if you work with an agent who puts down. Other agents. It can affect your ability to get an offer accepted if you've got a bunch of salespeople with big egos, all trying to Take each other's clients. It just makes everyone pissed off and makes us all look like idiots.

what a great way to burn bridges. there's nothing that makes my eyes roll more than when I'm seeing agents just bash others just to make themselves look better.

Never complain about the other agent to your client unless they're doing something completely fraudulent or deceptive or something that you need to bring to their attention you never air out that dirty laundry. because it doesn't move the file forward. Welcome back to MillenniUP.

I can't speak that low. Welcome back. Nope. That's about as bass as I get.

So what are we talking about today, Jen?

All right. So something that I've just seen around here and there, like social medias, whatnot and some, real content, tech talks and whatnot is disparaging other agents. And as a real estate agent, putting other real estate agents down it might sound like a very, just like real estate industry inside world topic, but I really want to get into the implications that it can have. on the consumer when agents are bad talking other agents. And I guess I can just start off with the very glaring and obvious is what a great way to burn bridges.

Yeah. relationship business for sure.

yeah, I was saying this whole industry is so based around relationships and networking and it's political, who knows who, and there's quite a few agents that I know that if it's an offer that I have with my client up against, like four or five others, which is everywhere right now. And they're all like relatively close in price and terms. There's a few agents out there that I know will pick mine over the others. Cause they know that we will get a deal done together really well, there's nothing that makes my eyes roll more than when I'm seeing agents just bash others just to make themselves look better. And I am curious to know as a consumer, as somebody who is not in the real estate world, if you do see that, what your thoughts are on it. Cause from the inside, it makes me never want to do a deal with those

inside, it's just, it makes me never shit. want to do a deal with I give the consumer more credit. I think the consumer doesn't look at that and say, Oh, that person is really good then, we send screenshots back and forth cause we'll see agents, talk shit on other agents and I think the consumer looks at that and it just says that person just sounds like a pain in the ass. It definitely, if you work with an agent who puts down. Other agents. Jen is absolutely right. It can affect your ability to get an offer accepted because I have had situations where I've had really similar offers. They're like neck and the seller will be like, which one do you want to pick? And I'll be like I know this person. Or I know this person, I had did a deal with this person. They've been a little hard to deal with. I feel like if we have a problem like this agent's going to be easier to work with. Like that's a thing, man. That's a real thing

this agent is also in it to get it done. And that's, that's what you want. You want a smooth transaction don't get me wrong. I also have worked with agents who had no idea what they were doing and made it really difficult. But am I going to go slander them publicly to the world? No, my duty is to get it taken care of, take care of my client, take care of the deal. And you know what? Honestly, if that agent is acting that way, they haven't had the best training possibly. And you know what? I'm on the other side of it that I'm just going to help them learn and it can be frustrating. And sometimes I just like bitch quietly to Seth. I get it out and then I just go get it done. And honestly, like if I were in that agent's shoes, I look at the bigger picture, let me at least give that agent some guidance and some advice constructively and respectfully and then they can carry that on to their next deal. And if they don't receive it nicely, then. Noted. But like generally speaking, like we're all in this to get this done in a way that is best for our clients the philosophy that I absolutely despise is I hate the mindset of tearing others down to build yourself up. And that's that's what I see when I see that. And it's.

Yeah in real estate, any sales business, you need big egos. You need people with confidence. There is a lot of shit talk the same way. I We're all talking about generations all the time. There's a lot of shit talk. I've been in the bar. I roll my eyes when somebody is I've been in the industry for 40 years. I'm like, I don't give a shit. I don't care. I probably have done more deals than you, in the last two years. And you've done the last 10. It's like that doesn't mean anything. But then there's also the thing that I find the most interesting is the newer agent who comes in with a really big ego And decides that the best way for them to get ahead is to slander, not specific agents, just agents in general. I think it takes a lot of balls, man. It's like you're coming into an industry. You don't truly understanding. You're just sitting there saying. Oh, I know how to do it better. And agents are, are no good. And, I tell my friends to fire their agent, come work with me first of all, that's a vote by

massive violation of code ethics.

