Outsmart Unprofessional Real Estate Agents With This

Just like in every other industry, some real estate agents are super nice, some of them are incredibly helpful, and -- let’s be honest -- some of them are downright rude, mean, or incompetent.

How are Real Estate Agents "Unprofessional?"

The party you’re representing in the transaction is called your principal. Don’t ever forget that you are acting with their best interests in mind. Remember, there are multiple people involved in a real estate transaction, all of whom want the escrow to close.

There is the escrow officer, looking for his or her job to be complete. There may be a transaction coordinator looking to get all the documents signed cleanly. There are two interested agents looking for commission checks -- don’t let that process get held up! And of course, the sellers want to sell, and the buyers want to buy. You may not be able to control other people’s behaviors but you can control your reactions.

“You can't always control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response. Your options are to complain or to look ahead and figure out how to make the situation better.”
― Tony Dungy, Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices & Priorities of a Winning Life

There are two main ways real estate agents can make a situation more messy than it ought to be.

1. They can bring a bad attitude to the table: Negative people are always going to bring down the mood of the room, an obvious concept, and you as an agent have to counteract that with your persistent positivity. There is a lot to the saying “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” and it’s important to remember this, even as you are dealing with sour attitudes from the other side.
2. Agents can be non-communicative: Because this is an important, high-dollar transaction with a very fixed time frame, everyone needs to communicate in a clear and timely manner. An agent who does not respond to your calls/emails/texts promptly, is being a bad agent! They might be doing it intentionally, to drag out the transaction, but it might also be an oversight.

It’s important that you reach out frequently, and especially so if you’re not hearing back promptly. Your clients will appreciate you for it, and your commission check will come on time -- we call that a “win-win situation!"

When working with another agent, they are literally called your “cooperating broker." If they are not cooperating, though, there is a lot 1600risk. If the other agent is not being reasonable, it’s time for you two to have a one-on-one conversation, not in front of the principals and not at the house for sale.

How do you deal with “difficult agents?”

You need to remind the other agent of a few things. First, you should always maintain a professional and friendly demeanor between each other. Second, you both have a lot riding on this sale, so it’s best to focus on the end result and put aside any differences you may have. Third, you MUST communicate openly and frequently about any issues that may occur. Neither of you want this escrow to fall through!

As they say, “it takes two to tango.”

Sometimes the other agent is simply unwilling or unavailable to be a good and thorough agent. As a last ditch effort, you can go to the broker of record on the transaction. This person, the head of the office at the brokerage, will be able to put some pressure on the agent to be a better representative for their principles.

They have a brand at stake, and they want to maintain the reputation of that brand with the clients and within the neighborhood.

So, as a recap, there are plenty of good agents out there. However, some of them are simply irresponsible -- whether uncommunicative, incompetent, or simply rude. You want to avoid them when possible. Stay professional, communicate constantly, and take them aside if necessary. If all else fails, go to their broker. Just don’t get discouraged!