In 2002, when my husband and I went house shopping the first time around, we used a Realtor who was recommended by the mortgage broker we were using. He had impressive credentials. He had been in the business since 1986, was Realtor of the year in this area at least once, was in the ‘hall of fame’ and ‘platinum club’ for ReMax, and obviously sells a lot of property.
Since then, he’s called us several times a year – birthdays, anniversary, house anniversary. He sends us all sorts of marketing stuff, and it made sense that when we were ready to put this house on the market, we called him earlier this week. He came out to meet with us last night. When he walked in the door, we were 100% sure that we would be listing our house with him. We weren’t interviewing him or considering other options – he was our choice. The deal was his to lose, and he did so in grand style.
First of all, he started telling us about another business that he’s running, and how he’s got a big presentation for it next week. He was obviously excited about it, and more power to him. But when you’re meeting with a client, it’s probably best to make sure that you focus completely on what you’re supposed to be doing for the client. It’s not a good idea to create doubts in a potential client’s mind about your focus and dedication to the task at hand. That was mistake number one.
Then he sat down with a huge sheaf of papers and started talking about the statistics of the local real estate market over the last few years. This went on for about half an hour. Frankly, we didn’t give a damn. We’re selling our house. We know the market isn’t as good as it has been in recent years, but we’ve made our decision and we’re moving forward with it. We’re not on the fence and needing to be convinced to put our house out there on the market. It struck me as odd that he would spend so much time on something that didn’t really apply in our situation. He didn’t ask if we wanted to discuss any of that stuff, he just did it. That was mistake number two: when you’re in sales, you should keep your mouth shut as much as possible, ask open-ended questions, and let the clients lead the conversation. Once you know where they are and what they want, you can much better address their actual needs.
After 30 minutes of telling us about the real estate market, he started bringing up the politics behind the economic situation. He said that the mortgage crisis happened because congress forced banks to write 55% of their loans for people who “couldn’t afford loans”. Hmmm. Congress forcing anything requires legislation, which has to be written down somewhere. When my husband called him on this, he said that you won’t find this little gem written anywhere. So I guess it’s imaginary legislation. But anyway, we moved on.
I went upstairs to change a diaper, and as I was coming back down I heard him telling my husband that he and his family went to a Tea Party last month. Oh. My. Goodness. Did you seriously just come into our home for the purpose of doing business with us, and then bring up such a politically charged topic without knowing where we stand on the issue? Aren’t you a marketing professional? Are you going to do this with potential buyers who might otherwise be interested in our house? It’s one thing to bring up politics with friends or family, where business deals aren’t on the line. Or when business deals are on the line and you’re sure that the clients are of the same mindset you are. But telling potential clients that you want to a Tea Party without knowing their political views strikes me as particularly un-savvy.
After he left, my husband and I decided that we didn’t want to work with him. He may be a great Realtor, but there were just too many red flags, and we were left with a very uncomfortable feeling about the whole thing. My husband started researching online, and found another Realtor who sounded quite impressive. He called to leave a message (it was 10:30pm) and she answered the phone.
The first Realtor spent so much time talking politics and economics that he never really got around to discussing what he would do to actually sell our house. The lady we spoke with last night got right down to business. She will come to meet with us on Monday morning, to look at our house. Then she will take us with her to go look at several houses in our neighborhood that are for sale, to get a good idea of what else is available, how they compare to our house, and how they’re priced. Then she will have a professional stager come in to consult with us and give us ideas (yay! – we’ve been doing it on our own, and some professional tips would be great!). Then she will send in a professional photographer to take pictures of the house (there’s no additional fee for these services – they’re included in her fee). Already, in a 15 minute phone call, she had gotten far more into what we were actually interested in – the business of selling our home – than the other guy did in an hour and a half.
And she charges 5%.
We are thrilled to be working with her. My husband called the other guy this morning and let him know that we were using a different Realtor, and explained why. The guy tried to defend his arguments, which just seems silly. This is business, not a dinner party (or a tea party!) By not asking questions, by sticking to a tired routine, by going on about another business venture, and by bringing up politics, the first Realtor lost himself a commission that would likely have been around $12,000.
Kacie says
That guy is a goober. You made the right decision to switch, and it sounds like you found someone who knows what they’re doing! Best wishes getting your house sold.
mc says
can you explain the tea party thing? I feel like I am missing something.
AD says
What’s really fun is when you work with a group of people who assume that everyone shares the same political opinion. And they bring up politics during meetings and at other inappropriate times, and you’re so sick of it that you don’t care who wins the election anymore, so long as you’ll be put out of your misery.
Just me? :)
I was a realtor for about a year, and even a newbie like me would not have made those stupid mistakes!
FrugalBabe says
MC – here’s a link that gives more details:
http://taxdayteaparty.com/
AD – Yup, I hear ya. I was working at the local library during election season last year, and it surprised me how often politics would get brought up. My husband and I are both pretty outspoken and very opinionated when it comes to politics. But there’s a time and a place. We’ll debate pretty much anything with our friends and family. But when it comes to business, we steer very clear of any political conversations.