for anyone out there who doesn't know we're bound by a code of ethics. Most real estate licensees are in Pennsylvania are bound by a code of ethics

That is what the difference of being a realtor is versus just a

just a real estate licensee. And you can't disparage. Other agents. if a consumer has a contract with an agent, another agent can't go to that consumer and say, Oh no. Oh my God, they did what? Oh, you're not getting good guides. You should fire them and come work with me.

they can get fined for That depending on how many times they have been they could be suspended there's a whole like,

whole thing. And they take it very seriously because the real estate commission wants the consumer experience to be good. And if you've got a bunch of salespeople with big egos, all trying to Take each other's clients. It just makes everyone pissed off and makes us all look like idiots.

Plus, it also as the consumer, because like I said, this is getting back to you as a consumer and how it's going to affect you. If you have somebody who's trying to you from your current agent, there are times where I've heard of people that I've talked to with, they're getting questionable guidance. And I bound by code of ethics through my job. I give them questions to ask their agent just to be able to help them better understand what they're doing. It is a mutual agreement between them and their agent, what they want to do.

another thing to think about is if you're working with an agent who's in mid transaction I remember I got some great advice. Never complain about the other agent to your client unless they're doing something completely fraudulent or deceptive or something that you need to bring to their attention

I think at worst, I will say, I don't necessarily understand why they did that. But we will continue on okay. Say an agent makes a decision during we're under contract and the other agent on the other side did something to like ruffle my feathers or did something that like, I very much don't agree with or in a way that like just screwed things up in my opinion. I won't say that especially to my client, but I, at worst, I might say, I wouldn't have made the same choices. I'm not really sure what their thought process was behind making that, but let's just, here's what we have. So let's go ahead and do whatever we can

Yeah, I was under contract in Phoenixville in, I think, 2017, and I actually ended up loving this agent later, because I did another deal with her. She was with a big brokerage and it was this whole thing where she got them under contract and then she disappeared. And there was some transactional person that I had to negotiate with. And it was a really tough negotiation. I was representing the seller. She had the buyer and I just went to my clients and I was just like, this is bullshit. I can't get ahold of the agent. We had a conversation about this and now this woman saying that, and I went on and on. And. It turned out that my seller hardened their position to defend me hardened their position with the buyer on in these negotiations because they were pissed Off on my behalf. And I remember my mentor at the time,

love the loyalty, but

yeah, but it made it harder. And Linda, who's my mentor coming up. I love her to death. this woman like sold encyclopedias door to door in the seventies like she was a grizzled salesperson and she had a ton of experience in real estate and I didn't. And She just said, you never air out that dirty laundry. She says because it doesn't move the file forward. And this isn't about keeping information from the consumer, so then they sign and you get the settlement. it actually doesn't serve the consumer at all. It doesn't serve your client.

So the less hiccups you think are happening during your transaction Like the less that you hear is going on, the better. And it doesn't mean that it's not happening. It's just that you don't always need to be brought into it because we've got it and we've got it handled. If it's actually coming to you, then it means that oh, okay, now you need to be involved in making some kind of a bigger decision here. But, Yes

listen if you're bellyaching because the agent won't get back to you is one thing. you need to tell your client though, it's okay, they haven't responded at all and we have a contingency to meet. That, then you bring him into the fold. The other thing that she said that I think was a really good point, she says, it just makes you look. Disorganized and incompetent. She says that you have to always exude professionalism. And she says you never know when you're gonna need to cash in those chips when you need them to make a decision if they're already flustered, pissed off because they've got through negotiations on I remember this transaction now more. we had stucco problems on this house and during inspection and then the appraisal came in law and my people weren't budging at all on appraisal. and these people had no ability to come up and we were at an impasse. And I remember I was like on a wifi hotspot in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on the side of the road trying to get reception with this transactional person. But at that point they just totally hardened their position. We got it done, but it was just. Really hard. Everyone at settlement wasn't happy. There was bad blood and that just trickles out into the marketplace. And I feel, and ever since you joined the team, I've always told you like professionalism to hell, and I've actually yelled at some of the agents on the team before, because I could tell they were so hot going to settlement. And I said, if I find out that you've been in that settlement carrying on and yelling and. Even at settlement, she gave me more good advice. She said, if there's ever a disagreement at settlement, you and the other agent, excuse yourself to a secondary room, another room, and you hash it out. You want to scream at each other and that's fine. Never in front of the client ever. And so as you can see guys, like we're talking about the layers of professionalism that a good agent in your marketplace should

