I Hate My Agent!
Wallet Pop has a great article titled “Real estate truths you won’t learn from HGTV” talking about how real estate investments are probably not the best way to invest your money. It was a very interesting consumer focused article discussing the pitfalls of following the remodeling craze the home design shows recommend.
But the final item really caught my eye. It discussed the weakness of many real estate agents. They are trained to be experts in contract and law, but the recommendations to make the home easier to sell may be off base.
Now the required caveat, the top real estate agents do know their stuff. The problem is the bottom 70 percent who have gotten a license and you hired because they are a friend of a friend.
These are the agents that end up giving the industry a black eye and making sellers and buyers yell, I hate my agent! A fortunate side effect of the downturn is many of these part time out of touch agents are leaving the field. The costs associated with keeping their license is more than the income they can bring in.
One of my biggest HGTV beefs is that the real estate agents who provide staging, remodeling and sales and value advice are introduced as “real estate market experts” on many of the shows. The truth: Getting a real estate license requires a few hours of classroom instruction and a multiple-choice test, much of it covering legalese and ethics. It’s entirely possible to become a real estate agent without knowing anything about anything, and many agents are completely worthless. I wish HGTV would do a show called “I Hate My Agent!” featuring the stories of home owners who got screwed by Realtor-spin. There are plenty of them out there. via Real estate truths you won’t learn from HGTV.
Montreal Canada. L`ile bizard. Large private mansion with concrete pool, sauna, nested in woods. with 6 large garages ...
Great points Tom - the flavor of the day solution is only adding to the instability and volatility.
When Washington ...
I see it all too often where owners decide to be investors without understanding that tenants have rights. Its ...
cont from above post.....
please contact me via e-mail if interested in the home listed
above.
jonieckstrom@yahoo.com 
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Now is an excellent time for business people to buy if they have decent credit (I did not say excellent ...
Comment by Portland Real Estate on 14 May 2009:
This is so sad but true. All of my colleagues try very hard to keep up on the latest, and we work extremely hard to cover all of the bases and keep happy clients. Happy clients come back, happy clients send their friends too.
Comment by Diane Guercio on 14 May 2009:
Good article. It is amazing how ill-prepared most new agents are- and I’m speaking from not being there too long ago. The people who can least afford more real estate education are the ones who most need it.
Pingback by Daily Digest for 2009-05-14 | Joe Spake - Memphis Real Estate on 15 May 2009:
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Comment by Vikas on 15 May 2009:
you might not like them but you most certainly can’t live without them. Honest hard-working agents exist, they’re just hard to find, but finding one is easy if you know what to look for.
Comment by Brandon on 15 May 2009:
No doubt there are some horrible real estate agents, but there are some great ones as well who can really help their clients save money.
Comment by Kevin Schmidtchen on 16 May 2009:
I agree that about the top 30% of agents really are hard working, ethical business people who know what they are doing and represent clients well. With this downturn over the last 18 months, hopefully enough bad agents are forced to leave the business so that this 30% will move closer to 50% plus.
Kevin Schmidtchen
Comment by Ivan Crago Missoula Realtor on 17 May 2009:
I see some agents giving advice when they clearly know nothing about the subject, and I also see ones who are clearly looking out for themselves. It’s unfortunate the reputation of some does affect most all.
Comment by vikas on 18 May 2009:
This is because in past real estate market is one one of easy money making and peoples jump into it to make some fast money. But now time changed and hope such agents will leave this profession because prices of property comes down and its hard to find buyers due to economy crunch.
Pingback by Real Estate News You Don’t See on the News - from The Cutting Edge - May 19,2009 | Memphis Real Estate Buzz on 19 May 2009:
[...] I Hate My Agent! : The Real Estate Bloggers – http://www.therealestatebloggers.com/2009…; [...]
Comment by Jason Sandquist on 27 May 2009:
If only I could look like that dude in the pic
Comment by Editor - MyHome.ie on 23 June 2009:
Don’t get stuck with an agent you hate! Here’s some advice about choosing the right agent:
http://www.myhome.ie/residential/advice-centre/1015-1015-1391/choosing-an-estate-agent!.asp
Comment by Scotti Jowers on 21 July 2009:
Don’t hate your agent. Fire him/her. If you do not interview several agents in order to choose the best one, then you’re part of the problem. Sure there are bad agents. There are bad members of every profession. The great thing is, bad news travels fast and bad agents are usually not agents for very long.
Comment by Greg on 28 July 2009:
Well,,,my house was listed on Monday,,,with the wrong photograph.The address is mine the picture of the house is my neighbors.Today,Tuesday,I was told by my agent that the City inspectors were coming over between 9a.m. and 1 p.m.Fact is they were scheduled between 12 p.m. and 4p.m.I go to work at 2p.m. so I had to cancel or risk a rescheduling fee.That is two mistakes in the first two days.Why is the skill level of real estate professionals so low?I caused a scene at my realtors office and asked out of my contract.He said “No,but I dont even like doing business with people ‘like you’”So what is he saying?All this and at the same time I am under intense pressure at work and the market is the pits.The USA politicians and thier rich friends could care less,they live in a different world.
Comment by Dallas realestate on 6 September 2009:
We just were sold out by an agent here in Dallas. The agent definitely did not end up representing us but wanted to close for his payday – coming down on our original price $ 200,000. We truly regret not firing him — we kept thinking he would follow through and do what he said – like make flyers and not leave the bin in front empty, or the inside without flyers – for a $ 600,000 home. He told us he always answered his phone – He actually answered only about two times in the entire 9 months he had the listing. We interviewed him so thought he would do what he said — We learned a hard lesson!!
Comment by Bill Williams on 22 October 2009:
Don’t feel bad about canning your agent. I have already gone through two of them. At this point in time its the market forces that are hindering sales more than the realtors themselves. Two decades ago one could purchase real estate quite comfortably without a realtor and just use a good real estate law attorney. You could even pop into the local REO office at the bank and take a peek at their inventory and make an offer. I do miss those days. This is currently a mess and hopefully in another 5 years things will be back the way they were. Hopefully!
Comment by Richard van Seenus on 9 January 2010:
Unfortunately, in this business a common measure of success is the money. If we know we get paid when a transaction closes, let’s operate with out the expectation of getting paid. Let’s operate to serve our clients needs; serving the needs tends to meet the clients expectations. And if we meet those needs and expectations, the money will come on it’s own. I believe that a happy client is better then a single commission. For me, I’ve found my best referrals come from clients I’ve work hard for and didn’t close, because my goal is to serve my clients needs as a trusted real estate adviser. Yes sometimes that means advising not to close and supporting a client in a decision that is better for their family. If we operate that way, all that’s left is the abilities of your agent. To that, I would advise to pick a group of agents you are comfortable with, do your homework, and interview the agents. Be sure to tell them you are interviewing them and others, most of the ones you don’t want to work with will opt out.