5. People who choose part-time Realtors
I don’t know about you, but if I’m looking for a professional, I don’t look for part-time professionals. I look for people who live and breathe the field that they’re in. If I’m looking for a lawyer, I don’t look for a lawyer who’s part time or if I’m looking for a doctor, I don’t look for a doctor who’s doing it as a hobby on the side. Please note, there are good, full time Realtors out there who do things on the side or in their spare time and I don’t consider those Realtors part time, but I’m not talking about those Realtors who take the licensing course part time, spend a couple hours in real estate every week and just have another full time job on the side, or they don’t really spend time studying the market and they just got the license so that they can help their close friends/family buy/sell a home. Basically, they’re not serious about the profession. In this industry, in my opinion, Realtors aren’t working in the best interests of their clients IF they’re just doing it as a hobby and/or not spending the time, putting in the work to understand the market.
4. Realtors who sell themselves by doing kickbacks
I don’t understand these Realtors. If they’re good at what they do and they’re really professional, why do they have to sell themselves short? Or, are they just lazy and want the easy business so they’ll undercut their competitors (other Realtors) in order to get the business through offering a kickback? I believe in fair competition, and in many industries, one of the ways to compete is by lowering your “price”, but I think for some reason, the public has this incorrect perspective that “all Realtors are the same, so I’ll just choose the one who charges the least” and so other Realtors feel like they don’t need to understand the market or even do their due diligence and work hard, they just offer 10, 20, 50%+ of their commission in order to get the business. Don’t those Realtors know that the more they reduce their commission, the more it cheapens the other Realtors in the industry? Imagine if ALL lawyers started doing that, and a price war ensues (A charges $300/hr, B charges $200/hr, C charges $100/hr, D charges $50/hr) and before long, lawyers cost $20/hr for their services. How do you think that’ll affect their professional image?
3. Realtors who are rude and unprofessional
This just bugs me. I don’t get it. When I see other Realtors who are just rude, I scratch my head and wonder why they are in this business. It’s a people business and if they don’t have basic customer service, they should choose another line of work. You’re probably saying, “Rude? I’ve never seen rude Realtors…”. Oh, some Realtors are just flat out rude to other Realtors, but they probably act like Saints in front of their clients”, which makes me feel bad for their clients who are choosing (who I think is) the wrong Realtor. If they’re unprofessional and just practicing shady and unethical behaviours, then I’m further irritated. I’ll share more about that in another blog post.
2. People who choose Realtors just because they APPEAR to be a top Realtor
Just because Realtor X’s sign is everywhere doesn’t mean they’re good at what they do. They’re just good at marketing themselves. Don’t get me wrong, there are top Realtors out there with signs everywhere and they’re really good. They’ve got a team and all this stuff. But not every Realtor with a team is good. There are a lot of shady Realtors out there, they get a lot of deals, can advertise they did X million dollars last year, won this and that award, but they’re rude and unprofessional and may not be the right Realtor for you. People should just do their due diligence and research Realtors. Find out what their business principles are, find out their foundational values and see if it is in line with who they want to work with. Just like not all doctors and lawyers are good.
1. Realtors who are either lazy or not trained properly
I don’t get this either. If I wanted to work in the corporate world, would I choose to work for a company famous for training that pays a little less or would I choose to work a for a company with very little training but pays more. Sure, I can work for ABC Accounting and get paid $70,000, but I rather work for Deloitte or KPMG and get paid $50,000 knowing I’m going to be trained super well and prepare me well in my career. So, why do people coming out of the Real Estate Licensing Program choose to work with brokerages who offer limited training or even no training at all just because they get paid more? Before, when I met Realtors in the industry that do things that make me scratch my head and face palm myself, I just condemned them. But now, I understand that they are that way probably because they weren’t trained properly. But I know, some are like that because they’re lazy, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and just say they weren’t trained properly. One caveat is if your Realtor doesn’t know something or did something incorrectly, it doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t trained properly. Being in the industry, I’ve learned that even highly trained Realtors with 20+ yrs in the business, considered Veterans in the business are still learning new things all the time. Because this business is so big, there are so many different aspects of Real Estate that Realtors need to learn. We just don’t know everything. Have you ever wondered why Doctors refer you to a specialist? It’s because they just don’t have the knowledge and training to be able to treat you effectively. Same with Realtors, but unfortunately to become a Realtor, you don’t have a 4 year intensive graduate program + 2 year residency program to become licensed, so Realtors just have to learn on the job and absorb as much information as possible on their own. If people who wanted to be Realtors had that kind of barrier to entry like a medical doctor, there’d be less Realtors in the industry and higher quality Realtors, that’s my opinion. Don’t even get started on that. Another post on that later…
Yvonne Yang 
Carlos Garcia 
