Looking for an Agent? Avoid this #1 Dumb Mistake!

by Cynthia Cummins

How’s that headline for clickbait?

You hopefully already have a dedicated real estate agent (me! since you’re reading this) on your life-success team. But I was astounded to learn recently – in an industry report on consumer sentiment – that half of the surveyed buyers and sellers hired the first agent they talked to.

That seems like Dumb Mistake 101 to me. Would they have done the same thing in choosing a pediatrician for their child, or an estate attorney for their family, or a dog walker for Milo? I don’t think so.

There are plenty of dumb mistakes people make when hiring a Realtor, and I’ve witnessed all of these:

• Hiring the agent who’s mailed you a free fridge-magnet calendar every year for the last decade

• Hiring the agent suggested by a friend / neighbor / colleague / stranger you met in the checkout aisle at Whole Foods 

• Hiring the agent who just got their license and “could use some help starting out”

• Hiring the agent who names the highest potential sales price

• Hiring the agent who’ll work for the lowest commission

• Hiring the agent who supposedly has a buyer for your home or a listing they think you’ll love

• Hiring the agent whose signs you’ve seen around 

• Hiring the agent who leads with their status as a “top-producer”

• Hiring (without vetting and comparison shopping) the agent your estate or divorce attorney suggests

• Hiring (without vetting and comparison shopping) the agent with the so-called luxury brand brokerage

• Hiring the agent whose last name begins with the letter closest to the one on the Scrabble tile you’ve selected at random (seriously, this actually happened…)

I think there are two things going on here.

First, people don’t take the decision seriously enough. Maybe it’s because residential real estate is 20% business and 80% emotion. Rationality goes out the window and the consumer is swayed largely by mood, instinct, serendipity, or the desire to be “sold to.” As one pundit put it, “They’re thinking ‘Who do I know?’ or “Who does somebody else know?” instead of ‘Who will deliver the desired outcomes?’.”

Second, and more importantly, Realtors don’t take themselves seriously enough – especially given a history and reputation that places us on par with used car salesmen. Agents need to educate the consumer more carefully and explain what it is that they DO do. 

This is easier said than done, as the job – done at a high level – is multi-faceted and nuanced. It’s not sales in the traditional sense. For example, how can you articulate or quantify the value of having a Realtor who is listening for what isn’t being said by a client? Or who is speaking the truth that a client doesn’t want to hear?

No matter how thorough my research and thoughtful my proposal, it’s often a foregone conclusion that a prospective seller or buyer already has an agent in mind, regardless of whether that agent is the “best” choice. They’re going with the fridge magnet provider or the authority who reminds them of their super-confident high-school football coach. They could be choosing a “good” agent or a “bad” agent, but they don’t know the difference because nobody has explained it to them.

Or it could be that they simply don’t care too much about the decision: They’ve heard somewhere that “anyone with a pulse” can sell a house. (Sigh.) They’re experiencing fatigue, having gone through the exhausting process of deciding  whether or not to make a move. They don’t want to disappoint the fridge-magnet provider. They’re side-stepping it altogether and bowing to the opinion of their spouse, parent, child, financial advisor, or esthetician.

Finding your best representative is the key to the house keys. (I just thought of that little quip.) Be smart about it and talk to a few candidates, including me!