When the broker won't quit: An e-mail exchange

A reader writes to complain about a real estate broker who wouldn’t take no for an answer, and to pass along their e-mail exchange. In the exchange, she’s trying to get herself removed from his e-mail list of houses for sale. He’s … well, you decide what he’s trying to accomplish:

READER to BROKER:
PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM THIS LIST!!! Thank you ~

BROKER'S RESPONSE:
We can remove you from this list, but may we first ask why you are choosing to unsubscribe?

READER:
We purchased a home already so no longer need to receive listings.
Thank you ~

BROKER:
May we ask one more question.  When you where looking for real estate you found us useful, but when it came time to purchase you forgot about us?  Could you let us know why?  It would help us in our business model.  Thanks.

READER:
I was not looking in the areas you sent me e-mails about. Plus, I have had a real estate agent since the very beginning. Please remove me from the list and no more questions.
Thank you

BROKER:
Please lose our website address.  Use your realtor’s website next time so we aren’t bothered with your stupidity and rudeness.

READER:
I have e-mailed you multiple times to be removed from this list and have been ignored, including right after I got an agent and determined that I would not be buying in the areas you were sending me homes for. You offer no "unsubscribe" or "opt out" option on the list, which is what you are supposed to have in order for me to unsubscribe on my own. When I FINALLY receive a response from you, you pepper me with questions that are really none of your business. It is the law that if I request removal from e-mail lists, you must do so. There is really no reason to be rude to me as you so clearly were. I am seriously considering forwarding your e-mail to the CA Division of Real Estate to show them your unprofessional behavior (as well as telling them about your e-mail practices in general) and will be sure to tell everyone I know that your company should be avoided if they are interested in buying or selling real estate. Have a wonderful day.

BROKER;
Go ahead and forward the e-mail, it was sent in response to a rude person.  FYI USING ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED YELLING!!!  Next time you e-mail someone just type.
Please tell all your friends to avoid us as we are not interested in referrals from people that don’t use our services.  Let them go somewhere else.  Our site is for our clients only.

There you have it. Thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com

Comments

[dunno]

We're venturing into dangerous waters here... I can easily write up a fake email exchange, post someone's name, and potentially ruin them. Wild wild internets.

Was any verification done on this email exchange?

[Recent LB Buyer after a 6 year wait]

I'm no fan of the real estate broker profession or of the semi-monopolistic practice of mandated purchase percentages and the gated MLS but I always get a little suspicious when the latter part of a conversation is posted but not what started it all. We don't know how much this recent buyer used this agent's services, fiegned interest where there wasn't any, or simply double-dipped a couple of agents. Let's not rush to judgment in either case. It takes two to tango usually. Perhaps the real estate model of making no payments to am agent at all until a sale takes place should finally go the way of the dinosaur.

The horrow stories are numerous: I hear of agents who have "buyers" using their services and time without any intention of buying and buyers who find out that their "buyer's agent" bargained in bad faith only to get the deal done and the resulting percentage.

How about a new brokerage model where the percent earned for a buyer's agent is only 1% of the sale instead of the more typical 3%. In addition the agent can bill an hourly amount agreed to beforehand (say a certain number of hours over 3 months). The interests of the agent might better coincide with the interest of the buyer in this case (and the agent will be able to spend more time with serious buyers as well). Of course, there would need to be a price correction to account for the fact that the buyer is now paying for the service beforehand instead of as a percent of the sale price which the seller has already included.

It is just an idea. I'm a recent homebuyer and had a good experience with an agent who gave me a percent off of the typical price. I was very pleased with his service and am now convinced that the service is substantially more than a mere used car salesman. The trick is to make the job where interests are more in common.Abuses such as seen in the story above are probably common because buyer, seller, and agent all have different interests. It doesn't have to be this way. Consider your favorite restaurant.

I don't see the curren real estate business model working with all of the information that is now available on the internet. Brokers: LOBBY (not yelling here) your real estate associations and fix this before the solitary internet model becomes to attractive to resist for buyers and sellers!

[E]

Where is the consumer protection if we don't know who not to do business with in the future? ;o)

He/She welcomed the reader to share negative publicity.

Give the broker what He/She wants.

[Fred]

Please name this realtor.

[Fourth Generation]

May be not disclosing the name of the "rudealtor" but at least revealing the website or URL so we know what person or company/branch not to go. Talking about Dumb and Dumber these guys are now loosing possible customers that could have been referred to when looking into the area they service.

[HulaGirl]

Ed wrote: "HulaGirl - if someone was as rude to you as this Broker was, I seriously doubt you'd simply block their emails and call it quits."

Au contraire, Ed. As far as this broker's concerned, it falls into the Spam category and I do delete and block annoying emails such as this.

Yes, this broker's an ass, but seriously, why bother?

(I know, I know, someone's gonna call me on responding to Ed in this exchange, but if Ed, or anyone else bombarded me with unwanted emails, I would simply block and hit delete.

May not be everyone's style, but it is mine.

[Teresa]

This is the sort of thing one usually sees on eBay. Most eBay sellers hawk trinkets online because they don't have the skills or smarts to do anything else...Gee, kind of like many people who sell real estate!

I, too, would like the name of this broker so I can be sure to avoid him/her, and tell everyone I know to do the same.

