Controversy

Upon arriving at the office this morning, I quickly got filled in on a controversy brewing. Apparently one of our agents was meeting with her sellers last evening when they told her that their neighbors told them something disturbing. Their neighbors have their home listed with another agent in another agency and the two neighbors are very good friends. The neighbors with the other agency said that their agent told them that our company consistently underprices homes and that we are solely responsible for the downturn in the Dover market. If this was not so serious, it might be funny. First of all, anyone with any sense understands that the real estate market is a commodity market and is driven strictly by supply and demand. When inventories build, prices have to go down and currently inventories are building. If her statement even had a shred of truth to it, then our company with its "low prices" would be responsible for dwindling inventories since our homes would sell so quickly. The problem is that it is agents who overprice homes who are partially responsible for growing inventories. Buyers buy when there is a perception of value and sellers sell when buyers buy, plain and simple.

The other problem with her comment is that it is highly unethical to speak disparagingly of another agency and its business practices and this is according to the NH Association of Realtors Code of Ethics.

Our broker has been out of town for the week so a call was placed to his boss who is the manager for all the Maine and NH offices. I heard from reliable sources that he, in turn, placed a call to the other agent's broker informing her of her agents comments. It will be interesting to see what the fallout from this incident is, if any at all.