Who Shoulders the Burden for Lack of Proficiency By an Agent?
Buyers and sellers can be nervous about engaging the services of a real estate professional. And they should be. This industry is one in which the professionals responsible for providing guidance to their clients are ones paid soley by commission. Too many times, for the sake of the pay day, an agent will take a client that is in need of representation in a type of transaction, be it short sale, commercial, land etc., that they have zero experience or knowledge in. Sometimes it's a geographical stretch for the agent enticed by the pay day. Maybe they aren't even in the same MLS jurisdiction to which they belong. But heck, since they are licensed in the entire state, why not try it?
Who shoulders the burden for lack of proficiency by the agent in these cases? The client who hired them or the agent themselves for not referring the client to someone better suited to serve their needs?
The client bears some responsibility for hiring someone that can not fulfill their needs. When dealing with a purchase or sale of property, the person doing the hiring should be choosy. Maybe calling Aunt Sally who sells residential real estate isn't the right play when you want to lease office space. Or calling best buddy Joe who sells real estate in an entirely different region of the state, maybe separated by two or more hours, is not a great idea. But how is a consumer to know whether the person they are talking to is truly being honest with them about experience needed or under belt, for the job?
In my opinion, that of a real estate broker whose pay is one-hundred percent commission, the majority of the blame lies with the agent who took on the client they couldn't serve.
Why do I think this way? Because WE KNOW BETTER. We studied and took tests to become licensed. We should have a clue by the time we get our licenses, what we know and what we don't. Certainly, when we are new to the business, holding a residential real estate license, I'd say a good rule of thumb is to stick to residential transactions within the MLS with which you have membership. If you are new to commercial, stick to commercial.
Once you've been in the real estate industry a while, you get a really good sense of what you know and what you don't. The transactions and geographical area in which you are most comfortable become clear. And if you are a true professional, you will have a network of agents geographically and specialty transaction wise, that can best help a client in need. Taking a deal for the sake of a commission, without being able to BEST represent the needs of the client, in my view, is ethically wrong. The only best interests served by doing anything other than putting the client first is only to serve our own pocketbook.
My philosophy has been, and always will be, that when you put the client first your business will thrive. People respect a professional that knows their limits and refers them to another professional who can best serve them when something is out of their wheelhouse. Chase commissions and you lose focus of the very thing that makes your business thrive...clients and THEIR needs. Do the right thing for the client and your business will flourish.
Comments(14)