The Race To The Bottom Is Getting Really Crowded
Some twenty-odd years ago I worked in the petrochemical engineering industry as an electrical designer – but we quit building oil refineries, so thousands of engineers, designers and draftsmen like myself were put out of work. Hey – that’s the breaks.
So I started a landscaping company and became a licensed irrigation system designer… which worked out okay until the oil bust in Houston caught up with the residential construction market… but I digress.
One of the local irrigation supply houses – the one that I used – decided to start installing irrigation systems… in direct competition with companies like mine.
I couldn’t compete with them on installation bids, as they bought equipment and supplies at much lower prices. So I stopped giving them my business.
Fast forward to today.
I was listening to talk radio and heard an ad for another flat-fee broker offering a listing in both of our listing services for $295. I went online to take a look – then logged into the Georgia Real Estate Commission’s website to research this broker.
Interesting enough, this broker has been licensed for a long time… but only became a broker less than a year ago. I noticed that he had failed to renew his license from April 2001 to November 2004… which made me wonder what he was doing for a living during that period.
Digging a little deeper I discover that this broker is a REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY. Admitted to the Bar back in 1997. Member of one of the big real estate law firms.
How interesting.
Virtually ALL of our real estate transactions in Georgia are conducted by attorneys, so it was unsettling to see one of them setting up shop to compete with the agents who bring him work – kind of like the irrigation supply house I mentioned above.
To top it off… the name of his website is ListingDog.com. What a coincidence.
The idea that an attorney – who is probably earning more than 98.9% of the agents in this town – is now horning on what few dollars are being spread around so thin that agents, themselves, are losing their own homes… well that just shows where our industry is heading.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t begrudge anyone from trying to earn a living… especially during times like these. I, myself, have been spending the last several weeks working on developing another income stream, as the prospects in the real estate market are simply not good right now.
While there are many wonderful and exciting developments taking place in our industry, it’s not all sunshine and ponies. There remains a tragic undercurrent. This is just another in a long list of examples that I have seen.
By the way – the irrigation supply house I mentioned above soon withdrew from performing installations, as they lost all of their wholesale supply customers. They quickly found out that shouldn’t have bitten the hand that fed them.
It will be interesting to see whether or not this ListingDog will learn the same lesson.
.
val says:
Real estate attorneys can be a mindless lot, as are most attorneys for that matter.
However, the ListingDog has just shot himself in both paw paws. All the Realtors will also notice. Then his law practice will crash. And he will not be successful as an agent. Only then will the Dog realize he shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds him.
March 7, 2008 — 3:13 pm