One of the nice things about having this hot dog stand cleverly disguised as a blog is that I can tell it like it is and people don't get as pissed off as they would if I wrote the same article some place else. The hot dog motif kind of calms people down for some reason.
I have been reading about how this economic turn down is causing some real estate agents to leave the industry. That is true but some seem to think that the agents who are left will be those who are more professional and who have more training and experience. That some how industry standards will rise because of the housing crisis.
To some degree those with experience seem to be toughing it out but I have to say in my market some of the agents who are coming out on top are the least professional and ethical. In fact some of those folks seem to be doing better than ever. They have really learned how to do what we all most do, exploit the current situation in some manner so that we can survive, and even thrive.
Anyone who thinks that the most professional agents will remain and that the standards in our industry will rise because of this little huge crisis is engaging in some wishful thinking. It isn't working that way at all. The new breed of specialists are operating under the lowest standards. They don't market homes, stage homes, return phone calls or even know anything about the properties they list. They don't make sure there are lock boxes on the properties or remove the sign when the home is sold. They don't always tell the truth either.
It gets worse but there isn't any point in bashing people in our profession it just makes us all look bad.
During hard times I think people are more tempted to throw ethics out the window. The cream is not necessarily rising to the top. Part of it could be that the best practices in our industry may no longer be what it takes to get the job done. On the other hand the economic conditions are never an excuse to do something unethical.
Sigh…
Did I really say that? I guess I implied it.
In any market, you’re going to run into that. I agree that there are folks who are making it right now because they can kiss a bank’s ass and they don’t have any real skill beyond that. But I don’t think that’s the majority.
We saw this during the run-up as well, as agents would say whatever necessary to get a listing, throw a sign in the yard and rake in the commission checks.
It’s inevitable. And there’s no way really to avoid it, either.
It wasn’t about anything you said. I am seeing a few articles around the internet about how the current market is going to raise the bar so to speak. I am just saying that might not be so and yes there have always been some bad apples and there always will be
You hit it right on the mark T. I agree! It’s hard to know how to make things better though… there’s so much to overcome. At least we have each other! 🙂
Yes we do. So are we going to go out to lunch. Maybe during the dead zone over the holidays?
T–I agree with you. Many of the big teams and players care more about the $$ because they have to fund that bigger team. Their expenses can be higher but they do not necessarily provide a higher quality service than some of the wonderful individuals agents I know that had to leave the business due to not making enough in the slower economy. Not everyone that leaves is bad and not everyone that stays is good. There just will be less choices for the consumer.
I hadn’t really thought of it this way, but now that I read it, I have to agree. I guess there will always be “great agents” that fall of the face of the earth and “bad agents” that become superstars. The only thing that can stop the bad from taking over is consumer education – the more they know about how agents work, what they do, don’t do, and how a great transaction flows, the more they will look at a “bad” agent and say “no thanks.”