Is real estate selling a lowly profession here in the Philippines
I dedicate this blog for all hard working real estate agents and real estate brokers who do their job professionally, honestly, vibrantly and above all show respect to their peers (co-agents or co-brokers).
As a real estate agent here in the Philippines have you felt this feeling of lowliness. A feeling of downcast or as an agent we felt as if our job as a real estate agent is the lowest in the professional rank.
I’m sure most of us in the real estate industry have felt this feeling one way or another. Usually this is more evident for new real estate agents who don’t have any experience in marketing and selling were feeling of rejection is high.
I myself as a real estate agent here in the Philippines was not spared by this negative feeling. I do not know if this is just a negative mind-set but upon further observation and experienced I have come to the conclusion that some buyers look at us as “ahente” ka lang.
Sometimes people does not realized that a real estate agent is one job with the best position to create more wealth and mind you no business will survive even for one day if the business has nothing to sell whether it be a physical product or a service.
As a real estate agent here in the Philippines, I have experienced this feeling quite a few times, of course not in all my transactions but some of my transactions. Sometimes it is funny that these supposed to be buyers who look at our profession as “ahente ka lang” are the ones who really don’t buy and those buyers who show some respect and humble are the ones who really buy.
Often times those who show in the viewing "well-dressed" are the ones who don't buy and those who wear simple clothing are the ones who really buy.
I can relate some several experiences in past were I have encountered buyers or I should say pretending to be buyers with a not so nice – attitude but since I've been a salesperson all my life from being a med-rep and corporate selling these negative situations is nothing new to me.
Here is one experience I encountered a few years ago:
The day before viewing client (lady) called me up 8pm and told me not to be late tomorrow and this Filipina (married to a foreigner) told me they will be at the site by 8:30am and if by that time I’m not yet around they will leave.
I was at the house to be viewed by 7am and guess what? The Filipina arrived with her foreigner husband 11:30am! and what’s worst they only stayed for 5 minutes just look at the living area and went back to their car without even saying “sorry Mike we are late” and left.
Most of the common experiences real estate agents here in the Philippines encountered with buyers or pretending to be buyers are the following:- Pretending to be a buyer who will ask for a viewing with the intention of just “want to look at the house” and that’s it. These kinds of people does not take into consideration that the real estate agent has also some important things to do like taking care of his / her family or attend to more important jobs related his / her work.
- Pretending to be buyer’s never return call or even text back if the real estate agent will follow up the status of the viewing. These kinds of people do not realize that this is a show of “disrespect” to the person who assisted them. It don’t matter if they don’t buy and what’s important is they reply back and just say in a nice way they are not buying so as not to left the real estate agent guessing.
Inexperienced real estate agents here in the Philippines normally fall to this trap. Normally these pretending buyers always asked for viewing on weekends. They prefer to look at projects outside of Metro Manila – of course this comes with a free ride courtesy of the developer’s shuttle service or the real estate agent’s own vehicle.
These two scenarios are the most common problems real estate agents here in the Philippines usually encounters and I’m sure there are more worst than these that other real estate agents have encountered. What more worst is real estate agents who pretend to be buyers just to extract information from other agents because they do not have the listing/s that their buyer want.
I also fell to this trap when I was still new to the industry but through experienced and common sense I can literally smell if the person on the other end of the phone is a buyer or an agent pretending to be a buyer. I don’t know how these kind of real estate agents succeeds in this kind of business – with one thing in mind that the commission is theirs alone.
These are problems that can be avoided and in my future articles I will tell you how to avoid these problems to make your real estate selling worthwhile.
As for me I loved my profession as a real estate agent here in the Philippines. Aside from the monetary reward it gives, the most important thing that a real estate agent can get is the reward of having to serve the client well.
Is there really a reciprocity between real estate agents and developers here in the Philippines.
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