Why are Real Estate Agents so Lazy?

Question

Dont get me wrong I dont think all of them are lazy but come on now. Looking at potential properties on the MLS, Zillow, Redfin with incomplete details about the property, no photos, no square footage listed but GREAT INVESTOR OPPORTUNITY!!!! in all caps. So you call, they are rude and then say what do you want to know about the property, well since nothing is listed; everything!

Ive met some dang good agents and have two amazing ones on my team, it seems like commission isnt motivating people enough these days, How do my fellow Bigger Pocket users distinguish the great agents from the ones who have no motivation and lack the skill it takes when looking at properties in out of state markets.

Thanks in advanced.

JD Martin · Answer

Ha! That's like asking why any employee is lazy or why are we on this earth 😂

I look at it like this: opportunity lies in the ability to exploit that which others cannot/will not see. Lazy realtors just makes it that much more likely that a good portion of the competition gets discouraged or cannot decipher that which I can decipher, meaning my odds of success have just increased.

So rather than decry all the lazy (realtor, contractor, insert profession here), I am thankful for them, in the way that I am thankful for people who choose to continually rent when, with a little effort, they could probably be homeowners for less money.

To answer your question: I just transpose the qualities of my local agent, who I've worked with through a bunch of deals, onto other realtors.

PS: When you call a realtor and they say "What do you want to know" and you say "Everything, since nothing is listed", in the eyes of the realtor it makes you a lazy investor, since you cannot even put together a list of what's important to you and thus expect the realtor to read your mind. Maybe you only care about square footage. Maybe you want to know the neighborhood. Maybe you only like quartz countertops.

Anthony Vann · Answer

I worked part time as a realtor for a couple years but realized it was not for me. However, I did learn alot about how the market works, at least in my area. For a lot of the foreclosures and government owned properties the listing agent or broker has an agreement with the bank or whoever is foreclosing. They agree to sell all properties so they don't get to choose. They just sell whatever is dumped on them. Most of the stuff is in bad shape so the commission really isn't that much. The agent makes money from volume not the individual house. If you had five properties you were listing and three were in great shape and would bring in a nice commission and two dogs that were about to fall down which would you spend your time on? The three in great shape. Take a drive by picture of the two dogs, call them a handyman special, and spend the majority of your time on the nice three. I'm not saying it's right, it's just the way I saw the business work.

No one should ever be rude. But on top of not receiving much of a commission off the house you get blown up with calls about it from people who are thinking about investing. Out of 50 calls probably five of them are actual investors with actual money so it does get annoying.

I have an agent on my team who I work with consistenly so she does a lot of the digging for me. But as someone who has been on the other side, the commission from most stuff an investor would by (at least in my area) was barely worth the gas. Most agents would rather work with a retail customer all day long because that one sale would net them a lot more.

Again, I'm not saying it's right. That's just what I saw when I worked in the industry.

Chris Mason · Answer

I'd agree with that.

Comparing appraised values to contract sales prices as the metric of "good deal," there does seem to be some correlation between that and "horrible job marketing the property" on the part of the listing agent.

David M. · Answer

@Kody Thompson

Oh and get don’t me started about the property portals. Zillow, Redfin, etc all get their info syndicated via IDX from the various local MLS’s.  Too many times the data isn’t transferred correctly.

You also mentioned sq ft.  I don’t know about your locality, but mine doesn’t sell by the sq ft so it’s not required as part of the listing.  So, I do have to make the extra lookup step to search for the value if I’m interested.

Dont get me wrong, REO are typically pretty minimal.  That’s where you have to do your homework.  Even if it was listed, you would and should do your own homework anyway.

Aigo Pyles · Answer

@Kody Thompson You just have yet not found the right one. Some are too busy when they are getting bombarded with a lot of inquiries.

David M. · Answer

@Kody Thompson

Agree with @Anthony Vann. You need to understand that brokers who lost distressed homes are making a living on volume. Also, the bank/current owner has no idea about the property so the listing agent has no source of info.  Also, everyone from investors and regular people without much means looking for a home are calling them up.  You really can’t affford to spend much time on these people.

As both an investor and real estate agent, I see it as incumbent on the investor to do their homework which doesn’t include trying to get blood from a stone by pestering the listing agent.  If you don’t know the area, the nature of the utilities, etc, what sort of investor are you?  Maybe an “arm chair investor,” which by no mans is intended as an insult.  So perhaps somebody looking for a realtor to work with.  But these listing agents aren’t normally functioning as buyers agent because they are swamped with paperwork for their listing clients

Banks want BPOs periodically (I think every few weeks or less), the properties need periodic inspection (eg every week somebody has to go and make sure there are any squatters, additinal broken windows, water leak, etc) which you can see be has the inspection sign off sheets are right there in the property.

So these distressed listing agents really aren’t functioning as traditional agents, they are just cogs in the machine.  And with all the running around for periodic inspections and paperwork, it requires a team of agents to do the work.  So, somehow that little commission they make per listing has to be worthwhile for at least three hustling agents.

I’ve thought about doing this sort of work, and it’s not “easy” money.

Why are Real Estate Agents so Lazy?

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