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Is Your Real Estate Agent All Fat & Carbs, or Do They Have Protein?

As most health conscious people do these days, I found myself comparing the nutritional labels on various cereal boxes, juice containers, frozen meals, and other assorted products in the grocery store during my most recent trip to the supermarket. This got me thinking...

What if businesses, specifically, real estate agents were required to have accurate labels describing how they practice their business? How would that read? Would it be a service to the public to advertise the truth about each agent?

Here's some things that I would like to see on the "nutritional" labels of each REALTOR to aid consumers in choosing the agent for their purchase or sale of a home:

ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
TRUSTWORTHINESS
KNOWLEDGE OF THE REAL ESTATE PROCESS
KNOWLEDGE OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
NEGOTIATING SKILL
ENTHUSIASM
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
SALES RECORD
EDUCATION
% OF RETURNED PHONE CALLS

To me, these items represent the protein, or "the meat" of being a REALTOR. I'm sure you may have other ingredients to add to this list.

Is your real estate agent all fat & carbs, or do they have protein?

Wouldn't it be nice to know upfront?

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Posted by Brian Block -- Northern Virginia & D.C. Real Estate on 06/06/2009 05:26 PM

Comments (29)

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29 Comments on Is Your Real Estate Agent All Fat & Carbs, or Do They Have Protein?

JUN

Hi Brian, As many or even most people read labels, this could be a marvelous professional solution to the superfluous overabundance of real estate people. At least consumers would know what they are getting, :-). Perhaps one more ingredient : Character

The facts. Just the facts Ma'am.

Hi Brian~ The nice thing about buying fresh fruits and vegetables (Not frozen) in that you know exactly what you are getting! What if we all had to be fresh and full of ideas and energy too?

I used to wish people, in general, would be required to were labels and content disclosure: 10% reliable, 1% honest, 45% hot air, 32% self-absorbed, 30% genuine, etc.

Professionally, I do have content labeling: 100% Buyer Representation -- 100% of the Time!

Brian - How about adding some organic food (Google Juice) to the list of nutritional items an agent should have?

I would add "COMMUNICATION SKILLS" to the list. Communication with clients as well as other agents! Returning phone calls, giving courtesy feedback on listings, writing accurate listing descriptions with showing phone numbers that work.

Brian - I culled and separated the agents in my office this year and they all are the cream of the crop. 100% focused on improving the office and client relationships.

I think "all show no go" could be added to the list.

All show and no go is a good one. sub categories such as short sale experience would be good too.

... great food for thought Brian, and best title I've read in weeks !!!!

Nice analogy Brian - if only we could make life so simple! And since everyone else is adding their contribution to the ingredient list, how about something to identify those who are current with the latest tools of the trade... though I'm having trouble thinking of a pithy title for that category. (FYI, road signs and newspaper ads do not qualify as the latest tools of the trade! :-)

I would also like to see some ingredients: e.g. website, blog, linkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Open Houses, Trulia, Zillow and so on so on...

Funny just today I was thinking about how 15-20 yrs ago I didn't even think about reading the labels. ~Rita

Hi Brian -- You hit the nail on the head. I would love for a J.D. Powers critique of real estate agents, this would be incredible. If it could ever be totally verifiable and accurate (now that would be some huge methodology to create).

Interesting metaphor to gauge an agent's career activity and client satisfaction. The difficulty is that many of these items are subjective, while the nutrional breakdown is quantitative. And where would a 'vegetarian agent' fall in the ratings?

An interesting idea. Is responsiveness part of percentage of returned phone calls?

What a simple but wonderful list Brian! That IS the nutritional value of an agent :)

Good concept - how about 100% lawsuit free??

It's difficult to say considering but I lost about 22 pounds just cutting down on refined sugars. I did so by reading labels closely so my number one ingredient would be % of returned phone calls.

JUN

How about an agent who understands the economics of real estate? How many agents out there can really explain to someone what causes interest rates to fluctuate, can prepare a price history analysis for an area or project income from a rental investment?

Hope all is well with you Brian!

Tina in Virginia

What would be the penalty for false advertising?

This would say a lot more than those self-serving web pages! I like this idea!

Hmmm....so the FAT and CARBS might be...

Lying
Dishonesty
Failure to Disclose
Incompetence
Failure to Return Calls
Lack of knowledge of contracts
Habitual tardiness
Lack of training
Arrogance...not confidence!
Lack of negotiating skills
Poor representation
Rudeness
Total Lack of Market Knowledge

Good post!!! You are so right...let's all work toward being lean, mean, real estate machines!!!

Great post, and really clients should be looking at the labels before they decide to purchase.

Not sure if there is much protein in some of the Real Estate agents in my market place, but sure there is a lot of fat that may need to be trimmed... :) or I suppose they will slowly melt away by the slow heat!

Interesting post and comments, Brian. Though I would like to see "Organic" versus "Processed" on the label, too. I've worked with some very talented agents on their first transactions that had fresh skills and unique market awareness compared to some "old timers" who thought they'd seen and done it all and acted like it.

I like it!! I want one! I think this would help most folks determine who to work with. Great idea.

This states the obvious, but i would disagree with experience. If you have done it wrong for 10 years versus right for 2, i'll take the 2. However, if all of your other criteria is met, then doing it right for a long time is worth something.

JUN

Brian,

Very nice and I notice that ethical behavior is first on your list. Usually on a label the first ingredient is the one most used so that would be fitting for sure.

Brian,
And the label would be on our forehead? LOL!

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