Moses Kagan on Real Estate

Yesterday wasn’t my best day as a broker.

I got an email from a client letting me know that the loan broker I set her up with was not being responsive. Having gone through this once before with this loan broker and client, I saw red.

Why did I see red? Many loan brokers pay referring agents a fee for referring business. As a rule, I decline this payment. Why? Because all that is important to me is that the broker do a great job for my client. I want the broker to have his whole commission, rather than share it with me, so that he feels a strong incentive to get the deal closed. So, when I feel like a loan broker is being unresponsive, I get pretty upset.

Anyway, I called the broker and, when I didn’t get him, called his assistant, got her to track him down, and then read him the riot act over the phone.

Not a good move. Why? A few reasons:

1. This guy is a really good loan broker. He’s a pain to deal with, but he gets results. That’s why I referred this client to him in the first place.
2. He has all my client’s information. Not the hugest deal, but starting again with a new broker will be painful for my client.
3. It’s just generally not a good idea to give people a really hard time, particularly with one of their colleagues on the phone. I don’t want to get a reputation as a jerk and this is how you get one of those reputations.

After I blew up at him, he unsurprisingly declined to work on the deal. I immediately apologized, but the damage was done.

In retrospect, I regret how I behaved. Sure, it’s not unreasonable to demand top-notch service from loan brokers to whom you refer clients. But I should have waited five seconds, considered the above, and then calmly requested that the broker pay a bit more attention. Mea culpa.