a landlord in a matter of three months. A prospective buyer notices a sign for the sale of 33 acres and calls me to see the property. I meet with him and his wife showing the entire 33 acres of mostly wooded property in the beginning part of winter. They are interested so we meet once again with the owner of the property and three of us walk the property once again leaving the wife to sit in the warm car. The prospective buyer is still interested and wants to revisit the plat map.

Several days later the buyer, let's call him Jim. He says that the property is too large for him and wants to see a smaller parcel with views. Knowing the area I noticed such a parcel for sale by owner and contact the owner. Let's call him Ray. Ray is building his own house nearby so I keep visiting him to have him sign an exclusive contract so that I if Jim likes the property I will get paid a commission. Several weeks go by and Ray finally signs an exclusive contract we me. I took Jim and his wife to see the property and they want it, in fact they want a few more acres than Ray is offering and it is available. They agree to sign the purchase offer in a few days.

Days turn into weeks because they have to go on vacation. It' Christmas Day and they have returned from vacation and must see the property today before someone else buys it. So Jim and I walk the frozen six acres and he signs the purchase offer two days later. It's now January and the contracts have been drawn up and sent to Jim's attorney. Meanwhile Ray is calling his attorney and me daily at 7:30AM to find out if the contract is signed.

Weeks go buy and now Ray has been talking to Jim without telling anyone and they agree to lower the purchase price. Why? I'll never know. Jim finally signs the contract in February and Ray calls me to drop my commission because he put the deal together and is getting less, which is my fault after having told the both of them to contact me with any questions. Seems Jim fell out of the sky into Ray's lap and that's how the seller found the buyer.

After I refuse to cut my compensation Ray is no longer calling me but is aggravating his attorney. Jim is accustomed to doing things at his pace and finally goes to the bank to secure a loan. It's now March and Ray will not extend the closing date till the commitment is issued from the bank so the contract is cancelled and I'm out in the cold.

Another buyer calls me for the same type of property so I once again call Ray to sign an exclusive contract letting him know that the buyer will only be here for the weekend. Ray waits till Monday to say he didn't receive the contract via fax so I said it was too late and the buyer had left the area but would he give me a listing contract so I could place the property into a multiple listing service. He said no he would not do it and does not want to work with an agent in that type of binding contract. One week later I see the property listed in the MLS and it sells within three months for twenty five thousand less than the original contract. Ray is more the norm than the odd one and they say agents are dishonest and deceitful. If I add up the time and money I spent with these two I'd be seeing more than just a minus sign.

Next I receive a referral of a young couple from a client that purchased a home through me recently. I had been working with this couple for several months during the winter traveling 30 miles from my office to where they wanted to purchase a home. I emailed or spoke to them almost daily and we'd go out at least twice a week after they get home from work. After seeing forty homes they find one they both want and I tried to stress the importance of making an offer immediately on this short sale. They decided not to listen and happened to be at their mother in laws house where another agent friend of the mother in law happened to be. Discussions led to a property she was about to list and they decided to look at it and wound up purchasing it. I kept on calling this couple who told me they decided not to look anymore. The only reason I found out is because this couple has a working relationship with the client who referred them. Because of my relationship with the person referring this couple I did nothing. Speaking with my fellow agents I found this is a very common. Now I ask you why in the world did this couple not call me and let me know what they were doing. Who do they think was paying me for the time I spent with them and who paid for the gas? I could have been working with someone who actually closed a deal with me.

And of course there is always a greedy landlord ready to put his hand in your pocket and you'll never see him again. I met this one when I opened an office in February of this year. The prior tenant had been there for twenty years and you could tell by the peeling paint, four layers of tiles on the floor, the non working bathroom, front door lock that wouldn't work and all over grime.

I should have listened to my instinct and walk away from this location but my now missing "partner" who later confided she was bi-polar and off her medication, was going to share the space with me. She said the location was perfect to share! Sure I was the one shelling out the deposit how could it not be perfect?

The landlord, we'll call him Leroy, offered to reduce the rate during the winter months since I was the one paying for the fuel. OK it was going to be on a month to month and I would be able to decide in December if I would sign a lease. Deidre, the "partner", after convincing me to rent this location decided that a store down the block would work better for her.

So there I was stuck with too large a space and a landlord who won't do anything to clean up the place and he's got two months' rent plus a security. I agree to gift him a month's rent in order to clean up the place so I could actually move in by mid February. It takes till March to do half the job. I finally finish painting and staining the floors and begging the landlord to fix a bathroom that still does not work. I later learned from the tenants that if you wanted this landlord to do anything you'd better get it done before you move in.

I purchased three large cubicles to fill the space hoping to rent them out and made the place actually look like a working real estate office. Now it's March and I'm still begging the landlord to fix the bathroom and the only time you see him is on the first with more excuses. Now here comes the kicker. In May, he and his wife decide to dangle several of their properties for me to list. The price they want for them is outrageous and I tell them that in good conscience I could not list the properties for $200,000 more than they are worth. They say that someone from New York City will buy it because they have money. I told them that people are not stupid and they didn't get wealthy by being that way. I tell them that I cannot ethically list the properties knowing that they were overpriced.

In his next hand is a lease that is $100.00 higher and he wants me to sign it or vacate. They think they have me over a barrel because of the expense I just put into this place so I told them I'd be out in June. Never mind that I've paid my rent on time all the time, gave them a gift by remodeling their store, paying them to do half a job, they said they would send me a check at the end of June.

Sure, they shorted me and the check bounced. During that time I see two of the properties listed with another broker at an overinflated price so I don't get upset. I call Leroy to tell him to send me a certified check or I'd take him to small claims court which I told him I did not want to do. Of course he promised to send it and instead what I got was to see the place I had rented was being rented on a month to month for $200.00 less than I was paying and that this property was listed with yet another broker at the price I suggested would sell.

And if anyone ever says that agents are nothing but greedy people I'm going to refer them to this landlord and a host of other people who take advantage of us.

I really hope that this gives the general public the time to have second thoughts before playing with a real estate agent's livelihood or begin compensating us for the time as they do attorneys.