We are told we need a thick skin to work in Real Estate, at least as thick as our head.

There are always stories we as Realtors can tell about unruly or unrealistic clients that drag us through the muck and in the end leave us nothing positive to show for our efforts.

In most cases of tension between us and a client we can look back and see that we jumped into that muck deliberately and with both feet and have no one to blame but ourselves. 

In my community right now there are many overpriced listings with withered and leaning signs on lawns that were buried in snow drifts most of the winter. Listings that the agents likely knew were overpriced when they took them as most will have done their due diligence to deduce the true market value of the property.

Knowing that, they still made a conscious decision to list the property at a price reflective of the client’s expectations and not the facts the professional efforts and resources of a diligent Realtor would reveal.

Any listings are better than none is popular logic in the deep freeze of January right?  The reality is many of those listings will expire and many peoples image of that Realtor and our industry gets tarnished as a result, because an agent chose to act on what the client wanted to rather than needed to hear.

Taking a call from the client to tell you they are canceling or not going to extend the listing period because they have lost all confidence in you would seem to me to be a bigger (and more expensive) kick in the pants than having the confidence to walk away in the beginning when told “if you don’t list our house at the price we want we will find someone who will.”  Imagine shopping around for a doctor until one finally tells you “you are at your ideal weight”.

If you have any self doubt in walking away when given that ultimatum rather than entering into a doomed client-agency relationship don’t worry, it subsides each time you check the status of that overpriced listing over the next few months. You may smile as you drive by that home over the next few months and notice the color of the sign on the lawn seems to keep changing.

Don’t be afraid to give the strait dope when asked “does my house look fat in this price range”.  Tell people what we as a profession are paid to tell people...the simple facts be they warm and fuzzy or bitter pills. If every Realtor did this then people would be quicker to fall in line with realistic expectations, the market would be healthier, and the entire industry would be held in higher esteem as a result.