Redfin Consumer Bill Of Rights Is McWeaksauce
April 2nd, 2007 Connecticut, Deeper Thoughts, Humor
What on earth is going on with the parseltongue utterance from Redfin? Catch up to the plot from Greg Swann, Kevin Boer and Ardell DellaLoggia, they all take different views. Redfin leaked the news to all three and Kris Berg early. No report from Kris as yet – she turns a bigger profit than Redfin though, so she can take her time.
Anyway…
I happen to agree with almost everything that is on Redfins stone tablets. Really some of it is good stuff, others seem a little self serving to Redfin. (Ardell’s comment that it seems to be slanted towards buyers rather than sellers is very good.) But it’s very agreeableness is the problem. How could you NOT support it? Don’t you care for the real estate consumer?
Well of course I do. But…
I can’t help but feel my spidey sense tingling about signing a special pledge and getting a shiny blog badge of consumer support. I’m sorry it all just smacks of the same weirdness as an evangelical virginity pledge. It all makes perfect sense at the time, but all the data afterwards says it just doesn’t do a thing to protect anybody.
Redfins code of conduct is just McWeaksauce in terms of actually protecting the public. Here’s my six point plan for what I think we should do to protect the public. I’m making this stuff up as I go along, so just consider it a rough draft.
/irony on
1. Everyone needs to go to their local Senators and start demanding that they pass LAWS that place an enormous burden of a fiduciary relationship on real estate agents when they represent clients. Just off the top of my head here’s a shopping list of points we should be gunning for;
Loyalty – Obedience – Diligence – Disclosure – Confidentiality – Accountability – Reasonable Skill and Care
2. Also we need to demand that individual States start licensing individuals who want to practice real estate. Also there should be some kind of continuing education requirement as well. Agents and brokers that break the rules should be banned from being licensed and ever working in real estate again. Licensees should have their licenses viewable on a publicly accessible web site too.
3. Hmmm thats not enough really. We need a big stick for it to work. Lets have it so agents and brokers that really screw clients can be sued like a lottery winner. Oh oh oh! Lets make it so they can be jailed too!
4. While we’re at it, one of the biggest problems in real estate anti-consumer bias, is giving different service based on meaningless factors like race, sex, age, skin color and physical abilities etc. Lets cut that right out completely while we’re on the phone with our Senators. Make sure they pass a bunch of laws making all those unfair housing practices wrong.
5. Maybe we should also have people out there just randomly testing that everyone is conforming to those new laws too.
6. Ya know lets run with that idea. Maybe we should have some people working for the government doing nothing but watching out for the consumer. I mean it’s just crazy letting anyone police themselves right. Make sure you let your Senator know that you want an entire department of your State government doing nothing but protecting the consumer.
Now I know that my plan isn’t going to be nearly as easy to put into practice as Redfins. But I challenge you all to pick up the phone, call your Senators and make that change. No single raindrop blames themselves for the flood. You can make a difference.
/irony off
Lets call a shovel a shovel and not an agricultural implement. Any time anyone leaks anything to a blog early, the purpose is for maximum PR impact. It’s all just seems like a big marketing ploy to me. You want blogs to spin <fluffy bunnies> for you, start writing us checks.
Athol
Some other posts on this topic;
Future of Real Estate Marketing Jonathan Dalton
I’d like to give a shout out to my homies at the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection and here’s their latest real estate related press release.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Well said, my friend. Well said.
I’ll be toying with my own sarcasm filters in a day or so. It was a loooooong Passover seder with waaaaaaaaay too much Mogen David handy.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Thanks Jonathan. And awww poor baby ;-P
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:08 pm
dude- ditto. Instant fan o’yours.