You may (or may not) have read here before that real estate agents who don’t answer their phones are a pet peeve of mine. I just don’t understand it. If you don’t want to answer a phone, you probably shouldn’t try to make a living selling real estate. The phone rings. A lot. It needs to be answered.
There are countless examples out there of agents not answering the phone. It’s a fact that agents (and their clients) have lost out on a sale due to a phone not being answered.
But what’s transpired here over the last couple of days set a new standard. I find it…. well, unbelievable, stupendous, incomprehensible. I’m not sure there is a word in the lexicon that truly fits…
I’m not making this up folks. I couldn’t invent this.
My lovely bride has a buyer. They are very interested in a nice east side condo. (The last one they made an offer on fell out when the inspector discovered extensive past fire damage in the attic. The poor owner had no clue as he waived his inspection — a really bad idea. But that’s another blog post.)
We have some questions for the listing agent. Just typical standard stuff. Plus we like to “feel out” the listing agent — glean a little info from them that will better position our buyers.
So Francy places the first call on Tuesday.
No answer, leave message. No return call. Repeat five times.
I don’t get it. If an agent leaves a message on my phone along the lines of, “We have a buyer interested in your listing. Please call so we can clarify a couple of things. It will take three minutes of your time”, I call them back. Swiftly. Don’t I owe that to my clients? But I digress…
Two days later, it’s quite apparent that the agent is never going to return our calls. So Francy calls the listing agent’s office. The person answering the phone, another agent, is of no help. So Francy asks to speak to the Broker.
He seems to be a nice guy. Francy reiterates that we have a very interested buyer, but we really need to speak to the agent and she’s not returning calls. Now for those not in the business the Broker is, in effect, the agent’s boss. Normally a call like this to the Broker results in the agent calling us within 5 minutes. (Typically with some excuse as to why they haven’t been able to place a three minute return call sometime over the last 72 hours.)
And here’s where this story takes the remarkable turn….
The Broker’s response?
“Oh, that agent doesn’t answer the phone. You need to email her your questions.”
WTF? Francy, who is usually never short of words, is speechless. About all she can muster is a polite, “Excuse me?”
“Yeah, she never answers the phone. Just email her. If you don’t hear back in a day or so, just let me know.”
What the double F? A “day or so”?!?
I wonder — does this agent tell her clients, “Don’t call me, I never answer the phone. Just email me and I’ll get back to you within a day or so”. Maybe she needs to take her number out of the MLS and just put a comment in the agent remarks section along those same lines. I wonder — does this Broker make a habit of employing agents that don’t answer the phone? Maybe that’s how he markets his brokerage — “COME WORK FOR US, NEVER ANSWER A PHONE AGAIN!”
Its insanity. Pure unadulterated madness!
Tip for those looking for a real estate agent: Call your prospective agent. See if they answer the phone. Sure, you can’t always answer it. I tend not to when I’m with a client. But if your prospective Realtor doesn’t answer or rapidly return the call, continue your search. If they won’t return your call, it’s safe to assume they won’t return calls inquiring about YOUR home for sale.
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Tragic and amusing post. I can understand not answering directly (I just had five calls in about as many minutes). But to not return fire when the smell of an offer is in the air. Incompetence…
10% do 90% of the work. That must be a fairly accurate stat. I look at it as an opportunity to eat everyone else’s lunch…
The next disturbing metric has to do with a simple measure of competence. Incompetent/Comptent Buyer in one column and Incompetent/Competent Agent in the row. The only way to accomplish the deal is to find a competent Agent AND a competent Buyer. Without weighing the occurances to slew the result, you only have a 25% chance of getting a successful deal. I suspect this is a fairly accurate stat as well (even though I made it up).
Very frustrating…
I emailed an offer to another agent last week. She is very successful and prominent in my area. I called her a short while later to talk to her about the offer. Her response infuriated me on a couple of levels … wait for it …
“I don’t use email.”
WTF is right.
Wow.
