Lenders say real estate agents suck

This past week I had five different conversations with lenders. They all literally said a version of, “I hate working with realtors. They are the most unprofessional, flaky group of people I have to deal with. And full of themselves.”

Then they added, “No offense.”

EVERY ONE OF THESE LENDERS SAID THAT! (Including the ‘no offense’ part!)

Each time I replied, “None taken, and I don’t disagree.”

HEADS UP:  Some people might be offended by this post!

As a profession, real estate agents:

• Don’t show up on time.
• Don’t do what they say.
• Don’t return phone calls or messages.
• Don’t know what they are doing.
• Don’t do their job: representing their client.
• Go missing / AWOL during a transaction.
• Often are unable to deal with tough stuff during a transaction.

This was essentially the list of complaints I heard from tenured, producing lenders.

I have been thinking about this over the last few days and came up with the following hypothesis.

Over the last 10 years, our industry has morphed from being a real estate agent to looking like a real estate agent. If you dig into the topics and conversations amongst real estate agents, it has become all about how to look the part (on social media) and ‘get’ clients.

Training programs for new agents (often) don’t cover any of the following:

• Learning the market
• Basic construction of houses (i.e. how to navigate through inspection issues)
• Understanding economic cycles and seasonality
• Knowing how to price a home
• Learning how to develop trusted relationships
• Civility? How to be a nice person?

That's even if newcomers participate in a new agent training program.

I believe there is some training on:

• How to do a business plan
• How to time block
• How to organize yourself
• How to do a CMA
• How to write a contract

There is definitely a lot of focus on:  prospecting, social media, and buying leads.

Maybe I am old and crotchety. Maybe I am totally off base. On the other hand, it does look and feel like as an industry we have moved away from competence and advisory, and towards flash and appearance. I don’t think it’s an accident that how we get paid has become front and center in our industry.

We do not get paid to open a door or put up a sign. That is a $15/hr activity. We get paid to guide people through the real estate process and put them in the best financial position possible. We do not learn those skills by creating TikTok videos.

I was at a new listing client yesterday. Before they formally agreed to work with me, they wanted me to know their low opinion of realtors.  In the past 24 months, they gave me three very specific instances of realtors behaving poorly. This sweet couple, in their late 70’s, minced no words when it came to their view of what appeared as unprofessional - and seemingly unethical - behavior.  Having said that, they also retold stories of good experiences with realtors they’ve used over their four decades of buying and selling homes.

I know this is another rant. I know this will turn some people off. I know this doesn’t apply to everyone reading this post. I also believe that our future success lies in our ability to raise our standards. Cal Newport wrote a book many years ago called So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love. My assertion is that the better we are as professionals, the more we will earn, and the more satisfaction we will experience.

Better than people saying “You suck.”