"You Can't Fix Stupid"

I was showing homes to a client last week. He seemed to be unusually well prepared for every home he saw. It was puzzling me how he came up with so much detailed information so quickly. He seemed to have all the information I could provide before I could even provide it. He even asked me once what MLS area we were in ... why would he care? However, I was hesitant to ask how he was getting his information.

As the day went on and we became more comfortable with each other, he finally told me.

As he put it, he was working with an agent who wasn't very good. The agent actually suggested that they all take the client's car and ride together. Then he showed them homes they didn't want because of his own personal gain, such as his listing or a listing that paid one percent more commission.

Then came the really amazing part. Since the agent obviously did not have a search engine on his website, if he had a website, and didn't want to bother to work for his pay, he gave the client his name and password to access the MLS directly! HE GAVE THE CLIENT ACCESS TO THE MLS DIRECTLY!!!

But since the agent was lazy and incompetant, the result was that the client was doing searches, and calling me to show him the homes. I guess the lazy agent forgot to give him his E-key or the client could have been acting completely as his own agent without a license.

It never ceases to amaze me how stupid some people in our industry can be. Giving away access to MLS is not only unfair to everyone who pays for that privilege, it's like giving a child an M-16 with no instructions to play games in the neighborhood!

I'm now in the process of contacting MLS to let them know we have an idiot amongst us. There should be some way to get rid of people in this business when they are just stupid, because you can't fix stupid!