I've been reading quite a few blog posts recently about why old time agents suck, or agents chortling about "big agents" sales production slipping away. Tweet or die seems to be the mantra these days.
And it's all a load of crap.
In my area we saw the production of the larger producing agents drop significantly. Agents who were too professional to become whores for the banks who have been trying go get into our industry for decades. And new, so called tech savvy agents just lined up to open the door and let them in. Listing houses they never saw, never priced, never participated in advising their seller clients in negotiating. Just take those bank owned listings or short sale listings, list them at a fire sale price, and watch the buyers line up!
Screw the neighbors. Screw their own past clients (if they had any). Too good to pick up their phone. MLS instructions to email your offer and don't leave a voice message. Too good to talk to other agents.
I guess they had to be somewhat tech savvy. They had to email the offers to their seller.
Well now those days are over and those agents are disappearing. And the dinosaurs are back!
The dinosaurs who still have 20 or 30 years of past clients who sat pat during the downturn. Dinosaurs who never took to cyberspace to disparage others ways of doing business. Dinosaurs who know more about pricing, marketing, and actually talking to their clients. Dinosaurs who actually know the meaning of the word fiduciary. Dinosaurs who know the difference between advertising and marketing and realize that print really ain't dead. Nor is direct mail. Or customer service.
I was one of the first in our area to get a computer. I think I had the only decent web site for years- a site I had to learn HTML in order to edit or build out. But I never criticized the older experienced agents. I learned from them.
Those agents who seemed to disappear the last 6 or 8 years... They're back. I pass their signs. Their listings are showing up in my CMA's (those would be SOLD listings). I see their print ads and their faces on the seats in the grocery store carts.
Because one thing that never changes. Real estate is a service industry and the dinosaurs know how to interact OFF LINE.
Comments (5)Subscribe to CommentsComment