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Professional Best Friends

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with The Real Estate Investment Institute 1retiredsage

Professional Best Friends, paid companions! Are you traveling through the most trying time of a would be home owners life not as a fiduciary, not as knowledgeable advisor, but as a paid companion, a Professional Best Friends! Acting like an experienced best friend, a yes-man instead of advisor?

For forty years I've been harping about ours being a people business! Regardless of everything else we do, buyers agent, listing agent, Loan Originator, or Stager we are in the people business! No matter how great your real estate skills success requires considerable people skills. Indeed in good times many have succeeded with little or no real estate skills, succeeded on people skills alone!

More than ever today's market takes a real estate professional with considerable real estate skills in addition to people skills. We will always need to hold the client's hand as we go through the processes of real estate, but it's our duty as real estate professionals to behave as such! Not Professional Best Friends!

Flagrant emotionalism has no place among the professionals in real estate, there is enough emotion expressed by the clients. Real estate professionals are suppose to be a guide, responsible for the protection of the client and a trusted advisor! Not Professional Best Friends!

Everyone has friends both true and erstwild or family to give them bad advice, they don't need a yes-man! They don't need another amateur advisor reacting to situations because they don't understand them, find them funny or offensive!

A real estate professional's job is not to impose your own standards, but to protect the client from himself! Your standards as opposed to the client's may well make you guilty of civile rights violations. Not showing properties because they offend you is steering, not providing loan programs you have available because you don't believe in them violates equal lending. Refusing to write or present offers violates both local and state laws.

Making friends with your clients is great, after the closing! Clients need professionals, not paid companions! Not Professional Best Friends!

Posted by

Bill

William J Archambault Jr

The Real Estate Investment Institute

wja@reii.org      Cell 832-259-7078,      Houston 832-582-8415,       Las vegas 702-516-1569

     http://www.reii.org  Back Cover One House At A Time http:www//reii.orghttp://www.flippingforfunandprofit.info/ http://www.billarchambault.com   

From my past: GRI 1975, FLI 1974, Catalyst from a client 1974 an agent that makes things happen, REII, The Real Estate Investment Institute 1995.

http://www.reii.org

©William J Archambault Jr   ©The Real Estate Investment Institute   ©REII

Comments(4)

Robert Machado
HomePointe Property Management, CRMC - Sacramento, CA
CPM MPM - Property Manager and Property Management

I think we are professionals only, not friends, as I think you are suggesting. 

Feb 21, 2010 10:27 AM
William J. Archambault, Jr.
The Real Estate Investment Institute - Houston, TX

Robert,

Hopefully!

That's a very sarcastic friend!  In fact pretending to be a pro' and not living up to the responsibility, means some are not even good at being a friend!

Bill

Feb 21, 2010 10:47 AM
George Souto
George Souto NMLS #65149 FHA, CHFA, VA Mortgages - Middletown, CT
Your Connecticut Mortgage Expert

Bill it is a delicate balance between the two and a line that is very easy to step over and we have to make sure that we do not.

Feb 21, 2010 12:15 PM
William J. Archambault, Jr.
The Real Estate Investment Institute - Houston, TX

George,

Over the years, after closing all most all my clients became friends. Not to mention may of the opposition. On the other hand doing business with a friend, espelily doing a better, more aggressive job for friends, no matter how good the deal is the beginning of the end. The only thing worse is doing business with family!

With family I always through in all the commission, it's best that you even pay all your expenses! Early on I helped two newly wed couples buy homes of their own, Brenda and I paid the down payment and closing cost, three years later one couple rediscovered we'd actually netted $200 on one sale, the other one we'd added about a thousand, but they decided we'd hidden our fees. 25 years later the first couple announced they'd forgiven me. It's now been 35 years and the second couple still think I cheated them.

If you start as a client and become a friend I have no problem, but I'll never charge if they were a friend frist, at least I know I do the right thing.

Sadder, but wiser.

Bill

Feb 21, 2010 04:01 PM