Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 2:02 PM
No Radio
A few people have asked about the radio show.
Kris and I have discussed it at length, and searched for the possible negatives – what is the worst that could happen? There weren’t many that came to mind, until I thought about what might happen if another agent called in on a live broadcast, and wanted to get into it. It is hard to tolerate some of the antics by other agents.
Here are a couple of examples that happened on Saturday within an hour of each other.
Fred, an agent, called about a house I have listed that offers a 2.5% commission. He wondered if he could get a 3% commission, and I said no, it’s offered at 2.5 %. He persisted, mentioning that the market is tougher these days. I suggested that he should do what’s best for his buyer, and show them the house to see if they like it, rather than selecting homes to show based on commission rate.
His next comment send me through the roof. He asked, "Does your office mostly do five-percenters these days, or six-percenters?" When I mentioned that he was conspiring to fix prices, which is illegal, and that I was going to call his broker, he said "Go ahead, she is the one that told us to ask about commissions."
The second incident started innocently enough two weeks ago when an agent listed her own house for $100,000 less than a model-match I had listed around the corner. I did what an listing agent should do, I called my seller and told her that we needed to lower our price right away, which we did by $50,000. But my client was ticked enough that she called the other agent to inquire about her low price. The agent said she just wanted to unload it, which she did, and it went pending within seven days.
On Friday I listed another house nearby for $100,000 less than the agent’s house. It was an aggressive price due to a job relocation, but the house was smaller, in an inferior location, and others around it weren’t selling for 5% to 10% more. If you’re the listing agent, and the sellers tell you they really want to move, what do you do? You don’t list it for the same price as others who aren’t selling, you have to go less.
So what does the same agent do? Instead of calling me to complain about my low list price, she calls my other seller back to complain about me, and that I’m giving this new listing away.
Because this business is so unregulated, agents think they can say and do anything they want. If one of the knuckleheads were to call the live radio broadcast and try to take me on, it would get ugly in a hurry. While it might cause some entertainment for some listeners, for others it might be a real turnoff, and Kris and I don’t want to risk it turning into a freak show. So we’re not going to continue. But I do plan to do more videos!
Posted on Monday, March 24th, 2008 at 2:02 PM in Uncategorized | 14 Comments » | 
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no soap. radio?
Baddriver | March 24th, 2008 at 3:00 pmJim,
Kris is a great content writer. She definitely has ability when it comes to filling space. But you and her are at different ends of the business spectrum. Who’s to say which is better? I personally believe that honesty is always the best policy, credibility is earned with the internet crowd. People like Kris are able to snow over new viewers but can’t maintain consistent site hits.
You provide mostly unbiased content which is refreshing when listening to a realtor.
shadash | March 24th, 2008 at 3:34 pmWith my 10 years of experience dealing with Realtors/Brokers,
Realtor’s are A$$hOles !
Not you, you are the exception.
Todd | March 24th, 2008 at 3:53 pmJim – easy to deal with people trying for a wild west shoot out on the radio – employ a call screener. What it means is you have to do more talking yourself and take fewer calls, but higher quality calls results in a better show and more listeners.
In this period of time having a real estate expert in mass media who is not pushing kool-aide might be a deciding factor to people "getting it right".
Bruce H | March 24th, 2008 at 4:18 pmHeh, put me down as a vote for the freakshow. Even if you don’t put it in a radio show, I just love hearing about people that lack common sense. It makes me feel better about myself (and you, Jim, when I hear your responses).
Jon Bristow | March 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pmSorry ’bout the radio show.
Love to see ya bring back Mr. Bill!
Role candidates:
Mr. Watts
Mr. Bernanke
Mr. Dodd
Mr. Schumer
Mr. Frank
Mr. Cramer
Jim, you gotta be Sluggo. He’s the good guy this time around. Chris Thornberg would work too. Oh yeah, Sluggo’s pet, Rob Dawg, could take care of Mr. Bill’s dog, Spot. Have fun!
Bots | March 24th, 2008 at 4:25 pmWhat is it to other agents anyway, how anybody prices their listing? If the price is too high, it will sit. If it’s just right, it will sell. If it’s too low, it will entice a bidding frenzy and will end up at the "right" price. I don’t see where the problem is.
Simone | March 24th, 2008 at 5:58 pmI’m glad I don’t have to work with realtors every day. You clearly stand out from the pack.
greenlander | March 24th, 2008 at 6:22 pmMaybe just take questions in advance through email, unless you and Kris don’t think you’d have enough to talk about if there aren’t enough questions…?
GeneK | March 24th, 2008 at 6:51 pmlike you mentioned before, good agents with a good moral compass are hard to find out there. things out there are getting more and more disparate, a lot of these guys would have nothing to lose but everything to gain in picking fights with you.
ocrenter | March 24th, 2008 at 8:47 pmWow Jim,
it is good you tell like it is. A lot sellers and realtors don’w want to really hear it though. You are definitely one of the most honest realtors. Realtors seem like stockbrokers – commission driven. With the pay coming from commissions, there can definitely be a conflict of interest.
norcal ray | March 24th, 2008 at 10:16 pmJim,
SushiBroker | March 24th, 2008 at 10:35 pmI’m very disappointed. Your talk show sounded great on my Ipod. Your show could have easily evolved into a great marketing tool for you and Kris. And a nice learning experience for us. Use a call screener or take email questions is an easy fix. Sales is all about differentiation. This blog is a huge differentiator for you. Your radio show would have been the 1-2 punch. Hope you reconsider.
Do you think it would make that big of a difference? I’d re-consider if people thought is was worth it to forge ahead. I had another thought today – I could just hang up on callers too if I didn’t like their tone.
We had over 100 listeners, which I thought was pretty good for a first-run. Having the tape of it available for a week makes the actual broadcast time not as critical, because I was also thinking about doing it earlier in the day.
Jim the Realtor | March 24th, 2008 at 11:53 pmMy perspective is that way too many fyb-by night r.e. agents have an absurdly inflated view of their talents. As a buyer I could care less what 99% of your cohorts say or do so I can’t imagine why anyone else would. The odds are great these bozos will be selling some other commodity next year anyway, so who cares?
doug s. | March 25th, 2008 at 12:25 amThe point I’ll remind all of is it’s the Buyer who’s solely responsible for living with the consequences of his Bid,
Further, I’d guess the odds are long that guy you referred to had NO buyer for your property. It’s a "Buyers market", With all the agents out there begging to help who’d be dumb ehough to select a Broker like this to represent him.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, I sure could use a great rental for two-three years, if any of your well-heeled professional investors are hell-bent on riding out this tsunami.