more for less

Yesterday, my team and I had an ugly encounter with a property agent. After agreeing on the fees to be paid to him, he coolly demanded for more. This is really unethical behavior and unacceptable. His validation is simple - he found out that the other agent was getting more.

It's like in retail. When we sell a bottle of shampoo to the consumer, the consumer knows that there is a mark up. People need to make money, otherwise, who pays rent. So the price tag would tell the consumer how much he's going to have to pay for it - it may well be 50-cents more than another shop, but it's the consumer choice - people pay more for service and whatever else they feel is right by them.

In the real estate transaction, it's the same. There are no commission guidelines anymore - it's been removed. Consumers have the freedom to negotiate fees, which is good, because a lot of agents rest on the laurels of market practice and expect same fees for lesser work.

The agent had the audacity to demand for the tenants cheque back, because he wanted more commission, it was like as if he had the right to give up the premises. We told him that since the cheque is not his, we could only return it to the tenant, and the tenant was obviously not willing to give up the premises at all.

It's these few agents who make this market place so unprofessional. It's not about having a CEHA or whatever real estate training that the productivity standards board wants to implement. It's about whether a person can overcome his greed to deal in unethical transactions just so he gets more for doing less.