I put my head down in fear because what I am about to say may hurt a lot of people’s feelings. Although it is not my intention, please realize that those of us here….now…. represent a very small part of our industry.
I confess that I am embarrassed to be called a REALTOR
People avoid me (our industry) like the plague. I had someone tell me today that he would have no problem speeding up at an intersection if he knew the person crossing the street was a Realtor. At a party last week, a man asked the host to please not introduce him to me because he knew I was a Realtor and I would try to sell him a house.
The thought of being included in the same category as others that have continuously disappointed and cheated clients out of their best interest is embarrassing to say the least. I even had an esteemed colleague tell me this week after reading the “about me” page on my blog that including my architecture degree was of no value to my readers.
Feeling ashamed is just WRONG!
When our industry is looked as a whole and you ask someone to describe a Realtor, this is what people have to say: pushy, relentless, disrespectful, worse than attorneys, cheaters, snakes, scum……..I’ve heard tons more that are not appropriate for this blog, but you get the picture.
So here’s my point – a lot of us talk about breaking the mold and changing the perception of our industry one client at a time. I am proud to say that Rick and I have achieved just that – but what about the thousands of people that won’t even give Realtors a chance? The ones that keep trashing us and get nauseous at the thought of even addressing one of our “kind”?
As much as I’d like to admit that our industry is better after the down-turn and a lot of “bad agents” have left the business – there are more out there that are still making us look bad. I don’t have an answer on how to solve this, I can only do my part in trying to change the perception.
Ask yourself what value you bring to your clients and the industry – ask yourself how you are getting involved to break the mold and help educate? And most importantly, notice what people hate about us and stop doing it!
I know that the first step in dropping the “shame” card is to start respecting other Realtors – knowing a lot of your from the RE.net gives me a sense of purpose and hope knowing that we are not all greedy and selfish. I just keep hoping that the number of respectful real estate professionals keeps growing and with the help of this medium, we can spread the word more efficiently.
We are not all bad (….not a good motto) – but a start.
