Real Estate: December 2017 Archives

(This article was originally written in July 2008. The genesis was a bad experience with medical office staff, but it applies to every customer service situation there is. If the professionals themselves are too busy to handle your problem personally, that's a problem and a red flag that you don't want to do business with them)

I still don't have the tooth pulled, but as of late last night, it seemed like the antibiotic had finally caught up to the infection, and the pain went down a lot over a couple of hours. It still hurts, even with pain killers, but it's not like being actively and continuously stabbed any longer. I'm going to try moving down to the Vicodin the general dentist gave me today instead of Percocet, and maybe I won't be quite so out of it, so maybe I can write something.

This whole experience has been a real eye-opener in another way - exactly how bad alleged customer service really can get. It's a confirmation of my policy: Nobody working for me is allowed to talk to my clients. They are allowed to take a message, and they are allowed to answer simple questions where there is reason to believe the client will probably be happy with the answer. They are not allowed to call my clients without direct specific instructions that I just don't give them. Other than that, there are many reasons why every client gets my cellular number, and is encouraged to call me directly, and this article is going to talk about one of the many disasters this prevents.

My tooth had started hurting on Monday, and so I'd gotten a dental appointment on Thursday, but late Tuesday afternoon, the pain basically exploded. Unfortunately, by the time I could call the dentist, the office was closed for the day, but the dentist gave me a pain-killer and anti-biotic first thing Wednesday. Being a general dentist, Vicodin was the strongest thing he could give me, and it just didn't do more than take the very worst of the edge off for a couple of hours, and I had to wait six hours between doses. But to remove this particular tooth, he had to send me to an oral surgeon. Meanwhile, the infection kept getting worse.

By the time I got to the oral surgeon's office on Thursday, I was literally crying with pain despite the Vicodin. They gave me prescription for Percocet, but said they needed medical clearance from my cardiologist and my regular primary care doctor to pull the tooth. They were also worried about the blood thinners I'm usually on. My cardiologist sent back an answer to them promptly that said it was absolutely fine to pull the tooth, and I could stay on the medications as well, or the dentist could take me off for as long as he felt necessary. According to her, there was no need for any special precautions, but she was happy to go along with anything the oral surgeon wanted.

This wasn't good enough for the dentist's office staff. No, no, no - they had to have the cardiologist say exactly how many days I had to be off the blood thinners before and after surgery. She responded once again by saying that the answer was "zero days" as far as she was concerned. She gave clearance for the dentist to take me off the blood thinners if he thought it advisable, but she did not see such a need for me to stop those medications from a cardiologist's point of view.

Despite being the answer any reasonable person could have hoped to get, this was not a response the dentist's office staff was prepared to accept. I do not know if this was a programmed answer or if the dentist himself directed it, but I have no evidence whatsoever that the dentist was involved in any of these discussions. No, according to these bozos (remember, these are office staff - not nurses, not dentists, not even dental assistants as far as I'm aware), my cardiologist had to give a number of days before and after that I was going to be off those blood thinners before the tooth could be pulled. Keep in mind that the cardiologist - a very sharp young lady with an advanced medical degree and several years experience applying it - had twice said that this was not required. And she was being refuted by office staff. This went back and forth for two days, and I'm still in increasing pain the entire time, including the possibility of increasing complications as the situation is allowed to build.

Matters did not improve when my primary care physician finally responded, saying that she wanted me to be off the blood-thinners before surgery. Then the dental office staff went really berserk, trying to say that since there was a contradiction, both physicians had to consult with each other and issue a joint letter. I tried very hard to explain to them that they were dictating terms of practice to not one, but two highly qualified medical practitioners, and that the terms of both instructions could be satisfied by simply doing what the more stringent of the two had asked for - and since I'd stopped them on my own when this whole issue first started, that was already accomplished by this point, so how about scheduling me for that tooth extraction?

No, no, no. That wasn't acceptable at all to these little tin-pot dictators. And at this point, my willingness to put up with any more of their nonsense basically evaporated. Keep in mind that I had been at home, in pain, unable to eat anything solid, for two full days since they had made their demand, and it's 4:00 Friday afternoon, so we're looking at three more days of pain and lost work before I can even schedule an appointment, never mind actually getting to that appointment or the aftermath. Meanwhile, whatever is going on in my jaw continues to get worse. Buddha only knows what complications this delay is going to cause. I asked for the supervisor, then for the dentist. The supervisor was part of the problem, and they wouldn't let me speak to the dentist, nor have him call me back.

