I Have Lost All Patience With Realtors

In my market, the absolute worst customers I have are realtors. Every time they call, their hair is on fire and they expect me to turn my world upside down to accommodate them. Of course, they will bring me sssoooo much business I will have to hire more people to keep up if I will do everything they want, at the price they want on “this” deal.

And then, like today, after I have re-arranged the schedule to “squeeze” them in…they cancel less than 2 hours before we are to start. We lose a $500 resi the week before Christmas. A job, I reminded her 2 weeks ago when I booked this appointment, we are crazy busy and I was going to have to pay Bonus Pay Rate to the guys in order to fit her in. She didn’t even give me the courtesy of a call, she sent a text.

This is the 3rd flakey realtor this holiday season to do this to me. This one, like the other 2 couldn’t grasp the concept that They were taking food off the table and presents out from under the trees of the staff. How am I supposed the replace an appointment with no notice? Today, we lost 500 bucks we cannot get back.

My solution is a policy I hate to use, the non-refundable deposit.

In the past 3 years, I have dropped 6 customers because they call, then reschedule, reschedule again and usually cancel with little or next to no notice. 5 of the 6 are realtors

Going forward, I will not get my calendar out unless I see a credit card, or have one on file for realtors.

Rant over, thanks for listening. Don’t feel any better, but I will still give the bonus to the crew that just got pooped on…

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If you are busy, why bother with them? Tell them you are booked try again next time.

After a few times maybe they’ll get the hint they need to give good notice and not jerk you around.

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One same day cancellation like that and they are done.
If they wish to do business a next time then it is payment up front.
If they scoff at that, then as you say your schedule is busy? Don’t look back.

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So many things annoy me slightly but the whole

I am a Real Estate Agent blah blah stuff is one of them. Canned our best to RE lead producers last year for not being worth the hassle.

Easiest and least stressful way to handle it - Proof is in the pudding. “When all of those jobs you promise line up we will look at how to discount them to work for both of us.”

It is never annoying to say no. It is always annoying to say yes and regret it.

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It works man. There’s no way she’d cancel on you if you took that deposit. Weeds out the tire kickers too.

I had a cancellation I’ll never forget, last minute too. When I asked her why, she straight up told me she found someone cheaper.
Stupid craigslist.

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I would not waste my time anymore with realtors. 3 times this holiday season would make me so mad! Sorry to hear that happened to you. Like you said…this time of year you and your employees are really relying on that money for Christmas gifts.

Here’s the solution…contact your worst offending Realtor and tell him/her that you’re looking to sell your house. Tell this Realtor, “Look the standard 6 percent commission is just ridiculous. I knew a guy who knew a girl who did it for 4 percent. If you do it for 4 percent, I promise to send you so many referrals, that you won’t be able to keep up”. Have him/her do the standard market research, stick the “For Sale” sign in the ground, put it on the MLS, and conduct an Open House one Sunday per month until you receive an acceptable offer. Once you receive an acceptable offer, tell the Realtor you changed your mind and don’t want to sell your house anymore.

Hours wasted for Realtor = a lot
Commission earned by Realtor = $0.00
Total cost to you = $0.00

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I would leave a bad review on her zillow page

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My thinking exactly. Next time they call its payment up front and if they cancel no refunds. I learned over 15 years ago not to listen to every realtors song and dance. It’s hilarious when they all say the same thing, “I’ll give you a ton of business”. Lol. Bunch of scam artists.

That said there are good realtors out therewho do give you business. Most of them never ask for “favors”.

I have one particular Realtor I get work from. I don’t bug him for jobs, he doesn’t ask me for discounts, but he does call me with lucrative jobs. I do his house every other year; next time he calls for his house I will give him deal and let him know. :wink:

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The majority of the licensed agents don’t make it through their first year. Be careful not to put too much credence on the promises of these fly by nighters.

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I made it a rule early on to never to do business with realtors. After my first few tries every job ended badly in various ways. They promised the world but never delivered.

For me it’s not worth the stress.

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Don’t actually do this.

If they figure it out it was you they could retaliate and have their circle of friends trash your business with bad reviews. I read an article this can happen when you tick off those Yelp marketers. They tell their friends how mean you were on the phone and suddenly you got bad reviews on Yelp.

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Treat each one as a separate job, if the promised “job” comes in after that in a fashion that is deserving of a discount or “a deal”, then treat THAT job that way if you choose; see, you are in control. But why turn down work if you don’t have to? The grocery store and convenience store doesn’t turn paying customers away because they ask for special treatment, they just sell to them.

Smile as you make your deposits at the end of the week. :slight_smile:

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The ones that get me are the ones who call up and say “I need to get my windows cleaned as I am putting my house up for sale”. When you get there to offer an estimate, then all of the sudden they aren’t willing to spend the money.

I realize that they don’t see the value in it because they are selling the property and not staying there to benefit from clean windows, but if you think about it they actually are benefiting from it if clean windows and all of the other “curb appeal” expenses helped sell the house. Sometimes you can have that dialogue with them about making the property as attractive as possible and rolling that into the asking price - that is the Realtors job, but can’t we help nudge that along a little to help our own bottom line?

Practice trying to turn it around; sometimes it is a hit, sometimes a miss. But we don’t stop looking for that next window job, and the Realtor doesn’t stop looking for that next house to sell. :wink:

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The best is the agent schedules you go clean and then the homeowner is surprised when they have to pay. They think the realtor is actually earning their commission.

Real estate agents, they are the best

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Your job to include in your dialogue with the Realtor about payment.

John,
The sites are meant for people who have business transactions with business/representatives so that others can make a judgement call, right?

Well wouldn’t that be a failed transaction with zero professionalism? Isn’t that deserving of a review?

It’s not a fake review, and if they get their circle of friends to write bad reviews wouldn’t that be obvious?

Zillow is a respectable site for real estate sales. If its a legit complaint, thats like a bad google review for us. We take notice and try to rectify, right? I bet they do the same.

Just sayin’

Thank you Garry I forgot I’m stupid