I read with great interest a post by Chicago Realtor Dean Moss at Active Rain about dealing with disrespectful clients.  He tells about how real estate agents – like others who make a living through commission sales – sometimes get little respect from the public. Yet it might just be our own fault,

True professionals, in any field, in any business, have to develop a tough outer skin in order to survive.  But often times, does their evolving cynicism actually perpetuate those negative notions among clients or prospective clients?

I was laughing when one of my colleagues found an old business card of mine that I left behind when I showed one of his listings.  He commented that I look very different now and I joked that my photo was taken before my bitter, jaded outlook developed.  I really *was* joking, but I have been the victim of ruthless clients and the very real feeling of distrust can linger – on both the side of the Realtor and the client.

I worked with one couple several years ago and we looked at perhaps at two dozen houses in a two week period.  The one they initially loved – that I found for them – came back on the market and I contacted them immediately.  I was literally out-of-state and cut my mini-vacation early to rush back to write the contract.  When I arrived … crickets.  My buyers had disappeared.  No phone calls returned, no emails.  A week later I got a message that the boss’s wife’s sister was an agent and he felt obligated to use her.   Boy was I angry at the buyer AND at the agent who they ended up using because they should have asked, “Are you working with another Realtor?”

With that and several other similar experiences, have I become a bitter, cynical, jaded agent?  Sometimes I suppose I am, yet we DO have the privilege of working with some people who make it all worth it. That first time buyer who cries from joy at closing, the seller who sends thank you flowers, the young couple whose happiness is contagious when they find that perfect house…

Our profession as a whole is often criticized by naysayers, however if there wasn’t a real need for representation in a complicated real estate transaction, then we wouldn’t be here.  And I’m pretty glad to be here, through thick and thin.