I think the reason for the negative tone throughout over one year of posting on this topic probably has more to do with your gloating on TV than anything else. I have to be honest with you as a broker owner and as a San Diego long time agent, I had never heard of you until I saw you on TV. There is a certain amount of resentment in our community when you go on TV and claim you’re the #1 agent of all time or in San Diego or whatever your claims are. By what standards? MLS numbers? I spent eight years in a high profile commercial firm here in San Diego before opening my residential firm and I can guarantee you that the commercial colleagues I worked with blow your numbers away. They don’t track via MLS. They’re licensed agents too. You should stop the bragging because it gets you nowhere.
For the record to whoever reads this: I would NEVER pass along a bogus admin fee or bogus transaction fee to a client. Nor will my agents. EVER. It’s paid by the agent EVERY SINGLE TIME. Honestly, it’s ridiculous to think otherwise. If the agent wants a transaction coordinator, it’s their call and their expense. End of story. I shake down the final HUD-1 so lean and mean that my clients love me for it. Matt, do the same. Trim the trees a lot. SELLERS and BUYERS: ask your agent for a copy of the HUD-1 before you sign any listing agreement or get into a purchase contract. We can write one up for you that HAS to include all brokerage fees. The loan fees will be an estimate unless your agent is also your lender.
As for me personally, you have never returned one one single call I have ever placed to you regarding any of your listings. I think I have called you five times. Maybe you were in the TV studio handing out free advice? I felt that the few listings I “had” to see for my clients that were yours were grossly oversold on the MLS ~ real dumps versus the glowing heavenly review I found in the MLS comments section. You score no points with me and I take my negative remarks very seriously and use them sparingly. I am sorry to have to use them now.
All I can suggest to you for the New Year is one word: humility. And if that doesn’t work, here’s another word: scale. The balance of everything in life affects us all.
