I wish I could reprint this entire article (subscription required), but don’t want to run afoul of any applicable copyright laws.

The housing market is changing faster than Kate Moss’ career after the cocaine photo leak. … We expect to see agents lining up for their copy of a new book on how to be nice to buyers, since they’ve spent the last 10 years treating them like cattle in a gold mine. We hear Miss Manners is working on the last few chapters right now.

Why does treating people well seem like a a foreign concept to some? I hope that as the market shifts, the public and home buyers and sellers will turn to the true professionals and remember those who treated them as “cattle.”  Doing it right the first time will pay off in time.

From another Inman article citing the top 10 signs of a changing market –

9. Bye-bye, newbies: “I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, anyway.” The crowds at those real estate licensing test sites have thinned out a bit compared with earlier this year and last year. If the market slows, real estate agents will be negotiating fewer deals, and for those who were barely making it in a hot market, a slow market means it’s time to look for a new profession.

Good. The more who treat this as an actual profession who pride themselves on the high quality of their work (like I do), the better.

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