Real Estate Blog - Hey Stupid Lazy Realtor.....Don't be riding my coat tails

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Hey Stupid Lazy Realtor.....Don't be riding my coat tails

Leigh Brown wrote a post a while back about Listing photos as seen by a Seller. It talks briefly about how sellers should consider asking the agent that they are interviewing what type of photographic marketing they are going to do. She brought up a good point about another listing she was inquiring about for a client and noticed how the first four days on the market that there were no photos on the MLS.

I am updating this post as well because I failed to include my friend Renee Burrows post http://activerain.com/blogsview/150437/Protecting-Your-Intellectual-Property which talks about water marking your photos.

I do not know about the rest out there but I take all of my photos on every listing we have. You would think that any agent that is listing properties in this market would be running right to the office as soon as they can to import them so they didn't lose a days market time. I wondering if these types of agents want to sell the properties or just let them sit. Maybe the word "lazy" comes to mind? Well I have an even better story. I had this listing in Pembroke Pines about a year ago. The seller was in trouble. Same story...overpaid during the boom and now owes more than it can command in our market. He called me because his relative purchased the property from a seller who had me list it. I tried for 8 months to sell it. the only showings we had were my own cultivated leads. I did three open houses and I spent money marketing the property and I took pictures. Well after all that... we could not sell it ...he called me to say he needed to take it off the market. It was a tough sale anyway and the home was bare and was in poor condition.I do take pride in the photos I take even though I left the toilet seat up in one of my recent posted listings. "ok...no one is perfect!"

I told him I would be willing to try to sell it again but he needed to price it much lower. I never heard back from him. But recently I noticed he re-listed the property with another Realtor(R).

I had no problem with that because it was a property that in my opinion was not saleable the way it was. The new Realtor(R) listed it way too high"that's her problem now" ...but as I was looking over the listing I noticed that she decided without my authorization to use all of my photos. I thought I was losing my mind but I even matched them against my old listing and they were exact.

The funniest thing was the agent was not only lazy for not taking their own photos...but was simply stupid enough to include my sign in the yard from the front exterior shot. I decided I would just play it cool and email the agent that she had absolutely no authority to use photos I spent time taking and that she needed to remove them immediately. You are talking about an agent who has been around and works for a big company. Well..it has been a week since my email and no response form the agent. I went back into the MLS today to see if she complied and believe it or not ...she did. She probably was too embarrassed to respond back. This happened to me a few years ago when an agent stole my remarks word for word and the photo he used had my car on the driveway...you could almost read my license plates. What is the the deal with that?

The point I want to make is why an agent has to not only be lazy but has to steal another agents photos? To me it is the most unprofessional thing I have ever seen in this business. Why should I let another agent ride my coat tails? If you are going to interview a Realtor(R) to market your property then you should make sure you ask them about what type of photo layout they will provide when they market it.

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Posted by Neal Bloom-Realtor ® Assoc.-CRS-Weston FL on 08/03/2007 05:19 PM

Comments (44)

neal the real deal bloom, realtor, listing, sell, big company, stealing photos

Originally posted at: Weston Florida Real Estate Blog, Neal"The Real Deal"Bloom : Hey Stupid Lazy Realtor.....Don't be riding my coat tails

44 Comments on Hey Stupid Lazy Realtor.....Don't be riding my coat tails

AUG

2007

'The Real Deal' Has Spoken! There will always be those who take the shortcut to 'working'.

Jason,

I just happen to see it..can you believe she would use a photo with my sign on it?

Neal:

Can't believe you took a picture of a bathroom with the toilet seat up.....for shame. LOL Our MLS has tried to solve the problem of agents stealing photos by imprinting the photos. (You can see it on the bottom of my listing) Of course some agents never learn and now and again you will see a listing pop up with double Source: CTMLS, Inc., so every agent then knows the LA stole the photos!

Sandra

Sandra,

Better the toilet seat then the stolen photos. The seat can always be retaken.

we are all looking for the same thing.... the 95% of the agents that do 5% of the business to step it up and do their job..... Ain't never gonna happen.... LAZY IS AS LAZY DOES

It is copyright theft! Many MLS do not allow that. File and ethics complaint and threaten with a lawsuit.

Desiree,

More stupid than lazy but I agree.

Jim,

I was told unless the copyright is registed it ia not..but I also thought that too.

Great post Meil, No photos for days or even the day the listing goes up is one of my pet peeves.I would prefer to wait a day to actually get the property listed n the MLS than list it with no photos. How often I wish I could tell a seller what a diservice there agents were doing for them by not listing photos from day 1. I had clients looking for a $500,000 home who wouldn't even condsider llooking at the listing info with no pictures.

