In a perfect world, we all want to get along and play nice. But today’s real estate market is about as far from a perfect world as you can get!
And while we strive to maintain the highest level of professional courtesy in our dealings, there are times when the interests of our clients come first, and we must take control of the situation by “any means necessary.”
I am sorry if you or your client made a mistake. I am sorry if you are on vacation or otherwise unavailable. I am sorry if you failed to do your job properly.
It is not MY job to fix it. I won’t. Nor will I engage in any attempt to exploit the shortcoming beyond the parameters of the original agreement. We all make mistakes, and there is no reason to make a bad situation worse.
But I will insist that my client’s contractual rights as written are protected.
By any means necessary!
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Richard,
When in doubt...read the contract. Works for me.
Rich
Wow. Richard, I'm actually surprised to read this. There are many times when I've had to take care of something that should have been done by someone else. I did it because it would have delayed the closing otherwise. I like to look at my role in the transaction as one of a facilitator. And while it does frustrate me when others don't do what they're supposed to, pointing out that fact to them isn't going to get the job done.
A fully executed contract is binding and that's what we have to go by protect our clients.
I've had agents "borrow" my photos from one of my expired listings. (Yes, I do admit to having had some listings expire unfortunatley.) I was taught to treat every listing as a completely new listing. That means you take new photos and re-measure the rooms.
If an agent goes on vacation, I would hope that they have back-up or at least plan on answering the phone while sunning on the beach. Let's not drop the ball folks-buyers will go elsewhere in a heartbeat!
I have had to do this when the buyer's agent did not observe the timelines for inspection repair requests. They missed the deadline and therefore lost their opportunity to request anything...contract moved on. But I don't think the buyer was too happy with their agent.
Someone has to take the leadership role. This is not to be cocky, this is to get the job done. Even though we are competitors, we are still in this business for the same common goal. However, those agents that decide to drop the ball are going to hear about it, as there are know excuses for neglect, being unethical, or just laziness.
Hi Richard,
It is part of our job to protect our clients. In fact it is one of our main fiduciary duties, and it always suprises me how many other agents out there forget that :(
Rich...
But not for Fannie Mae ... but that's a whole new blog post! Thanks.
Maggie...
You would fix something that was not in your client's best interest? I re-read the post to make certain that it was not ambiguous. This is a post about contractual rights, and protecting them for your client. I know what you mean when it comes to "tasks" but not when it comes to "compromising" on a deal that is already struck. Thanks for the comment.
Craig...
Not according to Fannie Mae! lol
I love it when I am doing deal with a competent agent on the other side. However, when that isn't the case I most definitely take the lead. Have a good week!
Richard, picking on Fannie Mae this morning??? Now, why would you (or I) do that???? LOL!
No question - above all else, you have your duty to your client and following the contract. Given that, I think you base what needs to be done and your part in it based on case by case. For instance, I had one Realtor leave the country and left no one to support his client. Unfortunatley, he was also the broker. Get this! The day of closing he called the title company (from another country) and insisted they fed ex his commission check.
On the other hand, in the middle of another transaction, the agent fell deathly sick and spent a lot ot time in the hospital. One needed to be hung from his toes and beat with a stick. The other required compassion. It just depends.
People do make mistakes and when I do, I eat the whole crow. I expect others to do the same.
Richard - I wholeheartedly agree with the post. I would add that these agents are the first to play the blame game and point fingers when it is their own failure that caused the problem.
Richard,
much of what we all do is take care of failures by the other side...it does get tiresome having to do our job and the other agent's job as well. Some agents are on permanent vacation...hey there are phones and faxes and email almost everywhere people.
YEOW! Get 'em!
You are the Enforcer!
Richard...I agree, although, I have done some of the buyers agents work before. Without doing so, my clients would have been hurt.
The Buyers agent was not happy when I withheld the Commision check intil I had a chance to talk to his Broker!
Sounds like a bad situation. I hope it all works out for your client. I don't know why some agents don't get that a contract is binding.
There are times I have to talk to other managers, and what I do is pull out the old contract and read it together.. :)
As I remember it our first responsibility is to our client. We should all be doing our jobs and things would be a lot better for all.
I'm crazy about contracts. We really watch our dates and time-lines, especially since we do so many short sales - we just cannot miss critical dates. I still believe that many agents just fill in the blanks and not fully understand the obligations to those time-lines. Unfortunately, they learn their best lessons when things go wrong.