My Industry Rant....

It is time we all took a deep breath. It’s time this real estate market of ours took a time out. 

Bully offers, kick backs, lower standards, frustrated buyers, greedy sellers, poor communication all around - mixed together to create a terrible market and industry. Unfortunately the lowest business standards are prevailing amongst us in this industry.

It was bound to happen. There are too many of us fighting over too little business. I am  reminded of hyenas fighting over the carcass of a small animal when I view the day to day happenings of our industry. Match the frenzy with inexperienced, unprepared and desperate realtors, and we are bound to have problems. 

I am not proud to be associated with many of the realtors who call this industry their own. Most view their business as the next two deals rather than the next two hundred. Frankly most won’t be around to experience 200 deals. Many buyers and sellers out there are being represented by realtors who have no clue as to what they are doing. They don’t know how to help their clients - to guide them through the minefield of a real estate transaction. Experienced, business driven and client orientated realtors are getting more and more frustrated and rightfully so.  

So what to do? I really don’t know - none of us have control of the market or our industry. Our board and RECO pay little attention to day to day activities. Many real estate brokerages are at a loss to keep their agents in line - some do. The competition bureau has help create an industry where representation of clients interests are fashioned or based on a price. How much are you charging is driving the market. Certainly price is always an element in the selection of a realtor, but basing a decision solely on price is a mistake not only in real estate but in most if not every other product or service. 

I guess we can ride it out and hope no one gets hurt too much. This market will stop, change will eventually happen and when it does many will be driven out of the industry. We all need to individually do the very best we can at keeping our standards high. 

 

As for me, I just took a deep breath and I feel much better

 

 

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Comments

[A Proud REALTOR®]

I'm not 100% sure what the point is of stating publicly that REALTORS® don't know what they're doing, are an embarrassment to their industry and are living hand-to-mouth because they can't get their crap together in a multiple-offer market, but your misuse of the individual title of REALTOR®, and your blanket generalization that "most" of your peers and colleagues don't actually know how to help their clients is not only rude, but incredibly demeaning to our industry as a whole. These are statements to be made across the coffee table with your peers, not in a public forum adding fuel to a long-burning fire that argues REALTORS® are not a valuable commodity in our industry. WHEN THEY ARE.

It's clear that you've had some struggles in your last few transactions. But clearly you've not been handling them well. Multiple offers can exhilarating - even for Buyers - if handled correctly and in my experience - most of them are. Bully offers can cause stress, but can also result in increased income for the seller if handled correctly which - in my experience - have been this year. Frustrated buyers - ok, but only if their REALTOR® isn't properly preparing them for the market they are about to start looking in. Greedy sellers? Most sellers want the highest possible price for their home, and don't understand if it's not explained to them properly by a good REALTOR®.

You're right, there are terrible REALTORS® out there that won't last long in this industry. We have the highest attrition rate (over 75% in two years last I heard). But those REALTORS® will barely even do ONE deal, let alone enough to let them break into the market to really have an impact on our industry as a whole - unless the rest of us keep publicly blogging about how much REALTORS® suck like you are.

There are terrible peers in EVERY industry. We've all had a terrible boss, we've all had unreasonable competition. There's no need to shout it from the rooftops and blanket the rest of us - the majority of which ARE incredibly knowledgeable, successful and long-term REALTORS® who DO know what we are doing and how to help clients, and accuse our governing bodies about not being in touch with our day-to-day activities when you actually don't quite know if that's true first-hand.

Just because you've had a crap couple of deals rife with frustration and disappointment, don't blanket our industry with greed, confusion and overall shitty REALTORS® because I have to tell you that the only angry and frustrated REALTORS® are the ones that aren't great, and I see less and less of them every transaction.

Stop making blanket assumptions based on a crappy spring for you. It makes us all look bad, not just you.

[Ken McLachlan]

Dear Proud Realtor, thank you for your comments, much appreciated. I do wish, since you are a proud realtor you would of least mentioned your name - I find that strange. In any case, my point of the blog was to drive attention to the sorry state of our industry and the market. Obviously your approach to the current market and industry is different than mine. My experience lends me to understand that if we don't speak out, things will continue along as they are. I have the good fortune of having many years behind me in an industry I love - it is because I cherish and love it so much that i speak out.

