What a great start to the summer we’ve experienced! The market is improving and many of you have shared your success stories with me. These successes are a tribute to the hard work each of you puts forth daily as a REALTOR®.
As business continues to improve, let me remind everyone that there are expectations as REALTORS® that we all must uphold.
Recently, I received a complaint from a member of the public regarding members of our Association. This seller had had their home on the market for quite some time. He/she had originally hired this particular REALTOR® to market their home.
The seller felt that this REALTOR® did a sub-par job in that the agent had them printing out sheets for the info box themselves. The agent also refused to do open houses and simply put the property on an Internet site as a “complete” marketing plan. The seller fired this REALTOR® shortly after the first of the year.
This seller also recently had 3 appointments either blown off or complicated in one way or another by REALTORS®.
Other examples included REALTORS® showing up at this seller’s home unannounced with clients, scheduling a preview appointment and never showing up, and giving unprofessional and inadequate feedback to the seller’s listing agent.
Several years ago, a WRAR task force identified behaviors that they thought were unacceptable. Based upon these behaviors, the task force identified what they believed were “best practices.” The task force submitted the booklet to the Board of Directors. The Board approved and published it to the members. I would appreciate every member keeping in mind some of the guidance provided in the Best Practices manual. (To see the entire Manual, Click Here)
For Listing Brokers:
- Develop a maintenance schedule when installing a brochure box.
- Provide Sellers with other broker’s comments and changes in the market on a regular basis. Honest critiques should be welcomed and may improve your client’s chances of selling their properties.
- Inform the seller of anything that may hinder the sale of a home.
For Selling Brokers:
- When making an appointment, follow the showing instructions stated in the MLS. Use the appointment-center phone number instead of calling the broker, especially when it is late at night. The appointment center will have the most up-to-date schedule about property showings. Sellers should not be unnecessarily inconvenienced, especially when you know the prospective buyers have not yet decided to move to the area.
- If a buyer refuses to enter a house when you have made an appointment, explain that courtesy demands that a broker stop by the house and leave a business card or call the appointment-center.
- Remember that having a home on the market may not always be an enjoyable experience; therefore, please extend every courtesy and consideration to each seller.
- Schedule appointments realistically. Schedule adequate time to show the property and drive to the next one. Call the listing company or appointment-center about any delays or cancellations.
In closing, I ask that you keep close to your heart these words from our REALTORS® Code of Ethics:
The term REALTOR® has come to connote competency, fairness, and high integrity resulting from adherence to a lofty ideal of moral conduct in business relations. No inducement of profit and no instruction from clients ever can justify departure from this ideal.
In the interpretation of this obligation, REALTORS® can take no safer guide than that which has been handed down through the centuries, embodied in the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye would that others should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
