One of my most read and commented entries on Padkos was Brokers Behaving Badly. For every “bad broker” out there (and there are many), there are twice as many buyers who act up. Regardless of their success, every seasoned agent has more than a handful of stories to tell where a buyer has mistreated them.
Recently, I’ve seen a surge in “bad buyer” behavior. On several of my projects, I’ve seen the same buyer want to revisit the same property a few weeks later with a different broker. I’ve also had buyers directly reach out to me after being introduced to a property by an agent – to eliminate the agent, hoping they will get the credit of the commission their agent would have earned.
An agent’s life is filled with uncertainty. We invest our time, money, and resources while helping our “client” find a home, knowing that we only get compensated if and when we have a successful closing. And now, more than any time I can remember, buyers seem less loyal, more fickle, and opportunistic.
Buyers abandon their original agent for one of two reasons. They either feel legitimately misrepresented by them or believe they can get a better deal without their representation.
This has always been true, but why are we seeing more of this now than ever? It can’t all be the fault of the unscrupulous buyer. There has to be something more endemic to people’s attitudes toward agents and their feeling about our industry.
Here’s my theory.
The average American purchases three homes in their lifetime. Their first purchase happens, on average, at 33 years old, meaning their exposure to the agent and our industry is mainly from the media. The millennial buyer gets their information from multiple media sources – most of which are inaccurate or self-serving accounts of our industry.
The leading real estate trade rag built on impressions sensationalizes inaccurate accounts of our industry, presenting us as an industry of unethical misfits. Reality shows offer our industry as a circus full of clowns who value drama and mayhem above all else. Instagram ‘influencers” are more interested in followers and personal fanfare than in promoting their clients and properties.
They read and see this, but this is not who we are.
My cousin’s son recently visited New York from Australia. He was shocked that our incredible city was nothing like the feed in his TikTok and Instagram, which painted a picture of a city filled with crime, rats, murder, and homelessness.
If we expect our buyers to behave better, we need to change the narrative.
Let’s do this.
-Shaun