I'm sick of all the anti-realtor rhetoric and patronizing vendors
Monday, June 23, 2008 at 08:37PM And I'm sick of marketing experts, and SEO experts, and organizations that talk down to realtors. I've also heard enough of self-loathing realtors who buy into all the rhetoric and kiss up to the anti-realtors trying to portray themselves as the "good" ones. I don't care who likes what I do for a living and I feel no obligation to apologize for it or apologize for the profession. Everyone of us in the profession know the problems and many are working on solutions, just as every profession should be doing. Clean up your own back yard before you start obsessing over mine.
I get emails all the time from some knucklehead who thinks I'm an idiot who's going to analyze my site and get me to number one on Google. I read sites where people lambast realtors as being useless and crooked, then read realtors who agree with them and say "but, but, we aren't all like that -- I'm good, really I am" -- I'm sick of it.
I read a blog about realtors going back to the stone ages if vendors disappear. Give me a frigging break. By God, we have a profession that is doing good work in transactions everyday all across the country. Yes, you can pull out examples of bad apples, but you can pull the same bad apples out of any profession. Enough is enough. Like Greg and Brian said at Bloodhound today, if you have value, then show it, if not, then shut up.
What would happen if all the vendors disappeared? More would appear. That's all. And hopefully they would be valuable and not so cocky and self-important.
When in hell did the tables turn that we are subservient to vendors and "experts" and drubbers with a sucky sense of life and half-assed opinions? I hear these purveyors of "transparency" at social sites say "Well, it's what the public perceives, you should be open and listen" all the while not speaking up to help change the perception, playing both sides for the traffic-of-controversy.
I know one thing, I'm locking my money down to be paid only to those who can produce results and earn my business through excellent service and respect for what I do. And for arm-chair experts who think they can perform transactions without a realtor -- go for it, do it, and like Mad Max says on John Boy & Billy (it's a regional thing), "Shut up and quit ruining my life!"
Reader Comments (13)
note: mike, i just re-read your post after i wrote this comment and realized i totally went off in a different direction. i'd like to leave it, and address the content of your post in the following comment ;)
i was on a realtor roundtable discussion just last week and into the chat room popped some anonymous guy proclaiming "he knew all the real estate tricks" and was "was to all the lies." he was quickly dismissed as a dunce.
unfortunately, this is prevalent public opinion. there was a survey conducted amongst consumers a few years back about what they considered the most dishonest profession. above lawyers and car salesman were realtors.
to be honest, i really don't get it. but it i think whenever you enter into high emotion and stress situations (legal, cars, homes, medical) that folks inherently feel misled. let's face it, these are complicated areas with their own terms and language, mysterious procedures, and something the average person doesn't get involved with but a few times in their lives. in that sense, they feel "out of the loop" and easy prey for being duped.
frankly, i think real estate is an extremely respectable profession. it's a shame that the public perceives realtors as mere salespeople (like the car guy) rather than the trusted consultant (doctor, lawyer).
okay, on to the topic at hand...
there's a lot of truth in your insight that vendors play both sides of the fence. many vendors feed from both pools.
"you want a realtor? well, you don't want to get stuck with one of those that don't know what they're doing. only the best ones are verified by our site. come to us..."
"you want clients? you really can't get good leads because they haven't been properly screened by us and qualified as a good lead. come to us and we'll make sure you can succeed"
this is how many of these vendors insert themselves between the agent and the consumer. they've created a space for themselves as the middleman... as the client broker.
look, realtors have been doing business for years without these vendors but the more agents buy into this restructured business model they're cutting themselves off at the knees.
vendors that subscribe to these business practices are nothing more than scavengers in sheep clothing - looking to profit off of someone elses sweat.
this happened because many of these vendors were at the forefront of technology before most realtors and have done a good job of cutting their slice of the pie.
does it need to stay this way? hell no. from my seat, the surest way to fight against vendor predation is for the agent to entrench themselves in a niche market... the vendor can play with the mass public but they'll never be able to infiltrate a niche market the way a guerrilla realtor can.
Mike-
It was the smug attitude that put me over the edge, today. Needless to say, I was p-ed off when I wrote what I did but through the emotion came the truth.
It was the same hypocrisy I saw when all the Project Blogger coaches moved onto the next shiny new object to stroke their egos. They had the cojones to criticize CJ and Teri for wanting to make a difference with Project Bloodhound.
Realtors aren't alone in this shakedown and smug crap peretrated by know-it-all vendors. originators have been shaken down for close to 8 years, now. Now that the market has slowed down, they merged and are using their collective power to extract more money from originators.
This...is going to stop. From now on, I demand an explanation for what they do and how they intend to quintuple my investment (like our mutual friend did for us).
On another note, you wanna see opacity? Try asking one of these transparency purveyors how they're buttering their bread. They run and hide behind a cloaked wall when we have the courage to finally ask (what y'all might ask in Georgia)...
"Just who ARE your people?"
PS- Keep up the good work. The "art of small" is bringing some VERY big ideas
Thanks, Brian, I went a little over the edge too.
Mark, Yes, and I'm going to speak up for our profession every chance I get. They can call it cheerleading, I don't care, but I won't lie down and take it.
