Stop all the clumping, I know some great part time agents
I also have some great part time agents in our company also. Biggest problem is that they are not always up to date on daily changes in the market..or in the real estate industry.
Sometimes I just read the headline and just move on to something else to keep my blood pressure down. It's sort of like watching the news during an election cycle (which by the way doesn't it feel like we ALWAYS in an election cycle now). But back to my point, this morning on Inman I read an article about "part-time" agents and well I have an opinion and I'd like to share where it's vastly different from the author.
"Are part-timers the primary source of the public’s negative perception of Realtors? Probably not, but they certainly can’t help"
I don't think the negative perception of the public is based on WHEN you do your job as much as how you do you job. Case in point. If a "full-time" agent is busy on an appointment and lets a call go to voice-mail, how is that any different from an agent who waits until they are on a break or at lunch and responds. Besides I know a LOT of people who check their email when they are at work. I also know a LOT of people who have jobs that allow them to take phone calls. I also know some "full time" agents who don't answer calls and have voicemail that is full and tell me a house is vacant and then my buyers and I find someone home. I think it's those agent with no organizational skills and lack of work ethic who give the industry a bad name. Frankly if someone has TWO jobs I think they have a pretty damn good work ethic.
If the part-time agent doesn’t have the time to be fully immersed in the daily intricacies of the market, how will they prove their worth to dialed-in consumers? How can they provide the market insights learned from being all-in all the time?
Just for grins and giggles I called ten agents that are "full time" and asked which way they thought the market was trending. I have a few tell me "to busy". And yes, they are right, we are busy in my market. But none of the agents knew if inventory was up or down, if days on the market were trending up or down or prices were still flat or starting to move. Granted I'm in a rural area, but I can tell you that I personally know a "part-time" agent , wait scratch that agent who has another job that works circles around most "full time" agents and does multiple neighborhood market reports. So if you do real estate only or if you do real estate along with another job you are dialed in if you study the market, not if you don't do anything else.
And now to speak to the author's belief that consumers are more dialed in:
Home buyers are hyper dialed in during their home search thanks to changes in technology. National portals are giving consumers instant access to listings.
Most consumers I know have jobs and a life and are not all consumed by a home purchase. Even recently a buyer in my office who HAD to relocated for a job was also juggling wedding planning and vacation plans. So yes our nifty home search sent this buyer homes that fit the criteria IMMEDIATELY as the went into the MLS, but guess what the agent on that search also got notified as soon as the buyer looked at that email. And most buyers can't leave their job the minute that email comes in just like an agent with another job can't get up that minute and walk out. But they can plan to see it at 5:30 that day and good agents are willing to write offers at 7 p.m., not just 9 to 5.
So Tyler Smith, it's my belief that your "Opinion: Why the consumer will eliminate part time agents" is wrong. I believe that crappy agents eliminate themselves from the business. But at the same time more crappy agents who don't put consumers first will always come along to take their place. There are also bad doctors and bad lawyers. Sometimes they get run out business and sometimes they stay long enough to do some real harm to real consumers just like the crappy agents who harm consumers buying or selling a home. But it has little to do with if they are "part-time" or "full-time" and a lot to do with their work ethic and level of compassion for people and attention to detail.
What's your opinion?
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