Proof real estate agents’ egos are out of control

AMID Australia’s property frenzy, there’s something even more inflated than the prices - real estate agents’ huge egos. Here’s the infuriating proof.

Rachel Corbett and her flatmates were looking for somewhere to rent, when they discovered just how awful real estate agents can be. Above image is generic, and not the douche the author is referring to.

ANYONE who’s had the misfortune of trying to buy or rent a home in the past few years knows the property market is a depressing place. But amid the frenzy, I fear there’s something even more inflated than the prices — real estate agent egos.

Back in the good old days, I’m sure selling or renting property required some actual sales skills. But today all you need to do is buy an expensive suit, open a door and stand back while people pelt money at you.

Sure, I might be undervaluing an entire industry but my opinion is slightly coloured by a recent experience I had with someone who’s been inside the bubble for too long.

My roommates and I have been on the hunt for a new home. After seeing a bunch of properties with a “spacious third bedroom” that ended up having all the charm and floor space of Harry Potter’s cupboard we finally found a place we loved.

As is often the case, it was way over the budget we’d originally set, but we put in an application and asked the agent to give us a call.

During the conversation, things started off nicely enough. We dabbled in some small talk about the punish of the Saturday open house marathon and the frustration of working on weekends but once that was out of the way everything went down hill.

My grave error was apparently asking whether the owner would be open to negotiating on rent. I understand this doesn’t follow the modern day formula of: Tenant views house for a total of 10 minutes, tenant panics someone else might get it, tenant offers an amount over the exorbitant rent. But I thought it was worth the question.

Naturally, he rebuffed my request, which I understood and moved on. Since we were going to be parting with a significant amount of cash, however, I asked if we could view the property one more time to make sure we hadn’t over-estimated the room sizes in the hasty inspection.

His response? “The tenants are really difficult so you should be grateful you got to see the property at all.”

Apparently the market is so hot these days we’re supposed to thank our lucky stars we get to set a single foot inside a place before signing our life away.

I understand by requesting another viewing I was asking him to do some actual work to get the property rented but I could see he was getting agitated so I said a viewing wasn’t necessary as long as we could get the room measurements.

Here is a list of the things he said to me in the resulting conversation …

“It sounds to me like you’re not ready for a property like this.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be looking at places you can’t afford.”

“If I go and get these measurements for you I’ll really be sticking my neck out.”

“I wonder if I rang your housemates right now if they’d be shocked to hear you’re jeopardising their application with all your requests.”

“This feels like you’re standing at the altar and everyone knows you should just go through with it but you’re getting cold feet.”

The last comment was particularly confusing.

After I told him I appreciated his attempt to shame me into taking the property without him having to do anything, he agreed to “stick his neck out” and get the measurements.

But two days later we still hadn’t heard anything and when we called to ask how he’d got on, he replied “I’m not talking to you girls anymore” and hung up. Delightful.

Clearly we hadn’t followed the procedure the industry has gotten used to and this guy wasn’t happy about it.

I understand real estate agents hold the keys to something everyone wants right now and I can appreciate when you’re in that position it’s hard not to get drunk on the power.

But while we’re all busy pretending that paying these ridiculous prices is normal the least we can do is be nice to each other, because this whole experience is painful enough.

Writer (and homeseeker) Rachel Corbett.

Follow Rachel on Twitter, Facebook or at her website.