Show Compassion for Your Fellow Agent
Most people would agree, that we’re living in extraordinary times. Having been a real estate professional since 1971, I’ve lived through some of the wildest gyrating business cycles since the end of World War II, and I can tell you, first hand, the present economic situation is far and away the most dangerous I’ve ever observed.
As the numbers of sold units, both residential and commercial, have dropped, so have the number of real estate agents; by and large, most of those who have left the industry were primarily the inexperienced and the hangers on. However, those of us who live and breathe real estate have remained; yet, most are not earning at the levels they’re accustomed to, and most are encountering continual and extraordinary frustrations from virtually everywhere – from the incompetent bank asset managers whose average age is 23 years old without a clue as to what the real estate industry is about, to the regulators who pile on requirement after requirement and change them in mid-stream, to the pressures of dealing with sellers who are either so emotionally stressed out that they can’t seem to make any decision (much less a rational one), to the buyers who are trying to see a thousand houses in hopes of saving another $2, and so on.
With the state of the economy, plus all of these pressures, many real estate agents are, themselves, stressed out beyond the normal high level of stress associated with this way of making a living.
Just this week, I closed a transaction in which I was the Buyer’s Agent. Although I’d never had any prior dealing with the Seller’s Agent, he seemed to be a well informed and experienced person, and was quite cooperative throughout the transaction. However, subsequent to the actual closing, he discovered there was an acknowledgement that should have been made by the buyer which was overlooked. So, he sent me an email along with the document for the buyer to sign; this document was required by his company before they would issue his commission check.
Anyway. Upon receiving his email, I read the document (which was perfectly fine). But, instead of assuring him I would obtain the buyer’s signature, and without realizing the possibility that this agent may be pretty stressed out from all of the things we all suffer under, I thought it would be prudent to advise him, that the buyer may not be willing to sign it since the closing had already taken place and there was no benefit to the buyer.
BAD MOVE!!!
Needless to say, and without going into detail, the Seller’s Agent let loose on me in a follow-up email. And, in all fairness, almost immediately after receiving that email, I received another from him apologizing for blasting me.
After thinking about this for a moment, knowing the nature of this person from my dealing with him during the course of this transaction, I realized that this fellow must be under some tremendous stress. I also realized, I should have been more aware of the probability of his emotional state before thoughtlessly blurting out something that may have been true, but not necessarily important to state regarding the potential for the buyer to ignore signing the post-closing acknowledgement.
So, rather than getting all puffed up and insulted, frankly, I felt terrible that I caused this fellow additional and unnecessary stress. So, I sent him back an email and assured him I would see the buyer immediately and would probably be able to get his signature on the document. I also told him, there was no need for him to apologize, because I totally understood his anxiety. I also suggested that he might want to go home early, kick off his shoes, sit back and have a cold one to help him relax.
I can’t tell you how good I felt the next morning when I received an email from this agent, thanking me for understanding. I’m very glad my stupidity didn’t cause permanent damage to our professional relationship; that’s the last thing any of us needs or wants.
The moral of this factual event?
Show compassion for your fellow agent; he/she is under tremendous stress, and neither you nor I should be adding to that stress when there’s probably no need to do so.
