According to a recent Harris poll people don’t trust real estate agents. 20% don’t trust us at all and only 7% trust us completely.
I understand where this
is coming from and am some what relieved. I have been handling rejection for quite some time and took it the wrong way. I thought it was me. I have noticed that people talk to me, and then when I tell them what I do for a living they kind of drift away, but not without making me work by asking questions about property values and home improvements first.
It is easy for me to understand why real estate agents are not trusted. It is relatively easy and inexpensive to get a real estate license here in Minnesota and there are some under qualified and dishonest agents out there. It doesn’t help that we attack each other. The news media helps make us look bad. They don’t write stories about good real estate agents.
The trust thing isn’t easy for us either, there are consumers who can’t be trusted. I have never seen any polls or statistics but real estate agents do get ripped off and even lied to. I have heard some whoppers.
Sellers can do horrible things to real estate agents. I have worked with unethical sellers and they can be very expensive. Most of us spend a lot of money before the sign goes up and don’t get paid until the home sells and the sale closes. We work for free in a high risk, expensive occupation.
Buyers sometimes work with multiple agents and are not honest about it. Showing houses to buyers and educating them on the home buying process is a lot of work. It is done for free if in the end they buy through another agent. Often the other agent is an agent of convenience.
Not everyone on the internet is who they seem to be. This came as a shock but I have read that there are untrustworthy people on the internet, other than real estate bloggers, and the internet can be used to commit crimes. There are also assorted lunatics, some are harmless and other are dangerous and I have to sort them out each morning as I go through my email.
The worst kind of client to work with is one who does not trust Realtors. They often don’t trust buyers, sellers or lenders either. They do everything they can to work outside the system. By working outside the system they miss out on some of the consumer protection built into the system and they end up becoming a victim.
I try not to think about dishonest people. If I do it makes it harder to do my job. Most of the people I meet and work with are wonderful. I enjoy meeting them and working with them and realize how lucky I am. Most of the real estate agents I come into contact with have been a joy to work with too and I trust them completely.
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Teresa-thanks for writing this. I don’t want or expect consumers to blindly hand over their trust, I fully expect to earn it. Please let me earn it without having to get out my sledge hammer to break through that brick wall!
-Your fan and colleague from across the river.
Thanks Lisa. i almost didn’t post it. I would say that you are a great example that a 100% of the population can trust completely.
I think it’s one of those situations in life know as projection. Certain people are untrustworthy, suspicious, and cynical. Because they are like that, they project that on everyone else.
People like this, whether potential clients or Realtors, live on one-way streets.
Realtors often get hooked into many disappointing relationships because they won’t walk away.
But, as I mentioned, people are people and I find just as many Realtors fit this bill as clients.
Thanks for that, Teresa. Real estate is such an intimate process, and trust is extremely important. You don’t have to trust the clerk at the convenience store counter, but you do have to trust your realtor. Conversely, as long as the clerk is behind bullet-proof glass they don’t really have to trust you, but the realtor has to trust the client.
The need for unusually high standards is the issue here. I’m glad Lisa said that she expects to have to earn trust – that seemed like a lot to ask at first, but as I think about it I can’t see any other way.
John – this post was much longer and talked about cynics. – the people who can’t be trusted and don’t trust others. I have let clients go or in some cases chosen not to work with them because my instinct told me to stay away. We do need to earn trust no question.
Great message in this article. Thanks. Lar
To my mind only an idiot would fully trust a real estate agent, absent prior experience with them. But perhaps I’m “projecting”. As for the terrible things buyers and sellers can do, you said it: “…we work in a high-risk environment…” Performance and compensation in all entrepeneurial activities are linked. If you can’t sign them up and keep them around, well…
In my industry (residential remodeling, which has it’s share of bad apples)I work with many clients who don’t trust contractors. They are not my “worst clients” and I don’t avoid them, or assume they’ll become “victims” absent my sage counsel. Maybe they’ll get a better deal and better service…who knows.
I welcome the opportunity to distinguish myself- and if I can’t- that’s my problem, not the client’s.
Sven – I agree trusting someone completely doesn’t seem wise. In my own experience the clients who don’t trust me have been the worst to deal with. They are less likely to be honest with me which makes my job harder.
Distrust of contractors is common too.
I have no problem with someone who says, “I trust you completely,” but I would suggest that anyone who says “I trust real estate agents completely” probably isn’t a great prospect.
Seems like a stoopid thing to say about any profession really.
Having said that, I am rather proud of the advances this industry has made towards trustworthiness. Most people are suspicious of the industry but they think their agent is different.
The hardest part about this job to me seems to be the times when I get “used.” Like you said, we spend weeks or months with a buyer or seller and then they leave us high and dry, when we did everything we could for them. They even have the knack for making us feel like it is our fault.
It’s hard to deal with that, but I find that if I think about all the great clients I’ve had I feel a lot better.
we definitely need to earn that trust, and I think this medium of blogging puts us out there and lets people learn about our business and make an educated decision before they decide to work with us.
Thanks for the article, Teresa. I can think of a number of people I’ve talked to recently that ought to read this. Being a relative “newbie” to the Real Estate Industry (less than 2 years), I have a lot to learn yet, but have found that, as in all business, being educated, informed and HONEST goes a long way to “projecting” that you are who you say you are, and begin developing and earning that trust with a client. Granted, some people will be dishonest or not trust you no matter what you do or say, but that’s our job as real estate agents to develop that ability to “read people” and “listen to your gut”. Then we can to some extent choose who we work with.
Art – thanks for stopping by. You are right about trusting your gut. Early on I would work with anyone and everyone but have learned that in doing so I end up wasting a lot of time that I could be spending with family and friends.