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All Things Real Estate: Avoid hiring a friend as your broker

Philip A Raices

First off, I want to wish all my readers a very relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday dinner with family and friends. However, if you have decided to get together, please, please wear your masks when not eating and be safe and healthy.

It’s quite amazing but not surprising that sellers, investors, purchasers of residential and commercial properties, and even renters will hire their best friends to represent them when in many instances that just might be the worst decision of their lives to do this. Of course, there are many professionals in our industry who perform extremely well with their best friends and all goes well. I applaud them for doing their most professional job at representing their buyer friends as they should always do with all their clients whether theyare best friends or not!

There are presently some 1.4 million Realtors in the United States and 40,000 reside within Long Island’s expanded MLS now joined with the Hudson Gateway MLS servicing upstate New York  We are now known as One Key MLS. However, this is far and few between with so many losing their friends due to issues, problems, and glitches during the transaction process and sometimes right from the get-go. My professional opinion is this happens due to the lack of consistent day-in-day-out training that is necessary and required to be, as we say, ” on the top of your game.”

The lack of pertinent and current knowledge, expertise, professionalism, and ethics is an issue and in so many cases discrimination is the culprit. (just check out a three-year investigation by Newsday Nov. 19, 2019 on the practice of “illegally” steering clients in which 68 Long Island brokers and agents got caught.) Here is the link to the article. https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-agents-investigation/ ).

The majority of agents are of good substance and character who practice their business with ethical, client-first mindsets and common-sense practices. However, for many common sense is no longer common and many agents who may mean well by their clients lack sufficient knowledge to do their jobs properly. There is a correlation between the quality of an agent and their incomes, so if you ask what they earned in 2019 and 2020 there just might be a substantial difference due to the Covid-19 pandemic and this is understandable.

However, the lack of knowledge and being able to pivot their business in our “new norm” and earn a solid lucrative living have a lot of relevance to professional and ethical behavior. To some maybe it’s to create shortcuts to simplify the process to get their checks asap? But, maybe it’s just that it’s the path of least resistance, a quick and easy buck, possibly a hereditary thing passed down from generation to generation. No doubt and yes, your upbringing has so, so much to do with your behavior and how you approach and handle your business and your day-to-day job too!

The path to “real estate gold” is available to those who put in the necessary and required effort, disciplined actions, perseverance, diligence, and the sacrifice of their valuable time! I see and experience this every single day as I go out and perform my business. I am not singling out just realtors, but it runs the gamut of all industries and businesses and in many situations reflects the lack of continuous mentoring and training within companies.

It’s quality before quantity because once you know the best way to approach negotiating  or a task or sudden difficult situation, you are much more prepared to handle and solve the issues that arise without calling for assistance or worse getting in trouble and breaking the law, leading to the repercussions of fines and potential revocation or suspension of licenses. Learning your trade from the beginning and continuing this by practicing and applying what you learn every day down through the years will always benefit those who choose that very lucrative path.

Again, my professional opinion and years of experience have made me come to the conclusion that the lack of sufficient adequate and advanced training causes 99 percent of the problems, catastrophes, and failed transactions that could be avoided if proper knowledge was attained. If proper negotiations, dialogue, conversations, and transparency occur between all the parties, there would be more successful sales. Hiring your friends can be a potentially slippery slope. For most the sale or purchase of a home is the largest and most wealth-creating transaction that consumers are involved in within their lifetimes, so why would you want to jeopardize this most crucial financial event?

You should ask yourself, do I want to lose a friend and the potential loss of a property that I will fall in love with or keep my friend and hire a professional with the superior knowledge and expertise to successfully guide me through the complicated and many times the arduous process to a successful and happy ending? Obviously, the choice is always yours!

Philip A. Raices is the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 3 Grace Ave Suite 180 in Great Neck. He has 39 years of experience in the Real Estate industry and has earned designations as a Graduate of the Realtor Institute (G.R.I.) and also as a Certified International Property Specialist (C.I.P.S). For a “FREE” 15 minute consultation, a value analysis of your home, or to answer any of your questions or concerns he can be reached by cell: (516) 647-4289 or by email: Phil@TurnKeyRealEstate.Com Just email or snail mail (regular mail) he with your ideas or suggestions on future columns with your name, email and cell number and he will call or email you back.

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