Payback is Hell

@Alison Maloni is a connection of mine on Linkedin. She works in PR, TV and radio. I her article post "Why it Pays to Work for Free" about how working for free has led to many opportunities for her, and many of the comments to that article along the lines of “Give and you will receive” led me to think how different working for free in real estate can be.

Let me provide a couple of scenarios to clarify. 

A homeowner reaches out, they are considering selling and want to find the value of their home. They are interviewing several Realtors they say, and would like to meet and hear what the Realtor thinks their home should be priced at, and what their strategy for selling would be.  

The Realtor spends hours researching comparative sales in the area, sometimes this is extremely difficult if only a couple or worse, no recent sales can be found. They will research public records, taxes, schools, and many other factors which affect the value of the home; flood plains, access to public transportation, etc.,etc. Then the Realtor will prepare a detailed report together with some kind of listing presentation. Some diligent Realtors will go out to the property to take exterior photos for their presentation. All will have purchased special folders and possibly even purchase a small gift of sorts to hopefully make them stand out to the potential sellers. They will dress carefully for the meeting, typically drive in their freshly washed car, tour the neighborhood to ensure they haven't missed a recent new listing or sold sign, or perhaps a FSBO (For Sale By Owner. ) And when the time arrives to meet, they drive up to the house, ring the doorbell, ring again. Knock, knock again. There's no one home. Now what? They are on time, perhaps the sellers went out and are delayed? They call the sellers number...No answer. They wait 10,15,20 minutes, sometimes longer, then leave feeling despondent. Get back to the office, double check the time was correct, try calling again, still no answer… They have been Ghosted. 

Typically the listing will go live on the MLS a few days later with another Realtor… But there's several other scenarios with different equally frustrating outcomes. 

• The sellers arrive as the Realtor was leaving. They do the presentation, but the seller chooses another agent at a much higher than their suggested price.
• They do the presentation, as do three or four others, only to discover that the sellers list it with a Low Cost No Commission Service. Hoping to save thousands should it sell.
• The sellers answer the call and say they forgot you were coming, but have decided to use the agent their cousins daughter recommended, who's just got into real estate and needs a listing. 
• The Sellers put up a FSBO sign and try to sell at the price you gave them.

You get the drift right? The best part about most of the above scenarios is that they usually end up badly for the sellers. They fail to sell. Oh well. As Karma would tell, Payback is Hell!

Realtors more often than not work for free when working with buyers. There are many, many scenarios. So many in fact, they would fill a book. Some can be avoided, most we chalk up to human nature at its worst., or an inexperienced agent who doesn’t research their potential clients at best. Fact checking is all important. We have a saying in the industry, “Buyers are liars!” I will elaborate, but that's for another blog.