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標題: Think twice before hiring friends as your realtor [打印本頁]

作者: kelrich 時間: 2010-7-15 08:13 標題: Think twice before hiring friends as your realtor

本帖最後由 kelrich 於 2010-7-15 08:18 編輯

Seems alot of LYK-ers are starting to hit the stage of their life to buy (or even sell) a property. At the same time, you will find there is always someone around you who are licensed realtors soliciting you for the business.

It might sound trivial but alot of us (including myself) often favor choosing realtors because of the friendship rather than competency. This is a huge risk because:

1) In many cases, they are inexperenced so they try to build up their portfolio by secure business from friends and families. This is not suggesting they are not going to get a job done, but an inexperienced professional often poses greater risk of not able to get the job done effectively and your business will be part of his/her learning curve.

2) The relationship between friends/business partners can be confusing. As a client, you might find it odd to bring up any concerns related to the realtor/friend's performance. As a realtor, he/she might hestitate to give you fair assessments, or on the other extreme, he/she might be taking the working relation too casual and at time abuse the friendship to cut themselves slacks. (personal experience: I was selling a family condo in downtown and the realtor took advantage of the "free" parking for non-work related activities).

In BC, if you are buyer, you are not paying the commission; if you are a seller, you are paying the commission which you are paying pretty much at industry standard rates. One can argue friends might give you more "discounts" or "rebate" of their commissions, there are lots of qualified realtors who are willing to give you such discounts. Moreover, if your place is not selling or getting a fair return, what's good to pay lower commissions? I am not saying all your friend realtors are not capable of getting a job done, but often we are blind sighted to select a realtor because of the connection and in the end, we are paying the price - I learned a painful lesson on this.

作者: Arlui 時間: 2010-7-15 08:31

I agree...I think it is for most things though (not just for selling houses). Be very careful to go into any business relationships with your friends. Unless you can both be professional in the business without affecting your friendship, it is never a good idea...

Better to work together in a business relationship first, then become good friends....

作者: kelrich 時間: 2010-7-15 08:39

That I agree too... I brought this up because I notice alot of topics about buying / selling homes now and I had pretty interesting (but painful experience) in this. I am not intended to throw my friend/realtor's name here but juts want to share the thoughts

作者: chowB 時間: 2010-7-15 10:47

Oh i feel sorry for your case la... . but sorry to say, they're not your good friends in the first place anyway! if they don't try to protect you (as their "friend") but take your advantage. Not only talking about real estates thing but in general la. They may cheat you on many other things too. To my pov and experience, insurance friends are even worse tim.

作者: samsung 時間: 2010-7-15 10:59

totally agreed! I got some c9 friends getting the licence because they are too mo liu and think they can save some commission if their family wants to buy or sell properties, I won't even consider any of them... even from their outlook or the way they talk, you know they are not professional at all, this drives me think getting such a licence is very easy, everyone can get it... can anyone proof this?

作者: daimo 時間: 2010-7-15 11:02

well, not that I'm buying real estates ...

but all of my friends who became life insurance agents are no longer my friends.

作者: Arlui 時間: 2010-7-15 11:05

haha that bad? do they really try to sell to you all the time?

作者: kelrich 時間: 2010-7-15 12:35

In fairness to my friend/realtor, the person did have the ambition to sell my property at the best price but did not have the experience and the personality. She was committed to the appointments but also she was relatively immature and get distracted. While she might be successful in the future, she is making mistakes at the price of her clients.

Its always a bugger when you are seeking for service (whether realty, insurance, etc)... there are always someone around you challenging you why you are not using their service. For some services, the work is pretty standard so there would be much consequence or room for anyone to screw up. However, things like realty (biggest investment for most of us), or health related... don't feel bad if you are not seeking friends' services.

作者: Catpiano 時間: 2010-7-15 13:12

well, not that I'm buying real estates ...

but all of my friends who became life insurance agents a ...
daimo 發表於 2010-7-15 11:02

Lots of my friends are life insurance agents .. not too bad for those here, but in HK ...

Well .. we have insurance already, so .. not that bad la..

作者: chowB 時間: 2010-7-15 13:43

I think dealing with friends is different to business la. i have lots of 'friends', some of them are just eat and drink friends, some are closer, some are good listeners to share deeper things and so on. I only deal with people who are responsible when talking about business. Even they might be fresh, if they're responsible they might carry out good result. But some (or many) "experienced professionals" are bad, because they're "experienced" and know how to cheat and lie in a more "professional" way! Haha......... Experience, professionalism, and responsibility and honestly won't necessary stay together la! LoL

作者: fibbi 時間: 2010-7-15 13:45

當與任何人有利害關係，都很難做朋友。

作者: tofu 時間: 2010-7-15 20:31

i think before you choose your friend as your agent, you need to know what is his style, and how well is he doing his job.
I used a friend as real estate agent, he is so green, but that is why he can spend so much time on my case. the deal didn't go though but i am happy with his service. i chose him because i know he is a honest and responsibility person.
the experienced one usually is really busy, he may not have time to address all your concern, or sometimes you just deal with his assistants.