[HulaGirl]

Disclose his name? Umm, no. It is a "he said, she said," exchange. If you disclose his name, it's only fair to disclose Reader's name. I'd like to hear his side of the story - having worked with high maintenance clients, it is possible Reader could've been looking for a fight, too.
(No, I'm not a Real Estate agent!)

Besides, it doesn't matter that this Broker's an ass - there's one in every occupation.

That's why we have the choice to walk whenever a person providing an elective service is rude to us.

And the power of the pen truly is mighty, all Reader has to do is tell a friend and his biz will dry up faster than you can say, Sold.

[the problemwithcaring]

The evident hysteria of this broke broker is truly amusing however...

without a hint as to who it is, the humor gets completely outweighed by impotent umbrage. I mean, "Use your realtor’s website next time so we aren’t bothered with your stupidity."

LOL! But really, to tease us with such douchebaggery, then NOT out the company - I have to agree with sfvunderwaterealestate here a little....

[HulaGirl]

Speaking of the Audacity of Brokers. A broker in Hawaii put me on his email list. (He contacted my through my website).

He sent out daily emails with listings on the Big Island, and had the chutzpah to say that, "Any buyer looking at any of his listings was bound by his agency agreement entitling him to a FULL commission if said property was purchased. In other words, he was claiming dual-agency on all his listings.

He probably fooled some of the people, some of the time.

Let me know if anyone wants to subscribe to his e-newsletter ;-)

Oh, yeah - I blocked him and sent him to the Spam file.

[Rich]

Clearly, if this exchange hadn't actually taken place you would have had to make it up and offer it anyway as a therapeutic; a lot of your readers need a good pinata to bash before somebody gets hurt out there...

[Big E]

I don't think you should post who this is. I'm sure there are some people out there who can think of MUCH better ways to 'bother' him with their 'stupidity'..

On the other hand, maybe that's what this guy deserves..

[Gromit]

I agree with several commenteres above: Please name the broker.

And please follow up with appropriate professional / regulatory bodies ... and let this blog know the result.

I can't imagine this sort of behavior NOT justifying public reproof of some sort. Outrageous.

[time to reform the real estate industry]

On just this blog alone - not to mention all the other cases I've seen mentioned on other bubble blogs - I've seen at least 3 cases of out of control real estate agents who seem hell bent on driving away business.

There's our very own sfvrealestate aka Judy Graff who has no problem whatsoever routinely insulting renters - her potential clients! Then there was that smarmy Brock Harris guy from awhile back who also thought making fun of renters in a public forum was a wise business move. And now there's this fine example of classy business practices.

It's pretty obvious that we need a nationwide online resource where people can comment on and rate their experiences with realtors. There are just so many horror stories out there - it would be so useful to compile them all in one place. Buying a home is just too important to have to put up with these used car dealer types.

[keith]

Ha Ha! What "business model"? Realtors throw their websites out there trying to get to the top of the google ladder, put listing info teasers out for anyone from here to Egypt to read, force you to give over contact info to get past the tease and then think that this creates some sort of "relationship" with the reader? It's a way to build contact info and get leads, get over it realtor!

[Sean]

LOL - not surprising at all.

Real Estate agents are no higher up on the list than Used Car salesmen.

Real estate agent is just another term for LIAR.

[PR]

In the absence of a posting naming names, I find the veracity of this one a little questionable. But it might be a good opening sequence for a crash-focused sitcom!

[Hank Venture]

Mike, I don't know if brokers have yellow page ads, and we don't even own a phone book so I can't check.

Of course, I wouldn't choose a broker from the phone book. I'd use the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on google like any sensible person.

[Dave P]

HAHA!! Personally, I think this whole exchange is pretty funny. "no more questions" and "lose my website"! LOL!! I actually love that the broker got testy.

As much as we love to Bash the Brokers (BtB) on this site, they are people that are spending a lot of money to run a legitimate business. This guy gave the potential buyer a lot of information and wanted to know why he didn't get the sale. It's a legitimate marketing question, and since the buyer presumably enjoyed to use of the lead service the broker asks in a nice way why he didn't get the business.

The buyer claims the leads she got were from the wrong area but 1. she signed up for the area, and 2. she says she had a broker all along. Yet she went to this guy's site and used his leads, and she also admits to calling his brokerage and talking to a realtor there.

She used this guy's services and she wasted his time. A few sharp words won't kill her. Have a laugh and move on.

I will now end this post so we can resume the BtB.

[John]

Peter,

If you're not going to post his name, can you shoot him an e-mail and get his side of the story? It would be an interesting insight into the head of a broker in a recession.

[Val]

I agree with Dave-
It was pretty hilarious. I think often times people forget that if a realtor is not selling, or working with a buyer, they are not making money. When people request information, and an agent spends hours researching, then the client disappears, no food on the table for that realtor or their family.

Everybody has to put food on the table somehow!

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

I still rank brokers higher, much higher, than scheming, insurance-collecting, murdering, camaraderie-ing Black Widows preying on homeless people.

[john]

To "My less than prime beef" Not to disagree but one those charming old hags used to be a real estate agent.

[John Taylor]

I don't wish to get ads for or from yoyr paper. I never signed up to get them.
J Taylor