Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate > Real Estate Professionals
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-13-2017, 07:13 PM
 
Location: 26°N x 82°W
1,050 posts, read 755,404 times
Reputation: 1980

Advertisements

Not sure if this should go into this forum or the employment forum but it is based an the real estate industry so here goes...

I am a semi-retired pro photographer that recently interviewed for a part-time contract position with a company that advertises picture/video packages to realty companies in this area.

Maybe ten minutes into the meeting, the owner of the company began to slander a competitor, telling me why I wouldn't want to ever work for them (I had never heard of the other company before the conversation), how photographers hated them and that they produced a sub-par product. I wondered if he was worried I would try to contact them for work... not sure why I was hearing that stuff.

It stuck in my head for the rest of the meeting, bothered me. At the end, I knew I would decline the contract offer, partly for low-ball terms and other issues, but also partly because I felt the guy was unethical and sort of smarmy.

Went home and looked up the competitor on the web to see their work, which is really quite nice, better than the company I had interviewed with.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but it made me wonder. The company I interviewed with just came on board in February and their "tour" photography product is amateur. The other company looks to be well established and nicer, professional polish. Is this business that cut-throat? I thought realtors and the people that worked with them were more supportive of each other because everyone benefitted from the business. Not so?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-13-2017, 07:22 PM
Status: "Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!" (set 17 days ago)
 
Location: Cary, NC
43,161 posts, read 76,770,993 times
Reputation: 45518
Seems to me that you have it pretty much figured out.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-13-2017, 07:25 PM
 
Location: Salem, OR
15,529 posts, read 40,289,339 times
Reputation: 17415
Quote:
Originally Posted by twowilldo View Post
Not so?
Nope.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-13-2017, 07:42 PM
 
Location: 26°N x 82°W
1,050 posts, read 755,404 times
Reputation: 1980
Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverfall View Post
Nope.
So here in Denver the market is crazy. I guess my thinking is I thought they'd be more supportive of each other because no one company can possibly take on so much work. Greed, I guess.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-13-2017, 08:07 PM
Status: "Made the Retirement Run in under 12 parsecs!!!" (set 17 days ago)
 
Location: Cary, NC
43,161 posts, read 76,770,993 times
Reputation: 45518
Quote:
Originally Posted by twowilldo View Post
So here in Denver the market is crazy. I guess my thinking is I thought they'd be more supportive of each other because no one company can possibly take on so much work. Greed, I guess.
"Supportive" is not an ethical requirement.

Tearing them down is not acceptable deportment, however.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-13-2017, 08:16 PM
 
Location: Rochester, WA
14,413 posts, read 11,922,991 times
Reputation: 38784
REALTORS®, i.e. fellow members of the National Association of Realtors, are mostly cooperative and are ethically bound to not 'badmouth' each other. We do need to work together frequently, and we have an obligation to treat each other honestly and ethically.

Secondary supportive industries like photographers, stagers, and inspectors, who are not bound by any such code of ethics, aren't necessarily under any obligation to play nice with their competition. Nor are realtors prevented from badmouthing any service provider they've had a bad experience with.

Badmouthing the competition or others in the industry, as you observed, is difficult to pull off without seeming like a jerk. So... the good ones probably don't... much.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-13-2017, 08:36 PM
 
Location: 26°N x 82°W
1,050 posts, read 755,404 times
Reputation: 1980
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook View Post
REALTORS®, i.e. fellow members of the National Association of Realtors, are mostly cooperative and are ethically bound to not 'badmouth' each other. We do need to work together frequently, and we have an obligation to treat each other honestly and ethically.

Secondary supportive industries like photographers, stagers, and inspectors, who are not bound by any such code of ethics, aren't necessarily under any obligation to play nice with their competition. Nor are realtors prevented from badmouthing any service provider they've had a bad experience with.

Badmouthing the competition or others in the industry, as you observed, is difficult to pull off without seeming like a jerk. So... the good ones probably don't... much.
^^^ This makes sense and all good points here. I equated the ethics of the realtors to those who support them as well. I haven't worked much in the RE business except for a couple of realtors and a home builder and so I guess I was surprised to have that experience. Supposing it will all shake out for them in the end if they cannot produce quality.

Now that I think about it... there was another person there in the meeting... a stager... and she was saying crappy things about some other company too. I had forgotten all about that.

Thanks for insights everyone, trying to decide if I even want to dip a toe into this genre after decades shooting in the energy sector.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-14-2017, 10:43 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
12,529 posts, read 17,485,368 times
Reputation: 10634
Quote:
Originally Posted by twowilldo View Post
^^^

Thanks for insights everyone, trying to decide if I even want to dip a toe into this genre after decades shooting in the energy sector.

Give it a shot. I took a RE Photography class and met a woman who started her own biz. She's having a lot of fun and making some nice money. I've been shooting homes for years as an RE Appraiser and would like to get into that end of the biz as well down the road. I gave her two referrals that panned out and are now regular customers. The old days of using a cell phone are fading, you have to have great listing photos to get potential clients in the door.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-14-2017, 06:09 PM
 
Location: 26°N x 82°W
1,050 posts, read 755,404 times
Reputation: 1980
Thank you Copanut.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-20-2017, 08:44 PM
 
Location: Sarasota/ Bradenton - University Pkwy area
4,587 posts, read 7,471,452 times
Reputation: 5989
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diana Holbrook View Post
REALTORS®, i.e. fellow members of the National Association of Realtors, are mostly cooperative and are ethically bound to not 'badmouth' each other. We do need to work together frequently, and we have an obligation to treat each other honestly and ethically.

Secondary supportive industries like photographers, stagers, and inspectors, who are not bound by any such code of ethics, aren't necessarily under any obligation to play nice with their competition. Nor are realtors prevented from badmouthing any service provider they've had a bad experience with.

Badmouthing the competition or others in the industry, as you observed, is difficult to pull off without seeming like a jerk. So... the good ones probably don't... much.
Well said!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Real Estate > Real Estate Professionals
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top