The Real Estate License Professor

I feel I need to share an experience I had this past week when I was asked to help a friend select a real estate agent for listing their home. For this particular agent's own good, I will call her Daisy - and Daisy would get my vote as a future candidate for a reality tv show on The Learning Channel titled "What Not To Do As A Real Estate Professional". I beg all real estate license candidates to read very carefully what I am describing and do the exact opposite.

Daisy was my friend, Dennis' neighbor's daughter. She had just gotten her first job as a real estate salesperson and had told Dennis that she was excited that he may be her first listing. Dennis was a little nervous about the situation but felt he needed to give her a try due to being a good neighbor. With that said, he is not stupid and asked me to sit in while he interviewed her.

I arrived at Dennis' house at 5:45 PM so that I would be there just before Daisy who was scheduled to be there at 6 PM. We sat waiting for her and I started to get a bad feeling about the situation. She finally arrived, without phoning to say she would be late or providing any reason of her tardiness at 7:15. Best yet, she came with her listing partner who just happened to be her 3 year terror of a son.

Daisy sat down without providing a business card and waived her child on to go chase the cat. Dennis' wife is not what I would consider tall by any means but apparently Daisy's son thought that she was an Oompa Loompa and called her just that as he raced by her looking for the cat. Daisy seemed to think it was all quite funny.

I sat there in awe as the side show continued.

Within the five minutes she had been there, she had bad mouthed Dennis' house saying it would be pretty hard to sell it "in its current cruddy condition". She made a number of remarks about the styling of the house and its decor. I cannot recall it all as I sat there in awe but telling anyone that their house smells like an old ladies place is never a good idea.

After grabbing her son, Daisy spat out her HotMail address and left with what seemed like confidence that she got the listing. I am happy to say, that she would not be coming into the house ever again. The only good thing that I can say about the situation is that Daisy was not drunk when she arrived.

I tried to convince Dennis to contact Daisy's broker and tell him about the situation and her complete lack of professionalism. I mentioned that the only way Daisy will ever know that her approach is wrong was feedback and that she better receive it sooner rather than later if she wants to continue as a realtor. He decided that he would stay quiet out of respect to his neighbor.

I left thanking Dennis for the inspiration I had witnessed.