And how rude and lazy to steal your photos

I've had it happen. I had a commercial listing in Hugo, Ok. Had some ads on CIMLS. Overpriced property. Listing ran out. Seller relisted with my competition that was renting from him. They used my photos in their ads. I let it slide.

Neil,

I can't believe people would steal like that, they sound like they can really use the help.....

Tom Weiss

Michael,

Well good thing she removed them because I was in my hatchet mood today to call the board.

Judi,

I do not have a problem having another agent advertise my listings but not after they change the Realtor(R)

Tom,

I was shocked.. I drove by the house...not only did the agent put their sign in ...the HO has a FSBO and rent sign...That is why I didn't care much about the house...just my photos.

Amazing...let's sic Roscoe on her:)

Neal, I'm always the loan wolf on these photo stealing posts. Maybe it's because very few of my listings are ever relisted but it's just not something that would bother me. I take very good photos and if for some reason I didn't get the property sold AND my photos would help the seller get it sold, with another REALTOR(R), I just wouldn't care. It's not like I'm going to use them again. The other REALTOR(R) may be lazy but it really is about the seller getting their house sold. I guess I just look at it differently.

I do not know about the rest out there but I take all of my photos on every listing we have.

Yes I do that too. Picky about my photos. And don't forget the lady cooking. Ha ha, gottcha !! Good post, great conversation yesterday and my Dell parts didn't come. Opps, am I hijacking your post. Fell free to delete if I am but it's Friday.....

BB.

Actually all my listings have sold except maybe two. But the point is not whether or not it will help sell the home...it is the stealing I do not like. I am sure if someone stole from you it might be a different story.

Missy,

Good talking to you too!

Mine came today..starting to get up an running as you can see. No email yet...other than my blackberry.

Yeah I am not a big fan of people who steal. Everyone has a different definition of it.

You could be right Neal. I've never had it happen that I'm aware of.

Neal - I have seen this sort of thing a number of times. And the photos that they "borrowed" weren't all that good anyway. Go figure. One would think that the sellers would want to know what pics are being used, and would be a bit upset when they are unflattering. In this day of inexpensive digital technology there is just no excuse other than laziness,

Jeff

BB,

I just happend to see it by accident because I farm the neighborhood.

Jeff,

I checked today ..it seems to be cahnged...my photos were nicer...:)

We had the same thing happen in the Fort Myers area, the Board installed a program into the MLS that doen not allow anyone to copy the pictures any longer.

Its a shame that it has to come to that, but hey, it is what it is, and as usual you get what you pay for..

Jay,

I wish they would have one for ours. And we pay a lot.

I wish they would do something to ours as well.

Neal, I've had that done here too. Now, if my listing expires and they don't relist, I eliminate my photos. Funny how they comment about my listing having no photos to the owners after i've shown them the photos to proof on the site. LOL!

Rene Burrows wrote about the photo stealing problem a while back, I bookmarked her solution for watermarking photos. You can see it here http://activerain.com/blogsview/150437/Protecting-Your-Intellectual-Property

AUG

2007

I would have cracked up seeing my sign in the photo or my car.... how funny - glad you brought it to her attention and that she corrected it.

Thats what I like to see Neal. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it probably is a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ duck. Hence, the title "Hey Stupid Lazy Realtor" is appropriate for this post. Call it like it is! By the way, those spaces _ _ _ _ _ _ _ are for the word "frickin". Yeah, right!

Hey Neal - I will never understand agents who do things like this - steal pics, steal remarks, etc. The ethics and moral of gutter-snipes, in my opinion. If they would do that, would else would they, do they, do........

Glad that agent took them down, even if she didn't respond directly to your email.

I had a listing a few months ago that I'd had for awhile - months - and the sellers were getting so desparate that they really began micromanaging everything I was doing or not doing. They had moved, had bought another house and then had another very unexpected job transfer, so were stuck with 2 mortgages and living in a 3rd place in a rental until something sold. The wife was on my back so much that it began to get to the point where I would get headaches and tense up when I saw emails from her. We agreed to part ways, and they listed with another agent that I knew. My pics had their furnishings in the interior pictures since I took them just before they moved. They had their new agent call me and tell me that since we had parted on good terms they thought it might be 'nice' if I'd give all the pictures I took to the new agent since there wasn't any furniture in the house at that point, and my pictures all looked so nice. Right!

