Image problem: real estate

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Is it 4:44?

“Make a wish!! It’s 4:44!!”

A couple of times a day, Jenny notices the magic numbers lining up, and reminds me that if there is any time to petition the universe for something it is NOW. It doesn’t give you a lot of time to come up with something, maybe 20 or 30 seconds tops. Chances are what you wish for is already top of mind.

Which brings me to this post, in a sort of convoluted way. There has been conversation recently about a “Raise the Bar” grassroots initiative for the real estate industry, tagged #rtb. We opened up the discussion on our show TQ Radio yesterday- you can listen to the archives here.

The sparks that heated the discussion are two-fold. First, consumer opinion of real estate sales agents have consistently placed agents as members of the top 10 least respected professions, right there with car salesmen. Second, anecdotally there is a quantity of agent-to-agent information that would appear to back up at least some of what consumers feel. Even in the chat room of our show, sharing about the “agent that had to be carried through the transaction” was commonplace. And this show was not closed to the real estate profession- anyone could listen and join in.

So everyone has the same opinion of the real estate industry, including many of its members. I don’t believe if change is going to come it will be legislated at a national level, since the states have autonomy over this sector.

Agent to agent is one thing. Here’s the thing- I have known some agents that needed coaxing and prodding, yet their clients LOVED them, and referred them constantly to their friends. These agents were just plain nice, and developed a following that way. They probably would not have gotten the best price in negotiating, and I don’t care what support staff you paired them with, they would have forgotten something during a transaction. But they did well, and in some cases very well.

Everyone has heard a million times that real estate is a relation business. It would be easier to assess and “fix” were this not true, but it is. I heard this over and over again at Inman. So think about this.

Maybe it is not the agent who makes grievous mistakes in the transaction who is the one that the consumer is calling out. These agents will likely be taken care of over time, or the transaction will be moved along by the agent co-broking. Maybe the consumer is sick of this kind of behavior: the other day on twitter, I saw a comment,”Yes, I said I am selling my house. But why did all of these agents contact me here? What makes you think I need your help?”

I think this kind of behavior- which is taught over and over at brokerages, and may very well BE the best way to make money- takes the sheen of professionalism from us. It cheapens our true value to the consumer. The question is this: CAN we exist without this type of prospecting and make any type of real money? If every agent shifts to social media/pull advertising, will this space get cluttered to the point where people can’t string together the words “buy” and “house” for fear of showing up in 20 agents’ Tweetdeck search columns?

I think we are dealing with two specific and very different image problems here. And, 11:11!, I wish there was an easy solution.

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