“Buyers are liars and sellers are worse.”
Every industry has it’s “catch phrases” which don’t always exude professionalism. That above phrase is the real estate’s nasty catch phrase. There is a discussion occurring on the ActiveRain real estate network about this phrase. First of all, you all need to know I think it sucks. I don’t get real estate agents that utter this phrase in any serious way.
The reason I’m even blogging about it is because I think that consumers need to know that 1) some agents think about you this way and 2) you want to avoid those agents.
The reason this phrase exists is that sometimes buyers tell agents they will have no trouble qualifying for a mortgage but they do; they end up buying a different house than they originally thought; sellers forget about defects in houses; or buyers and sellers switch agents (which is considered the ultimate betrayal by some agents). None of these things makes home buyers or sellers be horrible people or liars.
My hubby is a 4th. I too believed that we would have no trouble qualifying for our first home mortgage. Then came the credit report that showed that he bought a house before he was born…Needless to say, we had to work on separating the II, III, and IV’s from each other which took a couple of months.
When we first moved to Salem Oregon, my hubby and I thought we would buy a fixer. We ended up with new construction. We weren’t liars. We really wanted to buy a house, we just weren’t sure what. Homes often “speak” to us and we end up with something we didn’t expect. None of the fixer houses were the right fit. This doesn’t make us liars…it just makes us humans.
I have had clients switch agents (not a lot, but it happens). I have gotten clients who switched to me. Real estate agents aren’t gods (sshhh…I know that is big news). I am a service provider and some of you will like me and some of you won’t. It doesn’t mean I’m not good at what I do, but some of you will trust someone else. That is okay and it doesn’t make you a liar for wanting to switch. It also doesn’t make me a bad agent, if I’m not the one for you. There is this odd kind of belief in the real estate industry that the first agent you start to work with is the one you need to stick with. I had a buyer client a few years ago, that met with an agent one time for about 30 minutes. She and I talked about him once and she said “I used to work with him.” Is the buyer the liar or the agent?
Salem Oregon area home buyers and sellers…interview and look for agents. Don’t accept working with an agent that thinks the phrase “buyers are liars and sellers are worse” is a good philosophy to working with consumers. You have many choices and it is so important that you feel you can trust your agent. A home purchase is a lot of money. You are human and entitled to change your mind. Make sure you find an agent that gets that. Who wants to be called a liar because you want to change your mind?
what an honest approach – no wonder why I like you so much and will send any of my Salem relocation folks to you
Thesa you know I feel the same way about you. Down to earth and what you see is what you get.
I agree with you Melina. Sometimes however we as agents forget to listen rather than just hear what our clients are saying. Also, I avoid Active Rain and have chosen not to blog there because of the way the post was written and all the comments that were in support of her. Frankly, I don’t think it is very professional. Thanks.
Betty I hear you. I think that is where that fit piece comes into play. Sometimes people just don’t get each other….not that we don’t try. I have issues with the rah-rah support any position in a blog post that can occur over there, but it does give me inspiration for my local blog. I think this kind of stuff is really important for consumers to see.
We need to teach them how to pick their agents well.
You’re right. I see you signed up for WordCamp PDX, I am going too. Hope to see you and meet you there.
Betty, yep I’m going! It’ll be nice to meet you.