I know too many decent, hardworking agents and they deserve as many voices that will speak up.
"I'm locking my money down to be paid only to those who can produce results and earn my business through excellent service"
Mike is this that big of a deal? I mean to say, isn't this a given? I don't know why it has become an issue at BHB.
To me this is a standard in all of my purchases...appliances, restaurants, cars, pool guy, lawn guy, ...etc...so of course it would apply to 3rd Party providers.
I don't think there's an argument to be had. This is pretty much a no-brainer as far as I am concerned that applies to anyone that wants my business.
You left out this part -- "and respect for what I do"
context matters.
"and respect for what I do"
I thought that went without saying, if I'm paying for a service the provider MUST provide me with a valueable and needed service and MUST respect my business. Why else would I hire them.
But I don't understand why this is an issue. If they (provider) does not meet that criteria I don't do business or patronize their establishment. Real simple foundation of business. So I am not sure why anyone is making an issue.
I don't disagree..just wonder why it's being trumpeted when it's such a basic part of doing business.
Agents have been spending time, energy and money with sites/vendors who are subpar in results and some even have a somewhat, albeit unspoken most times, patronizing view towards agents.
It's merely a stance, Barry. if you don't get it, that's alright. You, of course, are way ahead of most agents, so it's difficult for you to understand.
It stemmed from a couple of posts suggesting agents would be in the stone age without vendors, or if you don't use certain sites you are doing your clients a disservice.
I'm saying, bull, I will use vendors who produce results and understand real estate. A lot of time, energy and money has been wasted by agents thinking they have to have the products and services of certain vendors -- they don't -- I don't.
Ok...I read the post on 100 Watt...and it just felt very basic. You summed it up pretty clearly..you " will use vendors who produce results "
I can't agree with that at all.
I'm not a realtor, just someone that has done much business with realtors as a mortgage broker and now a wealth coach. But, I here your cry. Now let me tell you about my perceptions of realtors. Much like politicians, people like their own realtor but like to diss the occupation. So much of what you here is that. But, there is some truth to the noise that realtors really don't do much for their money. Putting up a standard lawn sign, listing on a MLS and posting some poorly taken pictures is the norm for Florida. Listing as much property as possible and then hoping for some hits is also the norm. Folks over on Bloodhound seem very foreign to me as I have never run into a realtor that works that smart and does that much for a client here in Florida. Now I generally like to partner with great realtors, but often find them very dismissive of me. I had one simply tell me that mortgage folks were a dime a dozen and since she controls the deals, she will only work with folks who can offer her something (illegal kickbacks I assume). Another said he could care less about dealing with me because another one (originator) will walk into his office every day. Both of those folks are out of the business as far as I know. The point is not that realtors get hit up by vendors alot, but that most don't even consider how these vendors can help or hinder them. But the greater point is how much damage a single realtor can do to the reputation of many.
An important question is, how far are people willing to go to avoid dealing with a real live person, face to face? I mean there is a reason folks go to the internet for their real estate and mortgage information instead of the local realtor or mortgage originator. When people trust someone they have never met in person, over someone that has a positive well earned local reputation, there are reasons. As a mortgage originator I had to fess up to understanding where those reasons came from. Realtors will too. One question might be why didn't realtors in Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and California warn their customers that the pricing was out of control 2003-2006? That it couldn't possibly continue and that it was a likely re bubble? Anyway thoughts???
Like I said, in all professionals there are bums. I have met my share of mortgage bums. I can't speak for all the realtors in Arizona, Florida, Calif, because i don't know what they told their clients.
When a bubble happens there is enough blame to share, including the consumer's share.
It's not like dishonest real estate agents caused the bubble. It was a cumulative effect of everyone over-heating. It happens.
My problem is with singling out the real estate profession when in fact it's no more infested with incompetence than any other profession. To be at the bottom of professions in terms of respect is baffling.
Is this Realtors historic place? Or is this the result of the current environment? But I repeat, many folks I know don't think highly of realtors because the average realtor does little more than place a sign, mls list, and spend a couple of afternoons in an open house. They don't value the other things realtors do (like contract negotiations). This is not me, but what many folks tell me. And yes, I would argue that mortgage folks in general are much less professional than realtors because the cost of entry is nill for becoming a mortgage originator. You don't know how many mortgage originators I have run across that have never owned a house or had just come out of bankruptcy! Heck even the kid at the Bank of America who was giving out investment advice, that I had to deal with when my father died, who was their mortgage originator and CD sales person told me while I was waiting for some paperwork that he had flunked out of college and had been evicted from his apartment recently. This man (couldn't have been 25 years old) then proceeded to give me financial advice.
:-). But I guess the bottom line is to do the best you can, give super service, and smile all the way to an abundant retirement. Those polls mean nothing in an internet world!
Now I wasn't trying to point a finger at realtors for the re bubble, just pointing out that if realtors place "money grubbing" ahead of solid professional advice then the consumer can't be blamed for thinking poorly of them. Frankly, I don't think realtors could have kept most people from jumping in the re bubble, but they could have at least put their professional opinion out there for the consumer.
Like I said, assuming realtors didn't say anything when they saw the trouble, you are right. I just don't know what realtors were telling their clients. It's difficult to assume so broadly.