Do Customers Get The Real Estate Agents They Deserve?
Do Customers Get The Real Estate Agents They Deserve
?
A question running though m head over the last month or so. We set up Sundream to try and make a real difference and become one of the few really ethical and professional Agents in Marbella and Costa del Sol and it does make you wonder if there really is any point. I worked for a very short time for one of the big International real estate companies here in Andaluca and some of the practices I saw going on where certainly not in the buyer's interest. A good example of this was told to me by a branch manager about another branch manager when he couldn't close a sale with a client and in his words this other guy sold to the this client within 5 minutes but not one word of truth came out of his mouth. This spurred me on to set up the company with a real goal of trying to be different and looking after the clients best interest but 3 years on I wonder if my passion and goals were somewhat misplaced. Obviously the first thing we all learn very quickly is buyers are liars which does raise the question is it ok for them to lie to an agent and cost the agent money and if that's ok is it ok for the agent to lie to the buyer and cost the buyer money. The reality here is if an Agent lies he could find himself in a lawsuit but if a buyer lies he isn't going to have any financial problems because of his actions. My experience with clients to date is that I have had some lovely straight forward dealing clients some who have bought with another agent but they were totally upfront with me about that and were very nice genuine people who actually make the job of being a real estate agent enjoyable. Unfortunately you then have the clients who you try really hard to do the best for you and they just lie to you and deceive you and this brings you back to the main question raised in the title of the blog. Another very good point made to me by the lovely Nikola in Mallorca put everything in perspective for me when she said "do you know who we actually work for Nick?" A very simple but very good question and the answer is obviously we work for the people who pay us and in real estate terms that is the Developer, Builder or Vendor. Make you think doesn't it. However the reality of agents is that the best ones are Deal Makers. They may be paid by the vender but basically they bring buyers and sellers together. My background previous to Real Estate was in the Music Business and I used to make deals between people who couldn't negotiate between themselves, Ego's and all that and it is a trait and business practice I use in Real Estate. So back to the main question do buyers appreciate an honest professional ethical agent or do buyers get the agent they deserve