Delicious Real Estate

I am responding to this bogus complaint against myself and my company.

The complainant has blatantly misrepresented the facts and I am alarmed that he would use words like 'discrimination' or 'profiling' - in the housing industry, these are very strong words and they have no place here in this instance or forum.

*** inquired about a house from ***

That inquiry went to an agent affiliated with my Brokerage - Matt W. Matt advertises on *** hoping to get similar leads of buyers who are looking for a home. At any given time in any given zip code across the country, there are at least 3 real estate agents who have their pictures listed on the same page as the house and they are all advertising their assistance to potential buyers who are not working with an agent.

The root of ***'s complaint is that Matt W is/was the real estate agent who had the listing on *** that he asked about. He is/was NOT the listing agent - as such, he would have no access to any other pictures of the property or additional information beyond what is listed in the MLS or on ***. I told *** as much in my email followup to his complaint about how he was treated.

Matt asked if he was pre-approved as a matter of workflow - if you ask 100 real estate agents if they want to work with a potential lead who is pre approved or not pre approved, every one will tell you that they do not want to run the risk of wasting their time working with someone who is not pre approved. ***'s reluctance to even address his ability to purchase the home is an immediate red flag for any realtor. Just as *** had no responsibility to work with Matt W, Matt W had no responsibility to work *** - there was no profiling, there was no discrimination. Those are absurd claims.

Please see below ***'s email to me and my response to him and feel free to call or email with any additional questions or concerns....

On Tue, Feb 25, 2020 at 10:45 PM *** <***.com> wrote:JoeI would like to speak to you about one of your agents named Matt. I see you are the broker of the company . I have a few concerns to discuss with you about Matt and how he’s treating potential customers as well as buyers interested in buying properties. Do you tell your agents not to speak to people about properties unless they can show proof of funds before hand?That is one of the issues I need to talk to you about. I’m interested in a property that he is listed as the agent on and he is unwilling to speak to me about the property unless I can show proof of funds or that I am preapproved. I told him I am unwilling to discuss with him about financial matters until I see and decide if I want the property. *** I may even pay cash for it but he doesn’t know that. The way he is treating potential customers and/or buyers is unacceptable.I am available tomorrow after 4 PM please give me a call ***

Tue, Feb 25, 10:45 PM (9 days ago)

Hi *** Thanks for reaching out - sorry it took me a minute to get back to you.I understand your frustration and I understand where you are coming from.The first thing you should know is that when you reach out for more info on a ***-type site, unless you are very careful, you are not reaching out to the listing agent - your inquiry goes to several agents who pay the site to advertise there. As was the case with Matt - he is not the listing agent on the home you asked about. Also, while real estate agents have to be affiliated with a real estate brokerage, they are independent contractors. As such, all of my agents run their business in a way that suits them and their other clients and families while being considerate of the brand they represent.Just as you have no obligation to give any agent your financial information (certainly understandable) no agent has any obligation to work with you. With over 8,500 agents in central Ohio, finding an agent to show you a home shouldn't be too h***. I advertise on *** and have for years and years. I do my best to vet homebuyers who send inquiries for several reasons - most of those revolve around how I want to spend my work time - time away from my family and other potential money making endeavors. I want to know the person I am going to show a house to isn't 'just curious' about the house before I take the time out of my day to meet with them. I imagine Matt feels the same way.Many agents will drop everything and go show a house to a complete stranger who has asked about it online because they feel they have to get a return on their online advertising investments.Matt is a strong advocate for his clients and therefore a successful agent. If he were the listing agent of the house you asked about, he may have felt more of a duty to get as many showings as possible for his seller - though our company, as far as I know, is the only company in town that proudly proclaims that we will not represent both sides of a real estate transaction because it can't possibly be fair or just to both sides.I hope that helpedJoe P