In my daily RSS readings, I came across two posts from the Bergs, San Diego real estate bloggers extraodinaire. The first, by Steve, recalled a comment from another agent who essentially betrayed his client. The second was an admonishment by Kris regarding Steve’s choice of the term “discount broker.” She also reminded all of us that such conduct is not restricted to any one segment of the agent population.
The situation that Steve describes is something that can happen in real estate, and comes up often in sports officiating as well. I can’t tell you how many times during a basketball game a coach will approach one official about the call of a partner. At that moment, it is absolutely critical that the official who is talking to the coach say or do NOTHING that could even be remotely construed as selling-out his partner. Generally, it is a good idea to say something like, “He was in the best position to make the call, coach.” If the coach has a real question about the call, a good response is, “You are going to have to ask my partner, coach” or, “I will ask my partner about it.” The worst thing that can happen is a comment like, “Yeah, that was questionable” or, “I wouldn’t have made that call.” Either of those will get the referee and his partners in major trouble very quickly.
The situation that Steve describes fits into the latter set of responses. In both the real estate scenario and the officiating scenario, such a comment is usually the product of a desire to escape blame, responsibility, or embarrassment. The sellout referee doesn’t want to catch the wrath of a coach for the call of his partner, and the sellout REALTOR doesn’t want to suffer the embarrassment of an overpriced house. In both cases, each person shifts the blame to someone else, be that another referee or the home seller. In both cases, the offending party should worry less about being embarrassed, and more about being an embarrassment his profession.
If an agent thinks that a client’s home is overpriced, there is a time and place for expressing such opinions. Preferably, it is done with the client in private, not with potential buyer’s agents in public. Referees disagree will occasionally disagree on calls. They are very aware, however, that the place to voice such disagreement is in the privacy of the locker room, and not on the very public field of play.
In officiating, the selling out of partners has very immediate effects that are felt by everyone wearing stripes. In real estate, the consequences of selling out a client aren’t quite as easy to see or quantify, and their effects may not be felt for weeks or even months. On the other hand, the effect of selling out a partner official on the field or court is usually emotional and psychological, while the effect of an agent selling out a client will definitely be monetary. Most people can get over a bruised ego or hurt feelings; getting over the loss of what might be tens of thousands of dollars is an entirely different situation.
Either way, don’t be a sellout.
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