Is Your Broker Treating You Right?

It seems lately I have heard some complaints from clients about how they are being treated by their broker. I never know if this is a training issue or just plain disrespect for the Golden Rule. Perhaps this article can be a teaching moment for both brokers and members of the public who use brokers.

Does your broker send you off to look at a property without him or her being there with you? We get brokers calling us to make an appointment for their client and then the broker just doesn’t show up. We are expected to show his client the property without the broker being present. If your broker pulls this stunt, he is not doing his job. He is not carrying his weight in the transaction. He is not representing you properly. We know from experience that broker will want a commission. The problem is, he will not have earned it. I will admit, sometimes a broker will have a genuine conflict and ask us if we would show the property (as a favor) without him/her being there. We often will agree because we don’t want to lose a showing for our seller or landlord. The point here is that you deserve a full service broker who will accompany you to all showings.

Does your broker return your calls or emails on a timely basis? I can’t tell you how many times I have heard clients complain that their former broker would not get back to them for days. I have never understood how a broker finds it acceptable to be so negligent. When I first entered this business 50 years ago, I was told the secret to being in the top 20% of all brokers consistently was to 1) show up for work every day and 2) return calls promptly. This advice has worked wonders for my career. No matter what, don’t settle for a broker who doesn’t respond to your calls or emails on a timely basis.

Is your broker pretending to know how commercial real estate is conducted? Another complaint we get is that brokers hold themselves out as competent in marketing or selling/leasing commercial real estate when they are not. They don’t have the training or experience to give good advice as their expertise is in the residential side of the business. They see big commission dollars and they self justify that they can muddle their way through a transaction without truly knowing the pitfalls and how to properly advise their client. Article 11 of the Realtors Code of Ethics says that Realtors are not to hold themselves out as competent in areas where they are not. Commercial real estate is a specialized segment of the real estate business and you should only work with someone with expertise in this field of endeavor.

If your property is listed with a broker, are the marketing materials adequate to explain what is being leased or sold? So many times we ask for a marketing package on a property and we get back junk. If a broker’s office staff is not geared up to prepare proper marketing materials, you are getting the short stick. It will be hard to get someone excited about your property. Rent rolls, income and expense data, floorplans, traffic counts, demographics, decent photos…these are all important parts of many marketing packages. Ask for examples of previously done marketing materials before you commit to allowing a broker to handle your property. How am I supposed to lease or sell someone’s property without good information?

I have to say, most brokers we deal with are professional and received proper training when they got in the business. Over time we learn who is good to work with and who isn’t. Broker cooperation is key to making the real estate market move in an orderly fashion. If you get stuck with a broker who is guilty of any of the above offenses, call them out on it and hopefully they will modify their behavior.

By Bruce Kaplan, Senior Broker at Premier Commercial Realty