Professionalism in Real Estate

Reba Haas over at Rain City Blog wrote and excellent post about the sometimes contentious relationship between real estate agents and attorneys. She was responding to an attitude in the industry that attorneys are deal killers and that agents therefore avoid using them when they should, and as a result wander dangerously close to the unauthorized practice of law. She wrapped up her post with this:

This brings me to a subject I want to blog about in the near future -
raising the level of professionalism of the real estate industry in general.
That, and getting agents to stop those old sayings of things like “buyers are
liars and sellers are worse.” When I got in the industry 4 years ago I
couldn’t believe people in the industry said stuff like this around me all
the time. It seems like an ”us vs. them” mentality. How messed up is
that!?!? If you’re a professional you don’t walk into a meeting with a
prospective client with this kind of mindset and I’m glad that I don’t.

I have to agree with Reba. I have always thought this kind of thing was just appalling. These are your clients you are talking about, and to bad-mouth them is kind of like bad-mouthing your boss. It's a bad idea. In fact, it's worse than bad-mouthing your boss because this is such a competitive industry. Why not try having a little gratitude for the fact that you have a client? Why not also try improving your skill at working with buyers so that they don't end up in a position of wanting to lie to you? Why not provide better service so your relationships with listing clients will be stronger?

I know of some agents who seem to actually resent having to work and provide service to their client. This is a tough industry to be successful in, but the ones who will be successful are the ones who are good at building real relationships with their clients. It's hard to do that if you only care about the check, don't enjoy the work, and most importantly, don't enjoy the people.