Kelly says
Wow! My guess is this guy is probably not doing so well with the whole realtor thing right now, so he is focusing on his other business ventures. Which I totally understand, but then don’t be a realtor. I can’t believe he would act in such a way. Perhaps he read you and your husband wrong and thought you had the same political views, etc. I think it was very nice of your husband to explain to him why he lost your business. He did him a favor by basically telling him how to not lose clients in the future. Good luck selling your house.
Jill says
Good for you, babe! I would have done the same thing in your shoes.
Zella says
My realtor’s on my last nerve right now, for the same side project thing. Don’t care about your business, just sell my house and sell it now. That said, he was slightly more realistic than the one who suggested I put $20K worth of upscaling projects into my house (including structural modifications) so that I could ask for $5K more… um, no.
Jay Groccia says
I am so happy that you went with an agent that hires a professional photographer. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a real estate agent expound on how professional they are and then run around the house with a pocket camera a Flip Mino snapping away or doing a creepy ‘Friday the 13th’ stalker video and and up making a beautiful home look dark and gloomy or even worse, a circus funhouse.
With everyone searching online for their next home, the one thing every seller needs is a COMPELLING online presentation. No gimmicks, just beautiful photographs that look like magazine photos and not ‘real estate’ photos.
People should be prepared to budget about 1/10% of the listing price for the photographer, so a $500,000 house would cost about $500. That’s even less than many attorneys charge to do the closing and you don’t get to the closing without an interested buyer.
Jay Groccia
Principal Photographer, OnSite Studios™
Founder, OnlinePropertyShowcase™
Sense says
Wow, that is a really good decision. I’m glad you didn’t let him bully you. It sounds like he put a lot of thought and time into the legwork of getting a client (calling, keeping in touch), but in the end he couldn’t follow through. the new lady sounds fantastic!
I hope his side-business is lucrative, ’cause he sounds like he isn’t going to make it much further in the RE biz.
AD says
@Jay–don’t discount those of us who like our pocket “cameras.” When I was an agent, I took photos for my listings and for other agents (maybe the only part of the job I enjoyed), and often the buyers said it was the photos that made them stop and look at the listing. It’s not the camera that makes the biggest difference…it’s the photographer. I’d invest in advanced photography courses before I’d buy a fancier camera.
But yes, I know exactly what type of “real estate” photos to which you refer. They make houses look like the set of a horror film.
AD says
Did I just put quotation marks around “camera”? Hmm…I need more coffee.
Mrs. Micah says
Wow. Just wow. His initial excitement over another project might have been enough to make me not use him, but the whole package–*shudder* Besides the fact that I think the people who went to tea parties are–well, let’s not get into that–but if he had that kind of indiscretion to bring up one of the big taboo subjects (at least until you know how the other person feels about it) I’d be very worried about using him to represent my house.
Even if he gave my house his proper attention despite this new project, would he turn off new buyers by going off on political topics? I wouldn’t even want a Realtor espousing my political point of view, because I’d be happy to sell to someone with different opinions. You definitely made the right call!
FrugalBabe says
Jay – you make a good point about the importance of pictures in listing a house. It always amazes me when I’m on real estate websites and come across listing with no pictures at all, or really really bad ones. There’s an amazing house we’ve got our eye on, but the pictures look like the circus fun house scene you described: walls that seem to bow out, floors that curve up along the edges. How do they make they look so bad?!
AD – you also make a very good point. The article you linked to in a recent comment about setting up a blog to advertise a house is a great idea, and ours is almost complete. We’ll be including a link to it on the MLS listing for our house. I took all of the pictures myself, and they turned out great. I’m a scrapbooker, and photography has been a hobby of mine for several years. Digital cameras make it pretty easy (which is why I’m so amazed when I see dark, poorly-lit photos on listings). I think as long as a person has a halfway decent camera and a bit of artistic talent as far as setting up the scene and capturing the shot, they can get the job done. That said, I’m stoked that our Realtor is sending in a pro for our MLS shots!
Frugal Trenches says
Well done you for sticking to your values, I would not want to use someone like that. Here we have such a different system (you can only view a house that is listed with the agency it is listed, there is no agent just an agency) but I remember when I lived in North American I use to think so many agents said far too much!
You know at first I thought, he goes to tea parties, how English, we don’t even do that. Then I remembered the Tea Party events I’ve been reading about and thought I’d of wanted him out my house ;0)
alice says
you dumped the re agent because he was a conservative? what if he casually mentioned he ate meat? or was a vegetarian? would you still have dumped him?
do you realize you are a bigot?
be honest (or can liberals be honest?) as soon as the guy mentioned tea parties-you labeled the smuck and dumped him. had nothing to do with anything else. do you realize if the guy was black and you pulled this crap he could sue you? in fact, i pray he is reading this and does.
i hope no good comes to you, i hope there is a hex on your house and it never, never sells. oh and if it does, make sure you ask the new owners if they attended tea parties (and spoke up about their likes and dislikes about america-you know, the land of the free and freedom of speech).
tell me, if the prospective buyer plans on holding tea parties at the house, will you still sell it to them? probably yes. guess that means you’re a republican or something, right? the fact that all you wanted to do was talk business with both the original re man and the new re woman makes you nothing more than a capitalist pig. you had absolutely no interest in the man’s life. you just want your frigging house sold and you want as much money as you can possibly get for it. ruthless.
