I think back on all the justification I heard for selling homes or loans. It’s not about selling, it is about advising. In the securities business there’s a thing called Rule 405. It’s an SEC rule. It essentially says that you cannot put your client into an investment that is not in line with their risk tolerance and investment goals. Too bad real estate doesn’t have something like that.

I’ve only been licensed for a year. I’ve been in the business on the title side since 1976. My advice has always been and continues to be, if you can afford the payment and it won’t break the bank, do it. And stay out of those designer loans. It wouldn’t have helped all of those people who lost their jobs or took huge pay cuts, but it would have stopped a ton of these foreclosures. Now that I’m selling, I am very picky about which LO I let my clients use. If they bring their own guy I throw down the gauntlet early so that they know there will be no funny business in one of my transactions.

In the last year, my best sells have been the ones I haven’t made. On numerous occasions I’ve told a client “I hate this house for you.” They’ll want to look at it and I’m already outside. I have to slow down, go back inside and explain to them what I picked up immediately that would make the home a bad investment for them. Nine times out of ten it’s the amount of work in relation to my client’s ability to actually fix it, either professionally or DIY. That’s our responsibility to our client, to advise them fully as to what they’re getting in to. If we don’t, we don’t deserve to be in this business.

I actually love the “I read a post and needed to write something because of it” sort of posts. I think the interaction between bloggers on varying topics is an excellent way to not only sharpen your skills, but to potentially learn something new from the comment-post. My ideas and opinions aren’t (and shouldn’t be) set it stone. If they are, then you can strike the “education” line from anything I’ve written. Having everything in stone destroys the ability to learn.

Thanks again for the mention and I look forward to reading more!

I’m not a salesperson. I counsel my clients on their options and assist them in making one of the biggest financial transactions in their lives. Along the way, most of them will buy or sell a home.

I have counseled many clients to not buy, or not sell. I have one family that I talked out of 3 homes. They never did buy a home from me and are now moving out of the area. I convinced two of my clients last year that they needed to become landlords when we were going to have to drop the price on the properties so low that it was too big of a loss to justify. Last week I got a good offer on one of my listings, only to find out that the day before the sellers had found out that the job they were moving for was not as stable as they thought. Given that they were going to take a $75,000 loss to sell, I told them to pass on the offer and take the house off the market until they knew for sure if her new out-of-town job was secure.

I love my brokerage and the high level of education, but wish that the concept of doing what is best for the client, even if it means you don’t make a sale, was talked about as often as we discuss how to generate more leads.

http://www.sandiegolifestyle.info/2009/08/real-estate-salesperson-or-real-estate-advisor-which-one/

This is an important conversation and one both Consumers and Agents need to be having. Thanks for sharing and giving me so much good stuff! Jeff

Fantastic post – thanks for the two very important messages at the end. – Jeff

First of all thanks for the comment. I hope that you understood, and as I tried to point out, that I wasn’t necessarily bashing you or your post… just that it was THE post that hit me at the right time. Thanks for contributing and, as you have indicated, for looking out for those that have placed their trust in you.

Matt

I agree with you that education was missing from that list. And after your comment on the post, you can see I heartily agree with you.

I’ve written a lot about education and my thoughts on it. I think the education requirements to become an agent are too low. I benefited from them, but even then it’s not good enough for me. In my first year as an agent I took MCE course that were not required of me. Why? To learn something more. I only needed SAE courses, which I already had half of the necessary requirement (from a class that I thought was an absolute joke). I took the other half online because I (much to my dismay) forgot to do them in a timely fashion. A 30 hour course taken in an afternoon at home. What did I learn? I learned about the behavior of Pharaoh ants (which was an aside in the material and not part of the course work). I had hoped for better.

I skipped the “education” on the post as I have spoken about it many times. If anyone reads my stuff there or anywhere else, they’ll know I’m a proponent of more education – book wise or absorption wise.

As for your post in general, it is true for the most part. You hear “I’m here for my clients” but at the water cooler it’s a different story. I can’t say I haven’t been frustrated by a slow client or one who doesn’t understand what I try to teach them. But isn’t that a bit of human nature creeping in? I work hard for my clients and expect them to work just as hard for me. I strive to make their lives better and they should too. Sometimes those goals are out of sync, but I want them to be the same.

In my career I’ve advised a client to get out of the market because they weren’t going to net what they needed out of the sale (they had false expectations), had one client shake my hand as I pulled the sign from their yard because we were up against a builder and the builder was winning (the client is now renting his home as we await the builder’s final closeout), and advised a buyer to terminate a contract because we thought he was being shipped overseas (and it would have caused a whole mess of problems for him – we had already put the contract together when he first heard the whispers).

Money is great and without it, I can’t feed my family. You’re right about that. But if money were everything to me, I’d still be in my old career. The lucrative world of money-for-nothing rock and roll. I loved touring the world and showing up to work in a pair of shorts with a beer in my hand, but the fact is I wanted something more out of my life. I found it and even though it hasn’t been easy getting my feet off the ground at times, I am more determined than ever and have found ways to continue with something that I love to do and feel excited about.

I appreciate the link (and the comments on my post). Know that although we all need money to survive, we’re out there trying to do as much as we can to help our clients and keep ourselves alive too. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.