Pet Peeves about Realtors

As most people will tell you, not all Realtors are the same.

I like to think of myself as one of the good Realtors out there. I get back to my clients on time, I get back to other Realtors about questions and showings, and I keep up with the tons of emails and voice-mails that I get. Do I miss a message, or email now and then? Of course, no one is perfect. But the point is that I make it a point to do my best. And my clients let me know how much they appreciate it, and how I am not like other Realtors they have worked with.

Lately I have been running into a lot of Realtors who just are not on the same page as me. It amazes me how some of them work. I was trying to do a short sale deal with a Husband/Wife Team, and they only worked mon-fri, 9-5, and were very slow about getting back to me. How do you expect to close deals when you put in so little effort. For example, If I call for showing instructions in the morning, for a showing at 6pm, there is no reason you cant pick up the phone and make a 1 minute call or send a text and give the instructions. Not only does it make you not look irresponsible, but it also affects my business, as I cannot show the property to my client who was clearly interested. Then, you have the Realtors that don't even respond to offers. About 2 weeks ago I put in an offer on a short sale that has been on the market for months. Yes it was a lower offer, but it was also from a client paying half cash, and was already pre-approved. After numerous emails and phone calls, I cant even get this agent to acknowledge that he received the offer, much less his thoughts on it. Meanwhile my client is just sitting back waiting, looking for another property, but that was the one he liked most. And finally there are the Realtors that NEVER update their mls. I'm sure we have all looked online at showing instructions, and they said go and show, vacant, etc, and then get there and its either rented or sold. That has happened to me too much lately for me not to say anything. It happened with 2 rentals, where I showed up to find the new tenants already living there. The showing instructions said "no need to call, go and show, vacant on supra." So of course I call the listing agent and ask what was going on and they proceed to tell me the property was rented a few weeks back and they had not updated their listing. How irresponsible is that? I took a buyer to a property a few weeks back, where the listing office had given me the showings just an hour or so before personally. So we show up to the house, and the NEW OWNERS are already moved in and living their! So again, i call the office, and they tell me first, that I'm at the wrong unit, no I'm not. Then they say that the unit was sold LAST MONTH, and they had never changed the listing to contingency, pending, or sold. Very frustrating.

This is not the market of a few years ago where deals were just falling into peoples laps. If you want to make it in this market, you need to put in the work. I have seen too many realtors in the area either stop doing real estate all together or have to get 2nd jobs. This is all I do, 24/7, and I am busier that I have ever been. Im making more money than I ever have. And Im loving what I do more than ever.