Tales From The Trenches … 5 Broker Breeds We Could ALL Do Without!

Tales From The Trenches … 5 Broker Breeds We Could ALL Do Without!

With sales volume seasonably slowing down over the past few weeks and deals becoming fewer and farther between, temperatures are not the only thing on the rise … broker temperament seems to be following suit, bringing out some not so flattering behavior from industry colleagues. 

In the spirit of summer reading, I thought I would break this behavior down into five categories of brokers that I could do without.  With no further ado, I introduce to you:

The Pressure Cooker This category is the most common among the top 5.  Brokers who live up to this label believe that creating time pressure always yields results, and they use deadlines and ultimatums as techniques whenever possible.  You will recognize this breed via comments such as “I need to have your client’s answer by end of day, otherwise the deal is off,” or “I need a deposit now to take the apartment off the market, as we have had a tremendous amount of interest.”

The Extreme Delegator This is an interesting breed, the one who pawns off onto the other broker in the equation each and every duty, as if it is only in the other’s interest to get the deal done.  Usually this is either the landlord’s or seller’s broker, and is of the belief that his/her job was complete upon getting the listing.  Tell-tale phrases include ”it is not my job to [fill-in-the-blank]” and “it is your responsibility to get the

The Pleading Alarmist This breed is very difficult to detect until it’s too late.  Generally, the interaction begins with “my client is only in town for one day and only has availability to see the apartment at 3pm,” and can be embellished with “he already knows your building and it’s top on his list, having all of the paperwork ready to go” or “he wants to make a decision by end of day”.  The strategy is to play off the goodwill of the listing broker by creating sense of urgency that’s not there.   Thereafter, both client and broker disappear. 

The Shameless Pretender This one’s also a bit difficult to catch: the broker who either thinks (s)he knows how to do something or knows (s)he does not and does it anyway, only to then have to be redone by the conscientious broker in the picture.  A typical example is the completion of a board package done very shoddily, only to need a complete re-assembly thereafter.

The Greedy * bleep * This category has to be one of the hardest breeds to understand, particularly in this market.  Greed often shows up in the refusal to co-broke deals (yes, it actually still happens, though sellers often have no idea), or putting up a big fight for an extra ½% commission at the potential detriment of the deal.  In this case, there is little regard for interest other than the greedy broker’s … ‘makes one wonder how a long-term career is even possible with this attitude.

It would seem logical that during tougher, slower markets, the focus would be more than ever on the end game:  making sure the client is served and ensuring the transaction materializes.  Here’s to logic returning in the Fall!