[A Proud REALTOR®]

I too, am an experienced REALTOR®, and I - and my clients - have had nothing but successes this year. As pioneers and advocates of our place in this country, we should be building each other up, not pulling each other down.

Again, your misspelling of the term REALTOR® on a public forum contributes to the downfall of our industry. It's part of why America lots the rights to the word and their MLS, because too many REALTORS® couldn't be bothered to do things correctly.

The market is only in a sorry state because you view it that way, and that's a sad thing for an "experienced" REALTOR® to say.

Shame on you for insulting the great job that many of us do, downplaying your place in today's market as well as mine. Shame on you for misusing our title, then complaining about the lack of RECO activity in our day-to-day lives. Shame on you for publicly stating that REALTORS® do no good for their clients, and that we're all just pulling random acts out of our hats. It's YOU that makes this industry a difficult place to work. Not me.

And no, I won't reveal my name. I had to do research even to determine who you were as there's no link anywhere here to contact info, and the only place I can find your last name is in the small print under your comment above. I know only too well how catty people can be, and I didn't speak up to be called names in return. However, I'll happily take this conversation privately, if you'd like.

Your tag line is "raising the bar", but you've done nothing but lower it here on this page with your various RECO violations, and your slamming of our industry as a whole. It's really sad to see.

[Geoffrey Grace]

A Proud Realtor,

I don't believe Ken meant to suggest REALTORS® provide no value. From my angle of reading it, he is actually supporting how valuable a GOOD agent can be.

These conversations are being had across the country, between buyers and sellers over the water coolers at work. For Ken to raise it publicly, shows that someone in the industry recognizes it and is trying to shine light on the issue. Will Ken have all the answers in this post? No. But hopefully people will comment with creative ideas and get a conversation flowing.

Your comments seem more like attacks and borderline on personal.

I can see your point about Ken's use of the terms "many" and "most" but keep in mind that his job is to run the most productive (units sold) real estate company in the city with the most registered REALTORS® in North America. Most of his daily calls come from agents complaining about challenging situations they have faced. He sees a different side of the business/industry than you and I, who are on the streets selling real estate every day.

I cordially invite you to reply with some constructive ideas on how to better our industry instead of furthering an internet fight.

I too am doing well in 2014. My clients are happy with the homes they are buying and my sellers are happy with the prices they are receiving. But as you acknowledge, there are issues happening on the REALTOR®-to-REALTOR® dealings, that the public is not aware of, that should be corrected - and maybe it is going to take moving the conversations from the coffee table with pears to a public forum to get people talking & brainstorming?

Happy Selling!

[A Proud REALTOR®]

Geoffrey,

While I appreciate you attempting to clarify Ken's initial intent, there was nothing about my comments that were "internet fights", nor were they personal attacks. There is an option here for anonymous people to post their thoughts on his article, and I've done so.

Further, I did provide a number of constructive suggestions for Ken to do instead of insulting our market and our industry and his peers. I suggested he build up our industry instead of "ranting" about the drawbacks on a public website - the negativity in his post really accomplishes nothing except to tell the public that he - as a successful REALTOR® - hates REALTORS® as much as the public does, and that the public are justified in thinking that REALTORS® are useless. I did not get the feeling that there was any hope at finding a good REALTOR® from this post at all.

As you say - provide solutions, be positive. Don't just give up, shrug your shoulders and claim there's no support from governing bodies, then wait for the storm to pass claiming you don't know what to do. Be proactive. Focus on the positive, don't rant about how it's useless to try.

Further, the FIRST step in the right direction is to actually raise the bar. Follow the rules set out for us by RECO and CREA. Very little on this "kensblog.ca" even does that, let alone the entries he's typed.

One can't complain about how there's no hope except to "wait it out and hope people don't get hurt" when you're not taking any active steps yourself to contribute to "raising the bar", and expect to not be told off for it by people who are making efforts to create the winds that keep the storms at bay. Honestly.