All for me and None for you! I don’t want that axiom to be true but the disrespectful behaviour of some people make  it  hard to deny. Here is my most recent experience. I had (past tense is important here) a client I have worked with for 3 years. I advised her about selling her condo. I provided her with resources to help her get moved. I found her a rental that was exactly what she wanted in the location she wanted…..and I called her about it as soon as it became available. I pushed aside the niggle in my heart about the Snake Oil Salesman real estate broker who lived nearby because she had spent lots of time with me on my boat and in my home, and she had called me to show her many homes to buy. She was waiting to find the perfect place, but meanwhile, I showed her everything that came on the market in her price range and location. When an appraiser called me for advice on pricing a bank owned property in her area of choice, I gave him all the information he needed and called her as soon as I hung up the phone to let her know that a bank owned property that fit her needs would be coming on the market in a week or so. I watched for it. As soon as it hit RMLS I called her and arranged to show it to her. She asked my advice on the building….I put her in touch with some resources that would know about her questions. She told me she wanted to show it to her contractor before writing an offer. OK….I made time for that, but the contractor cancelled….maybe. She told me she wanted to talk it over with her boyfriend. OK. I told her to let me know just as soon as she was ready. And she did. She had her boyfriend call my cell phone and leave a voice mail telling me that she was going to write the offer with Snake Oil Salesman because he was the listing agent. She hoped we could still be friends. HA.  Can we be friends still? From my point of view we never were friends. I was HER friend to be sure, but it is obvious to me that she did not consider me her friend.

The thing is, real estate brokers depend on their sphere of people they know to build their business. What we sell is our knowledge, our experience and our service to get you what you want. We know resources, trends, the market. We are the third oldest professional license in the country after doctor, lawyer….no it isn’t Indian Chief..it is Realtor!  I know there are lots of Realtors, and my friends may use another one to represent them. But this woman “used” me, and she didn’t respect either my business or our friendship. She thought that she might get a better ‘deal’ because she could discount the price she would have to pay by the amount of my commission. That is just laughable, especially with a bank. But she did show me that for her, it is all about the money and she is willing to sell her integrity and to convince herself that I am angry about not getting this transaction. The reality is that I feel used and that my friendship was thrown under the bus by her.