Kelly says
Wow Alice! Harsh and uncalled for! I believe Frugal Babe wasn’t judging the realtor on his political views, rather how he chose to conduct himself, which was in a manner she and many others found to be unprofessional. Religion, politics, these things don’t belong in business. The best way to avoid offending someone who doesn’t share your political (or religious, etc) views is to never bring them up in the first place. The realtor wasn’t a friend over to have a lively discussion. He was there for the sole purpose of selling Frugal Babes house for the best price. His politics and other business ventures had no business in the conversation. Alice, you are entitled to your opinion, as is everyone, but when you state it is such a malicious manner, you make yourself appear very ignorant.
Frugal Babe, I believe you were right in what you did and hope that your house sells quickly!
FrugalBabe says
Alice – I’m surprised by the venom in your comment. I thought I made it very clear in my post that our reason for choosing to not hire the first realtor was because of the unprofessional manner in which he conducted himself during our first meeting (and by the way, when an individual is interviewing/selecting realtors, doctors, housekeepers, lawyers, etc., one can choose not to hire the person for any reason at all, and the person in question does not have grounds for a lawsuit, regardless of why they think they didn’t get hired. I am not a business).
Over the seven years that my husband and I have been self employed in a sales profession, neither of us has ever brought up religion or politics with a client. That is just business 101.
We’re thrilled with our current realtor. She’s already had a stager over to our house with tons of great ideas, and the professional photographer will be here next week. All for about $2000 less than we would have paid the first guy. I’d say that we made a good decision.
FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com says
Alice, sounds like Frugal Babe hit a sore point with that remark.
Whatever it is, that was totally harsh and uncalled for and just as Kelly said, he wasn’t being professional.
Even hairdressers know to keep their views and mouths shut when they have clients in their chair, giving them money.
He was clearly wasting their time, their energy and conducting himself in a manner that was clearly not what Frugal Babe and her husband wanted.
He can certainly act like that and it is within his right, but only with people he trusts or knows, like family members or friends… but new clients are tricky. You have to shut up and just do your job, and slowly warm up to them if you can.
And I know what I’m talking about, I have to prospect for clients and work in different environments every single time I’m on a project. I would never do what he did on the first meeting with the client.
All clients want, is for you to do your job with professional grace. All the rest is to be kept hush until you are sure they won’t be offended or irritated by your yapping.
Peggy Gist says
I think she made the right choice.
When I meet a potential client for the first time I have already had a conversation on the phone to gather information. My visit is to determine what the goals and motivation is, answer their questions about myself and/or company plus advise them on price. The marketing plan for their home is reviewed and discussed. Paperwork and photos are done if the lighting is right and we move forward.
It is all about the homeowner during that visit. The market statistics are important and I ask if they are aware of the market conditions. Most have been keeping up with the market for sometime and the statistics are not surprising. They just want to know what their competition is going to be during the process.
Staging….yes in some cases.
FrugalBabe says
Liz,
We did tell him that we had made up our mind to sell and weren’t particularly concerned with all the market details. At one point my husband specifically asked what the point of the meeting was, and said that we needed to get going on the details.
But honestly, we probably would have looked past the long-winded spiel. What we were not willing to look past was the blatant political talk. He was at our house for business purposes, and made direct jabs at our political point of view (ie, blaming the mortgage mess on the Democrats) without knowing what our view was. We wouldn’t have cared if he hadn’t brought it up (it’s not like we were interviewing realtors and asking them about their thoughts on politics). We’re believe in live and let live, and would have had no problem using a realtor who had different views than us… assuming he didn’t go on and on about them during our very first meeting. After that meeting, there was no way in the world we were going to give our business to that realtor.
That said, we ended up with a MUCH better realtor and our house is under contract for full asking price after three days on the market. So even in hindsight, we made the right decision.
Someone with the same views as the first realtor would probably have been thrilled to hear his spiel, and would have signed up with him right away. And that’s fine. But anyone doing business and being very vocal about their political views in an initial meetings with clients is running a risk of alienating half the population right off the bat. It’s not professional, no matter how you look at it.
Liz says
I guess I also think you were a bit hard on the first realtor. While he was giving you his spiel, you could have (at any time) told him that your time was limited and you’d appreciate him staying on topic? As in…what it is giong to take to sell the house. Political views aside, I didn’t hear anything in your complaints that suggested he didn’t take his business seriously. He just seemed to be rambling on things you cared nothing about. Which I understand – but you and your husband also had the power to cut him off and ask him what he could do for you. There is a reason he was realtor of the year for ReMax, and a reason for his other credentials.