Real Estate Investing

There’s a little pickle of a situation in my county.  An area broker printed out all the sales data for year-to-date … she named who sold how much in one county … and who didn’t.  Then she sent the 40-something page report to everyone - to all the agents who have sold homes in our county this year, as well as to agents whose offices are located in the county (they might not have sold anything but got the email because of where they hang their license).

There are many many angry, upset agents in our area now.  The report is a little off because like all computers, a report is only as good as the information being requested.  When you ask only for data in one county, it’s not really an accurate picture of the total production of agents (well.. unless they haven’t sold in another county).  The report also doesn’t take into consideration that this is possibly the worst year in real estate in 20 years.

How can a computer print-out show what’s immeasurable - that like everyone else in this economy … even Realtors are struggling to make their house payments and put food on the table?  It really cuts deep to be called out in front of your peers — publicly confirming that production has been and continues to be incredibly frigid and frightening.

And then we saw deep in the email that the broker sent it to the local newspaper, too.

This is where I’m curious about the question of ethics.  While technically she did nothing wrong - she violated none of our ethics laws as written in our Code of Ethics - she did violate the trust other agents might have felt toward her, as well as trust we’ve had with the agents from her firm.  The deepest cut is essentially that by trying to publicize our production to the local newspaper, she may well have inhibited our ability to earn a living.  I have about 12 - 20 closings a year.  I want more.  This year has been dismal and if my clients see that my production is only a fraction of what it’s been in the past, they may question my ability to practice as a licensed Realtor.  They may think I’m not good enough to represent them and I could lose my clients.

This is where I believe the broker went wrong.  When her effort to recruit new agents will impact my ability to support my family, to feed my children, to care for my pets, to keep us warm and dry … I believe she owes all agents in this community (and me) a public apology.

Meanwhile I can tell you I will NEVER be recruited into working for that firm.  I think she’ll be hard-pressed to find other agents who would hang their licenses in her office.