I’m sorry… Did you say “Be Honest?”

It starts with an e-mail

Ok, so yesterday I received an e-mail from a blog reader who wanted to help me. They made two points. The first was that I need to stop using “words that normal people don’t know” and the second was they didn’t feel it was possible for me to be “smart and still naive about expectations of agents being more than what they have been” They felt that I needed to be more “honest” with myself that agents will always do the bare minimum.

Today I was reading a newspaper article on-line about the market being down. A reader commented on-line that consumers need to get smarter and we should be “honest” with ourselves that paying REALTORS 6-10% is crazy. They went further to say that data shown in MLS was not fully reflective of the market because it didn’t show FSBO information, etc… In addition, they were bemoaning the fact that agents aren’t trying to price the home correctly or ask the seller to reduce their price.

For the reader

I don’t feel that I am a lone voice crying in the wilderness when it comes to expecting more quality from a REALTOR, to include a more diligent level of education. If you don’t like the words I am using, than don’t read. Sorry if I challenge your limited vocabulary. If you’re d-u-m-b, then take the word and type it into Google.com and enter “define: <word you don’t know>” and hit that enter key. Google is one of those search engines that a couple of people are using. If you don’t want to use Google, then there is probably a dictionary somewhere about, you troglodyte.

(this part was said in jest, and I really have a smile on my face while I write it) See? ==> 🙂

For the “Consumer”

I hear your frustration, but it’s not the sales agent’s fault. They have to get paid for their work, just as you do. There are about 25 people with their hands in their pockets at any given time. They pay way more than professionals from other industries in gas, marketing, TAXES, brokerage fees, association dues, lenders ordering reduction in commissions for short sales (that are twice the work of any other transaction) because YOU didn’t or can’t pay your mortgage. The list goes on an on. The national average is far less than the 6% you think that agents get paid. FSBO information is grossly incorrect, represents less than 6% in our area and typically FSBO’s get about 12% less for their house, than those who are listed by a professional. So, excuse them if they use accurate data to report the condition of the real estate market.

I am not sure what sellers this consumer is talking to, but the agents I know are begging their sellers to list and reduce their prices to a reasonable rate. The problem is that Sellers all think they are better than the competition. They paid too much, or refinanced too much and they can’t lower the price to match the lower prices of other sellers on the market.

To Everyone Else

Why, oh why do people expect real estate information and education to be at the level of the least common denominator?

Why do consumers think that they can beat up on agents?

The answers are simple. Agents have been catered to for far too long. Pre-licensing educational levels are too low, continuing education is a joke all most everywhere in the country and many Brokers will accept anyone with a license, regardless of capabilities. This is a very litigious industry and agents are handing their clients lawsuits, because they don’t know what they are doing. They begrudge having to take any training, even if it’s designed to save their own butts and to provide better service to their clients. I also will add that the education providers MUST increase their quality, so that agents will actually be educated in the courses being offered.

Clients are getting the information that agents have been controlling for a long time. You’re not the keep of the data, which is why many consumers came to you in the first place. For too many years agents access to controlled data was their only identity and customer service went by the way side. Agents need to improve their consumer advocacy and quality of service to show that this very complicated transaction is best handled by trained and capable hands – otherwise the agent should just turn in their license. For much of the country the days of going into floor duty time and stumbling on a commission are over.

The agents have failed to meet the challenge of angry consumers, like the one mentioned above, because they don’t know their own market place well enough; even though the information is readily available to them. Agents are taking overpriced and unsalable listings and not saying “no, you can’t reasonably sale for this price and in this market.” Instead, the listing is taken without disclosing the reality to the Seller and being “honest” because we are trying to save the seller’s feelings and/or because the agent simply doesn’t know the market.

All of these issues contribute to the lack of perceived “honesty” from the agent. It’s hurting the industry. Better education and a professional frankness with the consumer will go along way to repairing the perceptions held by some consumers. Industry Professionals should not be afraid or ashamed to tell a buyer or seller that their expectations are unreasonable and not care if that consumer finds another agent. That other agent won’t be able to help them either.

How’s that for being “honest” and using small (and probably misspelled to make the reader feel more comfortable) words?