作者: masterbear 時間: 2010-7-15 20:43

i think before you choose your friend as your agent, you need to know what is his style, and how wel ...
tofu 發表於 2010-7-15 20:31

Well said and agreed with u!
Kelrich: totally understood what u mean and your situation. Lots of Sellers just thought bargain of agents commissions and pick the cheap agent but they forgot the BIG lump Sum $ of their own property is also really important!

作者: DragonFire 時間: 2010-7-15 21:43

朋友就係朋友，一切同金錢有關o既都盡量避開，有利益就有機會傷到感情o麻....

Hope you two can get over with this.

作者: pkphilip 時間: 2010-7-15 23:55

Long time no see Kelrich...

Philip

作者: kelrich 時間: 2010-7-16 00:13

本帖最後由 kelrich 於 2010-7-16 00:20 編輯

I ended up not extending the agreement with my friend after 6 months; granted the market is not hot for the past year or so for condos, my unit was the second longest active listing since 2010 and she blew one and only offer (see below). As it was my parents' property, I took a lot heat from my parents. Tofu: I had the same thought initially I hired my friend, she was "green" and she indicated she will commit to all the appointments and will do the best she can to follow up on all the leads. The problem is she doesn't have any resource and requires our support (for one, she got us paying $3K for hiring a staging company to decorate the place - which was a total waste and many realtors can arranged some furniture as props without such hefty investments from sellers ). She doesn't have anyone to support her or even have marketing strategies like websites or ads. I couldn't argue her passion with the job but like what I said, she doesn't have the resources. I am partly blamed for not doing my due diligence to determine whether her personality suits the role or her ability to handle the service (another e.g., we did had an offer come in; after she emailed us an offer around 6pm, we couldn't reach her by phone nor email for the instant 4 hours because she had silenced her phone watching a 4 hour movie). For some "mis-communication" issues, the buyer pull off the offer. Now I just sold the condo but its about 6% less than the previous offer back in Feb as I hired an experienced realtor who I don't know but specialized in that area.

Here is the part that you might ask: "how is your friendship with that realtor after"?

After I told her my family will not renew the listing with her (via email in semi-formal way), she offer a reduction of her commission (I refused as I don't see any advantage of doing this if I can't trust she can sell the place). After we met to have her return the key (she had been delayed the appointment 3 times which one of them due to her party), I had no longer talked to her (nor she is on MSN) for about 3 months. However, as soon as I posted on my MSN that the unit was sold, she started to surface on MSN asking me how I managed to sell it, why my parents are willing to reduce the price further, and she even asked me to provide her any marketing documents from the other realtor so she can "referred" to. In all, this becomes a business opportunity networking. I can't guarantee she will fail in this business down the road nor I won't conduct business with her forever, but the friendship is non-exist the moment she became my realtor and exposed her issues which I still shake my head everytime thinking about it.

This is a good discussion. Started as a topic about hiring a realtor which can be applied to other professional services. Though I probably open eda big can of worms about how catastrophic it can be to conduct business with friends, I do have some experience having friends/relatives for other services with very good results and which I recommended to my friends.

作者: kelrich 時間: 2010-7-16 00:16

Long time no see Kelrich...

Philip
pkphilip 發表於 2010-7-15 23:55

LOL... yeah... Phil

作者: 布小熊 時間: 2010-7-16 00:29

That's pretty bad... I am a bit surprised that your friend being such a green realtor didn't have a much more experience realtor as a partner/mentor.
My friend who was starting 3 years ago had one. And she seems to be doing good now. I may /may not use her as mine in a few years time when I can upgrade to a bigger place.
I guess if someone takes partying and movie as more important than helping their client to finish up the selling, she may not be suitable for this field.
(seeing my friend frequently step out from dinner and missing some of our gatherings because of showing time)

作者: Davidcopperfeel 時間: 2010-7-16 01:52

Friends係有好多種
To find worthy friends就真係好考眼光

作者: Arlui 時間: 2010-7-16 08:18

Do you guys find it hard sometimes though because it's your parents that will always want to force you to find friends/families to do things like this?

作者: 布小熊 時間: 2010-7-16 08:33

Do you guys find it hard sometimes though because it's your parents that will always want to force y ...
Arlui 發表於 2010-7-16 08:18 AM

My parents don't interfere with my business.

作者: KittyLeung74 時間: 2010-7-16 08:50

朋友就係朋友，一切同金錢有關o既都盡量避開，有利益就有機會傷到感情o麻....

Hope you two can get over ...
DragonFire 發表於 2010-7-15 21:43

感同身受!友情換來受傷,箇中滋味,刻骨銘心!
People come into your life for a Reason, a Season or a Lifetime.

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