Buyer Loyalty: Blowing In the Wind and Driven by Waves

My client loyalty rate is extremely high.  I have never had a listing client leave for another Realtor after an expiration (that was not mutually agreed upon first).  I make it a practice to leave my protection period at "0" on all my listing agreements.  I am that confident in my ability to service and provide for my clients.

With buyers, I typically spend some time getting to know them and sign the buyer-broker agreement when we write an offer.  Typically, I will invest about 8 to 10 hours of my time showing houses and answering questions before we reach that point.  In seven years in the business, I have only had one person bail and work with another real estate agent before we signed the buyer-broker agreement.

Well, today we get to increase that number to two clients in seven years.  It is certainly a bitter cup to drink from, especially in today's marketplace.  It also may be a sign that Realtors must be more diligent about getting agency agreements authorized up front before investing the time, energy, and gas money.

We all need professional sharpening from time to time and I will consider this the lesson learned from this experience:  Loyalty appears to be a scarce virtue.