Is real estate a cut throat business?

Many times I hear people talk about how “cut throat” the real estate industry is.  They make it sound like we are continuously taking each other’s clients or stealing each other’s leads.  Is that just a "fish story"?  Here in Idaho, I prefer another type of Cutthroat which is much more palatable!

I have been a Realtor in Boise, Idaho area for 20 years and am proud to say I seldom run into cut throat Realtors due to the Realtor Code of Ethics. It establishes guidelines for dealing with fellow Realtors and with the public. Every Realtor has to agree to abide by this code or they can not become a Realtor.  They can still have a real estate license, but not be a member of the National Association of Realtors or use the trademark “Realtor”. http://www.realtor.org/mempolweb.nsf/pages/code

Sometimes, we compete for business and sometimes we loose, but that is healthy, it doesn’t mean our industry is cut throat!  I have taken over listings after another Realtors listing expired or earned a builder’s future business by showing them the benefits of my marketing plan compared to what they had in the past.  That doesn’t make me a cut throat Realtor, it just means that I effectively out marketed my competition!

I have personally worked at the following franchises in Boise, Idaho: Realty World; Coldwell Banker; John L. Scott; and three separate RE/MAX franchises prior to opening my own independent real estate brokerage.  Ironically, in the hundreds of transactions I have closed, I can’t think of a single one in which I was competing against another person within my own franchise even though we each offered drastically different services to our clients!  If a consumer was interviewing several Realtors, they would typically select from different companies, not from within the same company.

As I reflect back on my past clients, most of them sole sourced me and didn’t even interview another Realtor!  Many were referrals from previous satisfied clients or repeat clients themselves.  I don’t expect to win every listing competition I go on.  I realize some Realtors will discount their commissions, others will offer unrealistic prices in hopes of “buying” a listing.  I prefer to just out market them with proven strategies.

As I write this blog about being cut throat, I am being inspired by the lyrics in several songs by a band called Meatloaf.  “I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that”,   I won’t cross the ethics line which might explain why my company is an A+ rated company with the Better Business Bureau.  In another of their songs titled “You took the words right out of my mouth”: “Would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses?"  My response is “If you do your job right, people will offer their throats willingly!”