February 15, 2010
I’ve been stewing over this post for a few weeks now, and I’ve given it a little extra time to cook before committing it to the Interwebs. But now it’s done, so let’s serve it up:
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all be proud of all our colleagues and our professions? I have met, during my relatively short real estate career, a large number of agents and brokers whose knowledge and abilities I admire. Yet I am dissatisfied with the impression of the profession that I get from too frequent encounters with agents of lower quality. Oh, let’s not bandy words—I am fed up with lying, non-compliant, incompetent, discourteous, unprofessional and unethical agents, and the “supervising” brokers who condone them. I’m furious about paying nearly $700 a year for access to our regional MLS database—MRIS—that is seemingly incapable of enforcing its own data entry rules, permits errors and omissions by the truckload when simple edits could prevent them, and doesn’t force correction of errors and omissions even when they are specifically pointed out to their so-called “compliance” department.
Cases in point, from merely the last month of funsies:
(1) Lying agents: She ignores my calls and emails asking for the basic information that I need to present a good offer on her short sale listing. I finally write the offer as best as I can, and send it to both of her email addresses, and fax it to her office, requesting acknowledgement. Two days later (Wednesday) I call (and she actually answers the phone!) and she acknowledges that the offer was received and will be “presented with other offers on Friday.” The very next day (Thursday!) the property’s status is changed to Under Contract. Huh? I ask her broker to investigate whether my offer was presented—no response. A week later I repeat my request, and receive only a belated call from the agent to tell me another offer was accepted. No sh*t, Sherlock.
(2) Non-compliant agents: Our MLS rules require that when an offer is accepted in writing, the property must be updated in the system to reflect that fact. It cannot be kept in ACTIVE status. I notified an agent two days after we had a ratified agreement that he had to change the status, and he refused “because my client doesn’t want me to change the status. He wants more offers.” So I reported it to the MLS, and even sent them a copy of the ratified contract. Did anything change? No. I’ll bet he won’t get fined, either. This agent’s supervising broker is . . . himself.
(3) Incompetent agents: In Virginia, there is a legal requirement that the seller “disclose” certain things about the property on a specific form promulgated by the Real Estate Board. It’s rather silly, because in fact there is really very little that has to be disclosed under the law, but the form is nonetheless required. Three times in the past month, I have had my buyers’ offers accepted by the sellers without the sellers providing the form either before or after acceptance. I haven’t said anything, of course, because right up until settlement occurs, my buyers can get out of the contracts scot-free by simply giving notice that they never received the form, no matter what contingencies may or may not exist. D’oh!
(4) Discourteous agents: I’d been eyeing a listing for a few weeks that was a little higher than my clients wanted to go, but was in a neighborhood they like. Finally I convinced them to take a look, and after checking the MLS that morning to make sure it was ACTIVE, I met them there. The lockbox the listing noted was to be on the house was not, and I couldn’t reach the agent or the alternate agent on the phone, so I left a message on voicemail. An hour later the agent called back—she was in a listing appointment with the alternate agent—and explained that they have had a problem with lost keys. She gave me the combination to another lockbox, and I told her that I will be taking my clients back that afternoon. I asked if there are any offers, and she said they were “working with” one. Later that day we returned to the property and were surprised to find a home inspection going on. The buyer’s agent showed me a contract that was ratified several days before. When I got home I checked the MLS again, and the listing agent had updated the listing to CONTRACT 30 minutes after I spoke with her. She couldn’t call me? I complained to her supervising broker, but he’s her alternate agent—and husband. No apology; in fact, no response at all.
(5) Unprofessional agents: Anyone with access to the internet can confirm the widespread lack of professionalism simply by looking at any one of dozens of websites that access the MLS. Observe the numerous listings with no photos, out of focus photos, oddly tilted photos, and photos that clearly lack any sense of good judgment; or if you like a good chuckle, consider the rampant misspellings, typos, inaccuracies and omissions. No tax record on a 30-year-old property? No list of conveying appliances? No directions? If there’s no basement, are those just decorative windows peeking out under the first floor? Are any supervising brokers awake out there? How can any agent claim to be earning a commission with such inexcusably crappy “marketing?”
(6) Unethical agents: My client offered $301,000 on a $260,000 listing but, “Sorry, my clients accepted another offer.” Later I see the final sale show up—same FHA loan, but the net sales price was $264,000—$37,000 less! Gee, what could possibly have convinced the sellers to take such a low offer instead of ours? Why, imagine that—the selling agent was the listing agent, too! What a coincidence! That, folks, is what we call a “double-dip,” where the listing agent gets double commission, and I would say it’s pretty likely that my client’s offer was not presented at all. This agent’s supervising broker is . . . herself.
We have a laudable code of ethics, and ethical grievances can be filed with the local Realtors association, of course, but the burden of proof is rightly on the accuser. Unfortunately, much of the documentation one would need to make a case is usually in the hands of the accused, and there is no such thing as a subpoena in grievance proceedings. So, except in the most obvious and egregious cases, the best one can do is keep a (hopefully short) sh*tlist of brokers and agents with whom one avoids doing business, if possible. And believe me, I have one.
Now that I’ve had my rant, I guess it’s time for me to consider applying to serve on the local or state boards so that I can follow the same advice I give to my clients about their HOAs: if you want to have a good organization, get involved with it.
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It’s once again that time when people all over the country stop doing what they are doing and feverishly consider their picks for the NCAA Basketball Tournaments so they can enter the EIGHTH Annual Big Johnson COED College Basketball Tournament Classic, sponsored by yours truly, on ESPN.
Themocracy