Well, sorry I can’t comment on this post, but you haven’t faxed me a “Request for Comment on This Post Form”. Could you please get that over to me and have it notarized?
Thanks.
This is not a comment. It’s a notice of intent to solicit a request for comment form.
Interesting..
If this story is true, as a broker I find this to be a bittersweet picture of modern commerce…or is this just a bellweather of our increasing lack of patience? And good manners? I never interupt one business conversation nor social situation (Dinner etc.) to answer a call. But by any measure, not returning a call in this market is puzzling. The buyer expectation that an agent is open 24/7 may be a little much..but e-mail responses only…please! I smell fiction!
Cheers
Craig -
I wish it were fiction, but unfortunately it is fact. If I could, I’d release the name and number and let you try calling this agent or broker yourself. But I don’t think that’s appropriate.
What would be the point in making this up?
I agree that the “Open 24×7″ mentality is too much. We’ve received calls as early as 6:00am. Well, actually I guess it depends on how you define “early” and “late”. We got a call once at 4:00am — someone from the east coast who apparently has no concept of time zones. Their message was along the lines of, “I know it’s only 7:00am, but…”
This certainly isn’t the only time we’ve had calls not returned. It’s just the most stunning reason I’ve come across. Jim’s “friend” that “Doesn’t use email” is almost as uncomprehendable.
Jay,
Great post. I had no idea till now I didn’t need a cell phone to be in real estate.
My first day on the job and I sat in rapt attention as my broker was about to disclose to me the secret of real estate. Now this secret had allowed him to make a great living for over 23 years when I met him so I was paying attention as he began his monologue.
“Answer you phone and answer your messages.”
It seems rather simple. But in truth, aside from a little marketing, that’s all I’ve really ever done.
This is what happens when it only takes 10 days to get a real estate license and begin representing clients in the largest investment most of them will ever make in their lives. Our industry needs better self policing. Our team would like to see new licensees working in a normal practice, i.e. not new home sales, be required to work in some sort of apprenticeship situation under the supervision of agents/brokers who are really going to watch and set a standard of excellence. That’d eliminate some of this stuff. But you have to admit, with (at last count) 95,000 licensees in the state, there’s bound to be a high level of incompetence!
Chris - sage advice from your first broker!
Tim - I agree completely! See this post I made back in September:
http://www.phoenixrealestategu.....he-bar/138
Jay & Francy: Perhaps you should email this blog to The Incompetent One (and the broker)–along with a definition of client representation.
There is no excuse for such non-responsiveness. The agent should be fired.
Jay, the other post was right on the money. Guess we can gripe and get nowhere. But this is like eating an elephant. Not sure how we would go about it…it may just be one of those unfortunate evils of the industry.
Wow! That’s all I can say!
I dealt with an agent last summer who ended up costing her client their $1000 earnest money because she didn’t return calls. A call to her broker didn’t help matters much but it did get her to return a call a couple of days later.
It’s one of the chief complaints I hear from people about real estate agents in general…they don’t answer the phone or return calls. It would be like a Pizza shop owner not turning the oven on!
We have this same issue with a BROKER of all people here locally. She is well known for not answering her phone. Usually the only way you can reach her is by email. It used to be hell trying to schedule showings for her listings because she would never call you back. She finally got Centralized Showings to handle them.
OH…and good luck trying to reach her even by email after hours or on the weekends. Not likely!
Even the Title companies know who she is by name and they first thing they say is…..”Oh, she never answers the phone or calls back”….
I wonder how in the world she has managed to stay in business and how she is able to keep any listings.
How can you be an agent and only respond to people via email? Some of these just have their heads up their a$$es.
How in the world can agents like that stay in business? It had to be a discount broker?
How did it end up? Did you email her?
How can you meet your agency responsibility if you don’t respond to the people seeking information on the property you’re respresenting?
“How did it end up? Did you email her?”
Yes, we emailed, she responded two days later. In the mean time the buyers moved on and bought something else….
those types are irresponsible…how’d they stay in business???
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