Do people who lie, cheat, and steal always do better than the rest of us? Apparently in some professions they do. Obviously, in criminal professions, the people who get ahead are the ones most willing and able to violate the rules. In professions with shades of gray, and real estate sales has some dark fringes, living on the dark side of the shades of gray has financial rewards that seduce many. Real estate sales offers a chance for quick riches with little or no accountability and few educational hurdles to overcome. The profession does attract some good people, but it shouldn’t be surprising that such circumstances also attracts the dregs of society.
The most odious characteristic of the National Association of realtors is how they seek to legitimize bad and unethical behavior by labeling it “sales,” or as I prefer to call it, “bullshit.” To the NAr and many of the agents who adhere to their marketing tactics, the truth has no meaning. There is a narrative, somewhat loosely tethered to reality, that is designed to create false urgency among buyers in order to generate sales commissions. realtors simultaneously want to be recognized as experts yet held harmless when their expert advice is revealed as bullshit, often with costly implications for the buyer who relied on the inappropriate expert advice.
Acting badly in your name
Many people employ obnoxious real estate agents because they know that agent will do and say things the client would never do or say. People want the advantages of bad behavior but none of the responsibility or guilt for it. People will conveniently ignore the lies agents tell in their name because they want the extra money they believe this atrocious behavior will get them. What most fail to realize — mostly through willful ignorance — is that anything an agent says on their behalf is a reflection on them. Lying through a surrogate is still lying. Think about it, if you hire a hit man to kill someone, aren’t you still guilty of murder?
The agency relationship creates responsibilities on both parties. Clients need to know and take responsibility for what the agent says and does, and clients also need to take responsibility for knowing when their own agent is lying to them as well. Many people trust real estate agents far too much to their own detriment. Some of this is foolish gullibility, but some of it is willful ignorance as many people want to be flattered. The agent needs to take responsibility for the veracity of the information given to their clients as well as statements they make to the general public. Most don’t.
I described the dilemma this way in Urgency Versus Reality: realtors Win, Buyers Lose:
With Expertise comes Responsibility
Bad realtors want to have their cake and eat it too; they want to be recognized as experts on real estate and real estate markets, but they want no responsibility when their expertise is confirmed as chicanery, a conundrum with no resolution. realtors are responsible for their representations that buyers rely on. If they say prices are going to the moon, then who is to blame when that doesn’t happen? Buyers for relying on the experts? Or the experts for making stuff up that people rely on? All of this just gets worst when working with a dual agent. There is very little accountability in South Georgia with bad dual agency practices.
Does this make my butt look fat?
Perhaps this analogy is politically incorrect, but… Imagine you are shopping for clothes in a high-end retail outlet. You are trying on an outfit, and you are concerned about its appearance, so you ask the salesperson, “Does this make my butt look fat?” What is the salesperson to do?
If the salesperson responds, “Yes, that is not flattering to your shape,” they fear they will not close the sale, so even if the garment does, in fact, make your butt look fat, the salesperson is probably not going to tell you. As a customer, you asked a question hoping for accurate information to help you make a purchase decision. What you are likely to get is a self-serving answer that makes the salesperson money.
If a buyer walks out of the store with ill-fitting or unflattering clothes, who is to blame? Is the buyer responsible for failing to see the conflict of interest, or is the salesperson at fault for dissembling for dollars?
Unfortunately, in the world we live in, agents who act irresponsibly and even nefariously often get rewarded. As the story below explains, realtors who are assholes sell more homes. This is either a sign that unethical behavior is the best way to accomplish the task, or its a sign that far too many unethical realtors dominate the field. You can tell me which one you think it is.
http://ochousingnews.com/news/realtors-who-are-assholes-sell-more-homes
