Throughout my years in this real estate gig, I will be the first to say I have few real complaints about any of the agents with whom I have worked on the other side of a transaction.
Oh, sure, there have always been a few notable exceptions, but we will find varying degrees of expertise, training and knowledge in any field, so it's to be expected not every agent is a stellar agent.
I feel fortunate to have worked with largely highly professional, experienced, knowledgable agents in my career.
So, it was quite surprising when I came up against an agent who apparently went to the "Winning through Intimidation" school of real estate negotiations, however, instead of being intimidating, she was simply loud. And rude.
I should have known how it was going to go when she sent an offer over for one of my listings and then proceeded to itemize for me over the phone every single fault the property had, including a detailed analysis of how every other house in the neighborhood that was on the market was far superior and yet far less expensive than my listing.
When she finally stopped to draw a breath, I just said, "And, yet, here you are."
That was followed by silence before she changed course, which would become her hallmark.
Everything was an affront to her personally, it seemed. Even her emails were written in huge, bold font, as if she were perpetually shouting.
At first, it was annoying, but to be honest, by the end of the transaction, it was actually pretty comical as she became a screaming parody of herself.
Throwing around comments such as "my clients will WALK on this transaction if your owners do not do every single thing on this list of 51 home inspection repair items."
Oh, okay. Here are the 6 things they are willing to do.
"That's not enough! That's an insult! I cannot believe this! The house is practically falling apart!"
Hmmm, okay. Please get back to me on what they wish to do. Have a nice day!
The louder and more demanding she got, the less her clients got. She threatened to kill the transaction more than once and when that had zero effect on me or my clients, then she would reverse course.
She even argued about things she knew absolutely nothing about; do you know how hard it is to have a conversation with someone who is loudly protesting something that they know absolutely nothing about? Sort of like arguing with someone who says the sun sets in the east. This is not a conversation you ever want to have. It's maddening and will make your head explode.
Despite everything, yes, we got to settlement. Had I had not worked at maintaining my composure in the face of such vitriol, I suppose it could have gotten nasty in a hurry. And although it is always tempting to jump into the fray and slug it out, I decided it was not in my clients' best interest to behave as she was and just shrugged it off.
It was nothing if not entertaining. My head may never recover, however.
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