About twenty years ago, there was a fellow-broker Realtor who was a nice guy, but frankly he had very little business. Most thought his knowledge was extraordinary and would be of real value to clients, but his personality was so obtuse that he ran potential business away. So he had a lot of time on his hands.
One of the annoying things he had done was to self-appoint himself to police fellow Realtors to make certain they followed the rules and abided by the ethics, oft times as he interpreted them, not as they really were.
I had two rather large and very active real estate companies back then -- at least large and very active for the two cities where we had offices, Houston and Galveston. Consequently, he was frequently annoyed by the behavior of one or more of my agents, so he would call and let me know he had caught us.
Interestingly, more often than not, he didn't have enough information to make his judgment. If he had, he would have known in advance that he was incorrect; there had been no violation. Other times, they were inadvertent, not purposeful violations.
One time he called and told me that a For Sale sign I had on a large commercial tract of land was in violation because I didn't have it listed. I said, "Joe, how do you know I don't have the listing?"
He said, "Well I know those fellows at the XYZ Corporation that own the tract, and they told me that if they ever listed it, they'd list it with me. So obviously they didn't list it with you. You've just got an illegal sign up there to attract calls."
I replied, "Joe, my wife and I personally bought 100% of the stock of the XYZ Corporation about two years ago. We decided to list the property with me, not you."
He apologized, and as the gentleman that he truly was, it was the last time I ever heard from him.
One of the agents who writes excellent pieces for the ActiveRain blog has written one that reminds me of something my friend Joe would have written. It suggests that she has audited many agents' listings and sales through the Dallas-Ft. Worth MLS and the Texas Real Estate Commission, and determined that a sizable number of agents boldly lie about their successes in their ads, to their clients and probably in ActiveRain posts.
Her supposition is probably true. However, in the main there is no way to know how successful a particular agent has been unless 1) the person is a salesman and you are the broker holding that salesman's license or 2) you have access to their federal income tax return. She has neither.
So let's analyze why the specific finger pointing is faulty.
First and foremost, we hold state licenses, which means we can represent clients in any city or county in the state. So a Dallas agent who was a buyer's agent for a $3 million ranch in Harris County, for an example, would not report that sale to the Dallas MLS. And since he would probably not be a member of the Houston MLS, he wouldn't report it there, either.
And there is no provision or reason to report any sale or other transaction to the Texas Real Estate Commission.
Further, more often than not, commercial properties are not listed on any MLS. It is not required of members and further, many commercial brokers are not members of an Association of Realtors.
And then there are those of us who are brokers and who work as real estate consultants all over the United States, not just Texas. We participate in purchase and sale transactions, leases and negotiations for which we are paid within the terms of the appropriate real estate laws in those states. Our participation in those transactions are not reported or noted by any MLS.
A very significant part of my business has always been from those sources as well as as a court expert witness and a tax arbitrator.
And then there are those clients - usually owners of estates - who refuse to allow their homes to be listed on the Multiple Listing Service. I have enjoyed a nice following of those owners for almost my entire forty-four years as a Realtor.
In fact, in most of those cases, out of respect for their desire for discretion, we don't even post our For Sale signs in their yards. So those listings and sales are also not reported.
My wife made an interesting comment today. She said that the only way that she, much less anyone else other than the IRS, would ever be able to know about and evaluate my real estate career would be from the two huge boxes of newspaper and magazine clippings that, put in date order, would do a fairly decent job of telling my business story.
While I wouldn't put much stock in real estate agent braggadocio, I'd be careful not to discount it without sufficient evidence. But I also need to 'fess up! When I see those Glamour shots in ads with some agent claiming that she/he out-sold the world last year, I usually find myself mumbling, "Like fun you did. I hope your Lexus runs out of gas on the freeway."
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS
Our 44th Year Selling America
214 503-8563
800 314-7110
