Beware: consumers do your due diligence

In the last week, I have dealt with a couple of agents writing offers on my listings. What is triggering this particular entry has been my frightening experience with their efforts.

Let me first explain this entry is not my attempt at bashing fellow agents; we have all chosen and committed to making a living in this particular field and I respect everyone’s effort in doing this during this difficult time for our industry. As in any industry, there is a minimum standard of professionalism which is expected from the consuming public. We all took and passed our exams and were licensed by the DRE (Department of Real Estate) to practice our crafts in a professionally prescribed manner. In fact, we have minimal educational requirements as a condition to keeping our licenses current; this is similar to many professions (e.g. lawyers, accountants, nurses and even beauticians) having such similar requirements. I cannot speak for other professions, but if a real estate professional does not abide by this educational requirement, the practitioner’s license can be suspended. (In California, you can check on the status of the license by going to http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp ).

Yes, times are tough for the Real Estate profession, but as we have more time on our hands, this is the perfect time to catch up on our educational requirements and better ourselves (not the just the minimal requirements, but additional training to improve our skills and take us to the next level). I was shocked at the level of professional demonstrated by the last two Realtors I had write offers to me. These newer (but not brand new) agents had written me offers which embarrassed me on their behalf. So bad were their efforts, I will probably, avoid doing deals with them in the future, because I know they cannot represent their clients effectively and I will have to do double work just to keep the deal alive. One of them actually had a suspended license due to their failure to complete their education.

Mind you, this is not the norm, but there are agents out there who should not be practicing and certainly not be getting paid high dollars for doing inferior work on suspended licenses. Consumers, you can at least avoid people who have suspended or expired licenses by going to the DRE’s website and making sure you are dealing with legitimately licensed agents. These types of agents give all of us who do our best to maintain our professionalism a bad name and should be weeded out. Again, to check on their license status go to http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp Consumers, do your due diligence to avoid problems down the line.

Steve Mun, Silicon Valley Realtor
www.stevemungroup.com