The Danger of Part-Time Realtors

I'm going to go on a real quick rant about part-time Realtors in my industry. Now, I want to really be clear about something before I get into this. I was a part-time realtor. When I first made the transition into the real estate industry, I was working a full-time job, a corporate job, and I was working as a Realtor in evenings and weekends, trying to break into the industry to the point where I could sustain myself and my family with real estate and real estate alone.

So, I wanted to be clear about that and people that know me know that story, but I want to give a really good and recent example of the dangers of being part time.....and I don't know if I fully understood that when I was doing it. I had a listing, and an offer came in at about ten o' clock one night. It was late and my sellers were advised of the offer, but we decided to deal with it the next morning. Now the realtor, when I told him we'd be discussing things the next day, told me that I was unable to reach him between 9 and 5 because he worked a full-time job, and he did real estate in the side....so he wasn't able to answer his phone between 9 and 5.

Now here's where the problem kicks in. We received another offer the next day about 10-10:30 in the morning. I was unable to reach this other realtor to let him know we received another offer, and that if he wanted to re-submit or advise his clients that they were in a competing offer scenario, please do so. So I advised my seller of their rights and what their options were and what they could do. My sellers decided to proceed with the second offer because that realtor and his clients were accessible, ready, and willing to negotiate right away, and my clients want to deal with the offer right away. The other realtor was quite upset with me when he got home from his full-time job, and made the inquiry on why we weren't countering the offer, and the whole bit. But really, and this is going to sound harsh, but that realtor caused his buyers to lose the opportunity to purchase that house.

So I think that when you're looking for a realtor right now, you need to have a full-time realtor working for you, and if not, because again, I wasn't one in the very beginning.....at least make sure that your realtor is accessible through the day for this very reason.