I learned a long time ago to question everything.  Challenge the legitimacy of claims.  Wonder what substance is behind the title.  When someone has a license and three letters behind their name on their business card, we have that partial sigh of relief that we’re dealing with a professional.  There’s big business in associations and accreditations (is that a word?) that create those little letters after a name.  When someone has a license, they’ve received a rubber stamp from the government.  They must be good, right?  After all, they’re in a regulated industry with watchdogs.

As a buyer, a recipient of services, a valued client, we need to evaluate each professional we add to our team carefully.  I’ve been duped more than once by my own laziness in this area, particularly in selecting realtors.  I wanted to pass along a couple of examples of times when I relied on credentials and a reputation.  Hopefully this will save you from a potential mishap.

I once needed a realtor to help me sell 42 acres.  I was getting ready to move out of state and I had no interest in trying to do it FSBO style from a distance.  I had gotten ahold of a list of all the realtors in the county from an inside source.  The list was a ranking of the realtors by how many dollars they had sold in the prior year.  To me, this was an indicator of how successful each one was.  The ones at the top were the big dogs making the big money.  The huge mass at the bottom were the part timers doing it on the side.  There was one guy way at the top of the list, #3 I think.  He lived a mile from me and had a really nice house with lots of acreage and horses.  My friend, who was an ex-realtor, lived across the street from him and they were personal friends.  We had always heard good things about him.  He owned his own brokerage and had been in the business his whole life.

After talking to 2 other realtors first and disqualifying them, I called this guy Mike.  I had explained to him what I was looking for in terms of actions and results, and why I had not selected the prior 2 realtors I talked to.  He knew exactly what kind of service I wanted and he thought he was just the person to provide it.  So we set up a meeting, everything sounded great, and we listed with him.  I gave him a brain dump of all of the selling points of the property and answers to all of the objections I could imagine might come up.  Apparently he was not taking notes because over the next 6 months we was unable to hold onto the leads that he got.  Each person that was interested had an objection and he did not know how to respond and get them over it.  Not that there were many leads to deal with.  During that 6 months, I think we heard from him 3 times.  It turns out he lost our phone number at one point and at the end of our listing contract he had to track down my mom and get my phone number from her so he could call me and ask if I would extend our agreement.  At this point, we reviewed the activities of the last 6 months, the fact that he managed to lose the only copy of our survey plat map, and the fact that I found his MLS listing on the internet and saw that he posted photos of the wrong property altogether.  Listing renewal?  No can do.

Where did I go wrong?  On the front end I did great.  I interviewed 3 realtors before picking him.  I could not have been more clear about my expectations.  I made the mistake of letting his credentials play too large of a role.  I didn’t stay on top of the situation enough during the 6 months.  Had I known about leads before they were lost, I could have spoonfed him more sales coaching.  And, I never asked to see the MLS listing right after he posted it.  Should I have to do any of that?  No.  In reality do we?  Sometimes yes.

Now for a quick scenario on the buy side.  A realtor brought me a good deal so I signed the contract to buy it.  Did you know that you can go through the entire period of escrow and through your closing and never speak with your realtor again?  I talked to the seller’s realtor several times, and the title company a lot too.  My realtor disappeared in a poof of smoke.  Good thing I know what I’m doing.  A couple calls to my realtor only to hear voicemail that says that he’s out of town, and I quickly realize relying on him is only going to frustrate me and slow me down.  So I ask a lot of questions of the title company and the seller’s realtor and I learn a lot in the process.  I can’t imagine how I would’ve fared if I was a brand new investor.  What if I was fearful and needed reassurance?  What if I didn’t know how to read a HUD-1?  The mistakes would have slipped right by me.  My realtor was paid nicely to handle that transaction :)   Just glad it wasn’t by me!

There are many good realtors out there.  Really!  You just need to find them.  Just like anyone else on your team, you’re probably going to go through a few before you find one you can work with.  We’re not first time home buyers, we’re investors and we’re repeat buyers and sellers.  We are professionals and we demand good service.  Those who understand that can make a lot of money right along with us.