That happened. Settlement. I had end of last year. It wasn't like a disagreement and the agent and I were getting along fine, but there was something to hash out at settlement that needed to happen there and not wasn't we weren't able to do beforehand and we took it out of the room away from the clients to be able to discuss and talk about until we were all aligned on the same thing and then like collaboratively came up with a solution and then brought it back into the room. You know exactly which transaction I'm talking about too. Or, and guess what? If you want to talk bad, if an agent wants to go talk bad about the other agent to their clients, it can backfire. do you remember two years ago with I got threatened. By accident

by accident, yeah.

A text that was supposed to go from the agent to the buyer

a great point, I didn't even think about that until now. Yeah,

the agent to me and it was about me because they didn't get

do what what did he you can just say What did he say?

she's lucky that I don't own a gun is how it ended. There was a lot more to it. It was very disparaging to me only because he didn't now. I'm not going to get into all the nitty gritties of what their offer was, but first of all, he did not communicate with me. I was a listing agent, if you did not gather that much already. He did not communicate to me once, like throughout from when he scheduled the showing. He had the showing and went to submit an offer. I think there was maybe One thing that he might've said do you have an offer deadline period? And then I said, whatever my answer was only other thing I had heard back was the, getting the actual offer in an email did not confirm receipt, nothing. Communication was like minimal to none. And even that aside, their offer wasn't as strong as the one that we did pick. And then went back to him and say Unfortunately, Seller went in a different direction. Thank you so much though for your offer. and then he got mad at me saying if it was like what was the problem then? If it was right, like we could have just gone up, sir, you didn't say that. You didn't fight for your client. You did not give me a stance of where they were. All I know is what is on that paper. And I could hunt you down for more, but my client wasn't interested in that. My client was interested in what he was. and you gave me no indication that where your buyer's financial status was. So he got very mad and very hot and bothered over it and went back to his buyers and ripped me apart. However, it got sent to me, not the buyers. And it ended with, she's lucky that I don't have a gun and show up blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's say that got escalated to a broker. And he got involved because that was a straight up threat

Yeah, so what ended up happening is the our broker reached out to him and said, Hey, that was like completely out of line, blah, blah, blah. And then this

Denied it

he, no he basically said, I don't know what you're talking about. This is nonsense, blah, blah, blah. And then the next morning he woke up and he realized when he went back into his Texas, he's Oh, he's I. Now I understand what you're talking about. I meant that for my clients

as if that was any better. No,

but it was, it made sense because the way it was written in fairness, the way it was written. It wasn't written to you. It was written to the client. Cause that's what I said to you when that was happening. I'm like, it just doesn't, the way it's phrased doesn't sound like it was written to

Oh yeah, and I said, I don't think this was meant for me, but

But but it's a perfect example of like professionalism. And you're basically saying you're lucky that you don't own a gun because you didn't get an agreement of sale.

Because then what?

And it's like in this environment, threatening a woman with a gun. And and this was a very old early, it was a very elderly gentleman. Yeah.

And I was relatively new. Actually, I was brand. Banking new. Yeah.

it

it was in, it was the same time as the one we were doing, but yeah. And so that was my welcome to real estate,

Yeah. Yeah. No. So it really comes down to guys. We're just like a level of professionalism. If you're working with an agent and I'm not going to,

to mention that same agent. Yeah. Saw his name come up on something. There's like a house that we were looking at. I did not see her. clients away from it. They didn't want to see it anyway.

so the it was in a similar situation you had the seller

He was showing my property

and listen, we

didn't offer on it, but, oh, that's right. Because I screenshotted it and I sent it to you. And I said, oh, look at who is showing my property.