Ann

By the way, I was coming back to mention a post that had tips on watermarking your photos, and then I noticed Jim mentioned Renee's post. Check it out and consider doing that to your pictures, even those with your car and/or your sign in them!

Ann

Sally,

I should go back an look at Renee's post about water marking.

Kay,

I leave them there for this reason.

Jim,

Yes..I think I missed that one or commented way back when..I should add that one to the blog as well..thanks.

Thesa,

You would think the agent might have been clever enough not no include my sign...but hey..another stupid Realtor(R) obviously she got my message loud and clear without me making more out of it.

David,

That's right...thats friken right brotha!:)

Ann,

Whether or not it is in the best interest of the seller getting the home sold...has nothing to do with stealing my work and my time to help them. Quite frankly..the home is really bad..when I had it listed and they bought it ..the home was bare..so a few years later...it seemed there was an animal who relieved themselves but never saw the animal...the house is way overpriced and with over 80 others and I am not saying the client comes first...but I never called the client to tell them.I just went right at the agent..the agent can have it. I wasted money and time to make it happen...the seller just kept taking all my color flyer's and sending them to his friends..and leaving me black and white copies for the house..we had no one come other then my own prospects. I just do not like when an agent has to be too lazy to use their own camera for their own photos.

Neal - it is beyond me and it really makes me angry. I had a similar situation with a photographer client who took her own pictures and then saw them being used. The sad part is that our local MLS gives permission for other to take the pictures. Before you upload them you must agree to their terms and those are to loose all copyrights.

AUG

2007

Ines,

It makes me angry as well...and I know BB said that if it helps sell the house...that is one thing but if you steal from me then you face the consequences. I am sure if someone stole something whatever it is than you would not be happy...if the other Realtor(R) thinks they can sell it then great..just do not use me to do it. Also there is more to the story about the seller than I care to discuss. If you saw it you would understand.

When you spend time taking many shots of the same room or the exterior, pour over your work to find the perfect photo, it is beyond irritating when someone slides in and skates by to use the work. As for the remarks ~ this is our intellectual property, our words, our work. When I got into real estate here I took the time to learn every MLS field. I know it like the back of my hand and I take a fine toothed comb through each of my listings to use every field I can in the MLS. When I have a withdraw or an expired listing, this may sound catty, but I go through and wipe all of those fields out.

If one is going to sell themselves as a professional, they better take the time and act like one!

AUG

2007

Renee,

Thanks and I am glad we agree..I do not take time to remove the fields..you never know if you'll need to refer back to them...besides..after 2 years they remove the old listings from the MLS...only you can see the history of when it was listed but yes...very caddy to do..it is our work whether it took me five minutes or five hours..it is down right stealing and just a lazy way to get out of getting off your butt.

Gotta love it. You know, I just had a great laugh with a seller client-her neighbor put her house up for sale FSBO/we do nothing for less agent this week. I pulled up the photos and I swear, whoever took them was drunk. Hey, it's going to help our cause but dang. Thanks for the link. =)

Hi Leigh,

It was my pleasure..there is nothing like a fellow rainer who think like myself...great minds thing a like and Renee too!

That really takes a lot, to use someone elses photos! Even if you don't have a digital camera (which is something no agent should be without), you can take 35mm photos and have them put on disk at the photo shop. But to steal somebody elses photos, that is really low!

AUG

2007

It only takes a lot of nerve to do it and not even think first that they are stealing. Lucky for the agent ..I did not make more out of it.

AUG

2007

Not a good thing. I hope that salesperson is reading this blog and learn something!

Richard,

She knew better because I would bury her. She will need more help selling that property anyway. God will get back at you for doing something that is not honest.

AUG

2007

Short cuts and pure laziness will always be around- I just hate it when I find photos that are so blurred that you can not even see them like they had been copied so many times that the photos are useless or taken from a cell phone then posted. What a shame and a embarrassment to us as professional agents!

AUG

2007

Some realtors have a lot of nerve!! And even others ARE lazy!! I take my own photos too! It's the only way to go.

Tracy,

You would think they would be desperate enough to make sure that any deal on the books was done right and not using short cuts with my stuff to capitalize...all I will tell you is there is no way that house will sell in it's current condition and at that price. That house has absolutely nothing and I have to others with more upgrades and in better condition and lower price. I'm not saying the seller should not ever sell. Just not at the level they are at..that Realtor(R) took it just to have inventory..I already let it be know that I would not have taken it back when the seller asked me and for the % he was offering? Not!

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