Ladies and gentlemen, part of the reason and necessity for any licensing program at all - and this principle applies just as strongly to agents and brokers as it does to dentists and doctors - is that you have shown qualifications and a sufficient understanding of the thing you are professionally licensed in to make decisions and accept the normal decision-making responsibility of that practice. If you are not willing to accept that responsibility, or have willfully insulated yourself from it, then you are not worthy of your license and definitely not worthy of my business. I did manage to go back and get another referral from my general dentist, but the first oral surgeon's office staff refused point blank to return my medical records - in violation of state law - claiming that "office procedure" was not to release those records. Let's see: "office procedure". I don't intend to try it, but do you think a realtor might get away with claiming "office procedure" to defuse an accusation of breaking state law or RESPA? Let's say you get pulled over for speeding. How well do you think telling the officer that "office procedure says I'm not allowed to do less than 80 mph" would work in getting you out of a ticket, or do you think the officer might be justified in doing something more than merely writing you a ticket in such a case?

Not only that, but by failing to turn over my doctor and my cardiologist's existing letters, they prevented the second oral surgeon from extracting the tooth yesterday, therefore, the pain continues, as well as everything else involved. By refusing to turn over the X-ray that my general dentist took, they were keeping records they had no rights whatsoever to keep, as they had taken it in the first place under pretense of being willing to extract the tooth, they explicitly added to the cost of the replacement for the job they agreed to do by accepting it - but didn't. Both the state dental licensing authority and the insurance company are going to get complaint letters detailing these facts. I can hope to put them out of business, or at least to cost them all of the clients they might have gotten from my insurer, and my general dentist certainly isn't going to send anyone else their way.

What is the lesson here, the applicability for my own business? Well, it's one I already knew, but it's been quite a while since I encountered jokers who were so determined to exercise their own petty power to the utmost. This is why I want to handle all client communications, and why an agent that doesn't is setting themselves and their customers up for a bad experience. Yes, it means I can't accept quite so many clients as I could if I were fobbing off as much as possible on an office staff - but I'd rather make a little bit less money and have clients that are 100% satisfied, making it much more likely that they will come back to me or send others to me. Because anyone who isn't 100% satisfied is poison to my business, and they're not likely to come back or send me anyone else, which makes letting office staff insulate me from my clients is far more costly that the somewhat lowered earnings ceiling of handling all customer communications myself.

When choosing an agent or loan officer, you want one who tells you to call them, not the office staff, and who handles your calls personally, not by telling someone else to call you back. It's perfectly fine to have staff handle communications between agents or offices or service providers. But someone who's too busy to handle your concerns and issues themselves also can't keep track of what those issues and concerns are - and it's likely to bite them and you. Considering the dollar amounts involved in real estate, I don't want to be bitten and I will do anything I can to keep my clients from being bitten. Be careful that any agent or loan officer you choose acts the same way I do.

Caveat Emptor

Original article here

One of the things the place I work does to attract clients is advertise foreclosure lists to our clients. Several times a week, people call and ask for the lists, and we say, "Great! Just come on down, fill out a loan package and an agency agreement, and we'll get them to you fresh every morning, and when you see one you might be interested in, we'll help you get it!"

Before the end of the sentence, over 95% of the people have stopped us, saying they are already working with someone. "I just want the foreclosure list. Can't I get it?" Well, we pay money for that. Why should we give it to someone who is not our client and has the ability to pay for it on their own? Why didn't the agent they're already working with get it for them? (Everyone can get a weekly list for free from the county - but that list is worthless except as a time waster, because that list is three to ten days out of date and they've already been swarmed.) If they want to work the foreclosure market, they should have signed up with an agent who has daily foreclosure lists. They haven't even found a property they are interested in yet, and already they know their agent isn't cutting the mustard for their purposes. But they are still stuck with them.

Another trick high margin ("expensive") people use is social groups. Nothing wrong with social groups and using people you know there, but make certain you're not paying three or five times the going rate for a loan, and that your agent really knows what they are doing before you sign on the dotted line. Church groups, soccer coaches, scoutmasters - I can't tell you all of the social acquaintances I've rescued people who became my clients from. These predators look at other members of the group as a captive audience. It isn't so, of course, those people have the option of going elsewhere - it's just difficult socially, and many of them are unwilling to make the effort.

One of the worst of these is family. Your brother, sister, aunt, or nephew is in the business, and your family makes it difficult not to choose them. "You simply must use your sister Margaret!" Well, if subsidizing Margaret to the tune of two points more than anyone else would get is your cup of tea. Around here, that's $8000 or so for the average transaction. You are not writing the check for the extra to Margaret directly, but you're paying her just the same.

Lest I be misunderstood here, there is nothing wrong with using friends, family, members of your social group. Please do check with them. The mistake is not in giving them a shot; it lies in giving them the only chance. That's what you call a monopoly situation, and the chances of you getting the best possible treatment are horrid. But if Aunt Marge or Uncle Bob know you're shopping around, they have more incentive to do their best work. If they know you're not, well I hate to break it to you, but the average person is looking for a bigger paycheck for the same work, and this includes friends, family, and social acquaintances, particularly because you are not the one writing the check, but you will pay for it, guaranteed. The worst mess I've ever had to clean up was caused by my client's uncle, who had been in the business twenty years, and was trying to extort just a little too much money for the deal to work.

