Why must everything be your way? Do you have the only foreclosure on the market? Surely you remember what it was like before the Boom/Bust? You were showing homes as a buyer's agent, or you were peddling the mom and pop listings to the emotional owner occupants. Whenever you came across the lowly foreclosure listing, you turned your nose up at it, just like the rest of us. But now you have a few REO listings. Maybe you have 20, or maybe you have 100. Nevertheless, you have 1 client. 
Or one type of client. The type of non sustainable client. The kind of client that doesn't refer you to their friends and family. The kind of client that doesn't treat you with respect, or think you deserve their business. The kind of client that will never be able to give you on-going repeat business. Because when the market turns, the banks will not need as many REO agents. They will go back to having one… for the entire state. And if you are lucky enough to still be peddling those REO listings when the market is back to balance and normalcy, you will now have the one lowly listing that is impossible to sell, because it's gross and non financeable, and that's no longer the status quo.
We all know you had to do it to make a living. Some of you are making a killing for the time being. Awesome. But do you have to be arrogant? Do you have to be insulting? Really? Seriously? I mean, you are actually pushing some of the worst houses on the market that most of us wouldn't sell to our own mother. And your client, the bank, is so jacked up on stimulus money and tax payer support, that you are one step away from being a public servant or government employee. So, at least have some humility, because you are working for the people, by the people.
I am shocked at the lengths you will take to make buyer's agents do your job. Here's a synopsis that is all too common:
"Hey, Buyer's Agent, follow these instructions to get your offer looked at: Fill out all of the details about yourself and your buyer on MY transaction sheet. Then upload your offer along with 10 more specialty addenda, to MY website, that goes directly to MY seller. And then don't call me, because I won't return your call. You can email me, but I will shoot you a canned response that says, I won't respond for 3 or 4 days."
And another thing… Last time I checked the terms for purchasing any house were negotiable. But every time someone wants to write an offer, the bank sends back an addendum that erases everything and puts the terms back that they want. That's actually fine with me. That's part of the negotiations. But when the buyer wants to come back one more time and counter any terms of the banks addendum, that is when the brick wall starts getting put up. We hear things like, non negotiable. Or no alterations allowed. Funny, we agreed upon price, but now, because of a few small items, we are going to kill the deal before it gets started. And whose fault was this? Is it the sellers? Asset Manager? The listing agent? Or their assistant who is just following their orders? I just have to wonder, why sometimes common sense can't prevail. Has this new market, that is so dominated with REOs, become flooded with listing agents that are just order takers? Or perhaps we have several cocky REO agents that get on a power trip, just to control the buyer's agents? Not realizing, that they themselves are a buyer's agent too sometimes. Or could it be they are too afraid to negotiate with their own Asset Manager, because that might be construed as disobedience, and they may not earn the next round of foreclosure listings?
I want to be a little fair, and try to show 2 sides to the coin. I know the REO agent does not have it all that easy. They start out with the BPO (freelisting appraisal). Then sometimes they have to give out "cash for keys", to get the previous occupant out. Then they have to coordinate cleaning up the property, and then prepare all the normal marketing, and deal with the extra paperwork for the bank, and do it all for a discounted commission, usually.
And now you are going to treat the buyer's agent like an idiot?
I think not! Lest I remind you, I just saw you giving the crack head $500 bucks for his keys, right before you started mowing the yard and putting up the for sale sign for your cut rate commission.
Steve, you sound very bitter. Sorry for that, but you must learn to change when the market changes. If your Client states they want a property marketed a certain way, well, they are the boss, not the agent. I have been an REO Broker since 1982, and I have numerous loyal clientele. I have always made a living with REOs. All terms are negeotiable, but it sounds like you want it all on your terms. The Seller who has the product sets the terms and doesn't have to sell on terms not acceptable to them. Those terms are what the market/Buyers agree to. If the Buyers wouldn't agree to the Seller's terms, all the REO properties would just sit. The don't. Not here. They all sell. Now why is that? Could it be that my institutional Clients alter their terms with the market? And Steve, we REO listing brokers are not arrogant, we are busy, and you Buyer's agents treat us like we were your secretaries. If you would just read the MLS most of your questions would be answered without a wasted telephone call to me. I am not in this business to make friends, socialize with other Realtors who have only een in the business 3 years and still do not know how to sell property. It is so very important that a Realtor change when the market place changes. Important to understand the market. Important to do business within the current marketplace that assures success and a closed transaction. Don't swim against the current. The market will change again, and those that have 'lucked out' with REO listings will need to change the way they do business then. If not, they will sink. Remember, change as the world changes around you.
ReplyDeleteBarry, I welcome your comments. I don't have a Vendetta, I am just blogging. Thanks for reading. And you know I have respected your work and input every time we have had the opportunity to meet. You are a career REO agent, and this was not directed at those that are veterans at it. Perhaps I should have written this toward agents that have been in the business less than 3 years with a few REO listings that act arrogant.
ReplyDeleteI sound bitter because I am somewhat. But I'm not hurt because of one lost deal. I face hundreds of REO agents a day looking for the deal and that gives me the ability to make this substantial claim. I believe the same percentage of work ethic is always true. 5% of the agents do 95% of all the business. But now we have taken the 95% of the agents who aren't used to doing the majority of the work, and giving them some REO listings. And since REO sales make nearly 50% of all sales today and combine that with shrinking inventory levels in the California market ... there has been a huge shift in the work load. The shoe is on the other foot right now. And it feels like some REO agents are getting vindication at buyer's agents. (Why? Not for this blog) But, when the market changes again, the smart 5% will evolve with the next market or keep their REO contacts, and the other 95% will leave the business or go back to doing 5% of the volume. But, of course, many get replaced with another 10,000 newly licensed agents. And the cycle of the agent continues.