Leuty Lifegaurd Station
"You Realtors Are All The Same!"
Posted by George O'Neill on November 28, 2007
“You people offer the moon and deliver nothing except a bunch of lies”.
“With the strong market of the last few years you Realtors have gotten fat and lazy. All you do is put a for sale sign on the lawn and wait for a buyer to come.”
“You are no better or worse than any other Realtor. I went with a friend, and I have many who are Realtors. They are no different from each other.”
So, you may be wondering what the above is all about? Well, those are quotes from a discussion I had today with a potential client who flips houses for a living, and just listed his house with another Realtor. What prompted this discussion was I called to find out why he had decided to list with another Realtor after we had met twice to discuss his property, after I provided some marketing advice, and after outlining why I believe he should give me the opportunity to review in detail with him how I would go about marketing and selling his home should he wish to list it with me. I fully understand and respect his decision to select another Realtor – I guess he did not see what he was looking for in me. Fair enough.
But, I do not agree with his above comments since those are much too broad and all inclusive. I told him so, and on many points I brought up he agreed with me, but his overall opinion of the industry remained negative. It is worth mentioning that he did try to sell the house himself for the past 3 weeks with no success, so I agree with him that he does need the help of a Realtor and I am glad he hired one.
I think we Realtors should never forget we must always justify our existence. The majority of people realize that the service of a full-time, trained, honest, experienced Realtor is worth every cent in fees paid, just like hiring a professional in any other sector. It is a shame this person has such a negative opinion of Realtors. Perhaps it is justified based on past service he received.
In any event we must always keep the best interests of our clients first, and everything else will take care of itself. Not all Realtors are the same. For example, I believe my 20 years experience working in marketing and sales for Canadian, U.S. and global manufacturing, services and consulting firms gives me a unique perspective in helping my clients achieve their goals. Coupled with my education as an engineer with a masters degree, and an MBA degree in finance, along with the training required to be a licensed Realtor in Ontario and the excellent training Royal LePage provides, it would be difficult to argue I am lacking some component of training required to do an effective job. I also am an adjunct economics professor at a local college, and did work in my family’s real estate brokerage for over 10 years as an agent assistant. Not all Realtors are equal.
George
4customers said
I love this line you wrote:
“I think we Realtors should never forget we must always justify our existence.”
It’s sad… but most realtors know it’s true. And most customers/clients take a while to get on board with the idea of forking over a fistful of cash for “putting a for sale sign on a lawn and waiting for a buyer to come.”
That’s why [good/great] realtors need to let their best customers talk about them. Online. So that others can read the words of a person like them and begin to understand the value of realtors.
No one believes realtors. OF COURSE a realtor is going to argue that he’s valuable. But it’s when you let your customers do the talking for you —- and scrap those marketing messages altogether —- that your profession becomes more legit, you become credible and your services become invaluable.
Check out my blog (4customers.wordpress.com) for more about this. Or check out http://www.what-customers-say.com, a new realtor rating site in western Canada, to see how online word of mouth can be very effective. (We just launched the site 2 days ago, and already one legitimate referral/connection between a new client and a well-ranked realtor.) I really think there’s hope for realtors in this online environment —– so you don’t have to work so hard to get people to buy in to the value of your profession.
Best of luck……..
George O'Neill said
Thanks for your note and congratulations on your start-up, and on your blog documenting the process at http://4customers.wordpress.com/
I can’t say I agree with all of your comments, for example your phrase “No one believes realtors.” is just wrong. There are lots of clients who put their trust and faith in excellent realtors every day. However, there are some consumers who will never trust realtors, for one reason or another, some reasons are justified and some are not.
But I do applaud your efforts. Open conversation is good, and sharing information is the best way to move forward. That is the key reason for this real estate blog and if any of my clients would like to leave a comment about the services I provide I would certainly welcome that.
I think sites like yours should be encouraged and will succeed if consumers choose to use them as a conversation platform.
Now, if anyone could recommend a good realtor in Montreal I would appreciate it since I have a commercial retail space to lease there.
George
George O'Neill said
I should also note that the person I mentioned above did not sell his property through the first realtor. The listing expired, and after some time with the property sitting with no action he contacted me to ask me to take on the listing. I do so, and made some recommendations which he implemented to help sell the property (adjusting the price, installing new appliances, completing some minor touch-up work, and staging certain rooms), the property sold for 99% of the asking price after just one open house weekend.
I may not have changed his overall opinion of realtors, but he certainly did thank me for selling the property, and I think I demonstrated my difference and value.
George