And then I'm like, you got to let them show it. And all

Oh, of course. There's still going

you wouldn't, but no it's an interesting thing. It goes to reputation. So let's say,

but that could have been, listen, I've got I've got a leg to stand on as far as saying like safety concerns and

No. There's no doubt. There's no doubt. But listen, we're talking about levels Of a professionalism if you're working with someone, we're not gonna tell you not to work with anybody, but if you got somebody who's likes to draw like air out the gossip, talk and disparage on, you never know that agent might be talking shit on you and when they're talking to the agent and it's there's a very high bar on our team, at least for professionalism and it really just comes down to maturity and like humility.

And do I come across agents who don't really know much of what they're doing? Yes, I do, sometimes, but the majority of the time.

But there's humility there. Most of the time, there's humility where they're not like, Oh, I know everything, but they don't. And then there's Oh my God, I don't know it. I remember I did a deal in Bucks County and this woman, Lucy, such a sweetheart.

Lucy sounds a very

and I like I got seven offers for this property and, but she called me and she's hi, I just want to let you know, I'm brand new. working with my best friend from high school and we've been looking for a year and a half and I'm telling you right now, I would absolutely, it's I will give up my commission. I don't care. I just want her to have this house. It's perfect for her and her daughter, And I helped her through it. I helped her through the transaction

she get it? She got it.

I but I presented to my sellers. I said, this is what's happening. This is who the buyer is. They cause, and Cindy wanted to know. She's want to know who these people are. And I said, okay they're, they were all families, but I said, I had a good conversation with this agent and I just don't think there's any chance, anything that comes up, she's ever going to let this thing fall through.

Yeah, and that says a lot, too.

I did a second deal with her. And she was like four years in the business. And I'm like, I was like, you don't need me to help you anymore. Did you just Nope, I got it. Yeah, it

I was going to say is that more far more times than not, like I really don't, I don't run into many morons

morons. I don't

part. A lot of the agents that I tend to work with, like the agents who are like bashing other agents and how all these awful experiences, I, it does make me raise an eyebrow and think I don't I don't run into that many. That many hack asses and that many people who don't know what they're doing. Like some here

there are a lot of agents who are not a lot, but there are some agents who get on and be like, Oh, I've had when you've had a deal, I need wine or I need, if I had a dollar for every time I had to explain something to my counterpart in a transaction, it's that's not really a thing. If you do enough transactions. It's not a thing. Most agents know what they're doing. There's different styles. There's different cadence with communication, but most people know their way around docs and it's not our job to teach everybody how to do it. But if we see a new agent, who's well meaning and they have a buyer that we feel can be a great match for our seller or it's vice versa. Absolutely. We'll try to get that deal done because that serves the consumer. It serves our client. I would never ever be like, yeah, man this guy doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. I don't know how we're going to get this done. Like I'm going to have to help him and we've got to talk about commissions and my con like this just doesn't happen. It's not, there's a human maturity and a humility that has to be part of the transaction and that has to go through all layers of. Your communication

Generally speaking, I get, I'm excited to see the other agent at And I'm excited to meet them and talk to them and say this is a really great, this is a really great

90, 99% of the agents. We're not besties, but we're always shaking hands at the end and be like, and I always say, see you on the next one.

and be like, I don't know what to say, see you on the

like not going to

I hate it

I love going

going to Settlement. I love going to Settlement. They're great people. We should grab a lunch with

they're great people. We should grab lunch with them. They're good people. They're smart. And They're, they get what's happening in real estate these days. So that's good. Okay. I don't want to belabor the point. I think we've, I think we've made it.

And I'm curious to know, have you ever been on the receiving end of an agent who has done such things? And I really want to know what the consumer's thoughts are on it, because, I know what we think, but I'd like to know what somebody who doesn't have the real estate background thinks about seeing it, hearing it, being, is it awkward? Is it uncomfortable? Yeah, I want to know. Okay. Curious, nosy. Sounds good. Okay. See you guys. Bye.