On the other hand, when my cousin calls me out of the blue, I can cut him a deal because here is a transaction that I didn't have to spend time and money wrestling it in the door; it walked in of its own volition. This is far and away the toughest part of any transaction, and one of the most expensive to any real estate practitioner - getting a potential client into your office. It's why the "big names" spend so much on advertising nationally, and give their folks half (or less) of the cut a smaller place will give them. (Hint: just like in financial planning or any other service, what's important is always the capabilities and conscientiousness of the individual performing the service, not the company).

So here's how you live up to the social expectations. Give them a shot, but not the only shot. If you are looking to buy and they are an agent, sign a non-exclusive buyer's agreement with them. This gives you free rein to work with other folks as well; just don't sign any exclusive agreements. Most agents, unfortunately, want to lock up the commission that your business represents and so they will present you with an exclusive agreement. The harder they argue for an exclusive agreement, the more you should avoid them. All that an exclusive agreement does is lock you in with one agent. If they are a lazy twit, you either have to wait until the agreement expires, use them for your transaction anyway, or hope you can get them to voluntarily release you. There is no way for you to force them to let you go. I get search phrases like "breaking an exclusive buyer's agreement" hitting the site every day. The only two ways to break an exclusive agreement are 1) wait for it to expire, or 2) get them to voluntarily let you go. I've never heard of the latter happening. So don't sign an exclusive agreement in the first place. Sign a non-exclusive agreement. This puts all of the motivations for work on your side, where they belong. The one who finds the property you are interested in will get the commission, but they have to work for it, as your business isn't locked up.

This also gives you an out if Aunt Marge or Uncle Bob doesn't cut the mustard. You can tell anybody who gets their nose out of joint, including them, that you gave them the opportunity to earn your business, and somebody else did a better job. The other guy saved you money, the other guy found you the property you wanted, the other guy got you a better loan. You wanted to do business with them, but they didn't measure up. Case closed, and Aunt Marge or Uncle Bob will drop it if they are smart, because the more stink they raise, the more likely it is that another family member, friend, or social acquaintance will pass them by in favor of "Could you give me the name of that guy who helped you?"

The only exception to the non-exclusive buyer's agreement is if they are giving you a service that you would otherwise have to pay money for. I am not talking about Multiple Listing Service - those are free and plentiful. I'm talking about real time information not available to the general public - like daily foreclosure listings. Our office pays hundreds of dollars per month for that as a way to bring in business. It is reasonable for someone working the foreclosure market thusly to be asked to sign an exclusive agreement, because otherwise there may be no way to determine who introduced you to the property (Lawyer's Full Employment Act strikes again!)

For sellers, unfortunately, you've got to make a commitment to list with one agent. It's just the way it has to be, economically, in order to get them to commit to spending the kind of money it takes to get a good result. But you can interview more than one agent. What are they going to do to sell your property for the highest possible price? Put it in the contract when you do sign. Everybody can put it in the MLS, and during the bull housing market we had for years, where unless the property was obviously overpriced you'd get multiple offers within a week, a lot of monkeys masquerading as agents made a good living doing that and only that. That doesn't cut the mustard any more. I work more with buyers than sellers, but there are venues that sell the property, venues that bring people to open houses, venues that generate people looking for the cheap bargain (which you don't want) and venues that generate people looking for property like yours in your neighborhood (who is your ideal buyer). Especially in a major city, these are all different venues, and the agent who knows which one is which is worth more than you will pay them, and the cheap agent who doesn't is likely to cost you a lot more money than their cheap asking price saves you.

For loans, I've written about this before, but shop around, ask the same questions of every loan provider you interview, beware of red flags, and stick to your guns. Until very recently, I used to volunteer to do back up loans when I knew the prospective borrower was being sold a bill of goods by someone else. The question I asked myself before volunteering to put in the work of a backup provider. "Could the loan they are telling me about be real?" If the answer was no, I volunteered to act as backup. Every single time, it was my loan the person ended up getting. I can't do this any longer due to changes in loan lock policy from all the lenders, but it used to work very well. Your prospective loan providers should know the market if they are competent. Make use of that knowledge. And lest you be tempted to quote something at those loan officers that is not real, it's a self-defeating strategy. Honest loan officers will tell you point blank they can't do that, while the scamsters are going to get into the spirit of the situation, by which I mean saying anything it takes, no matter how fanciful, to get you to sign up. And those who are knowledgeable about the state of the market always know what is likely real and deliverable, and what likely is not.

Caveat Emptor

Original here