Early in my career, I was fortunate enough that a well-established local Realtor referred me a teacher, who was also a single mom, seeking to buy her first home. To say I was thrilled and flattered would be an understatement. Realtor knew I was somewhat new to the business, could have chosen one of the proven horses in her stable, but took a chance on ME.
Seriously, I wanted to send her flowers, but tried to contain my enthusiasm at having the opportunity to impress one of the top producing Realtors in our area.
Luck continued to smile on me as I met with teacher, bonded immediately, and realized she had good scores and enough income to qualify. I produced one of my first pre-approval letters and sent it to the top Realtor that very day, thanking her once again.
Silly me. I thought that all systems were go for an offer to be written by the top Realtor, on a condo that teacher had already seen with her.
Imagine my shock when teacher calls the very next day to tell me she has decided to ditch top producing Realtor for a different Realtor she has found on the Internet. Why? Because, in thinking it over, she preferred to work with a Realtor who had formerly been a teacher.
"This won't be a problem, will it, Janet?"
Well, YES, lovely teacher (who really does not understand this completely). It presents a huge problem for me. My mind whirled. She had no intention of calling top producing agent back, she was embarrassed. She asked me to do it.
I considered my options and wondered:
1. Should I refuse to do the loan out of loyalty to my Realtor?
2. Should I continue with the loan, but offer some kind of compensation to the Realtor? (Wait....isn't that against the law??) What would make up for losing this sale?
3. Should I try to convince client to go back to top producing Realtor?
4. Should I NOT call Realtor at all and insist that teacher do it?
5. Should I call the Realtor and tell her she has been ditched? Won't I somehow be guilty by association?
6. Should I call Realtor and say there is a problem, please call the teacher immediately?
What do you think? If you were the Top Producing Realtor, taking a chance on a new mortgage broker, would you hold her responsible? Would you ever send her another one of your clients? And how is this situation best handled, in your opinon?
Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Lending Expert Based Out of the San Francisco Bay Area
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