When The Client Is Wrong

During the 2006-2008 real estate bubble, I became a real estate agent[1]. I helped my clients purchased houses during the great boom. I only got a few clients though, as housing way usually expensive and out of the reach of most of my potential customers. When the bubble exploded though, lots of investors saw houses as a great opportunity. Business was booming, as I acquired more and more clients!

One of my clients was Adams[2]. Adams thought that the real estate market has crashed so much that he can underbid the listing price for a house that he wanted to buy. I disagreed. The real estate market has crashed, but not to the extent that the buyer can set any price he choose.

I showed Adams the market value of houses next to the one that he want to buy, and compared them to the listing price of the house that he wanted to buy. I provided Adams evidence that the listing price for the house was fair and reasonable, but Adams refused to listen anyway. I was upset. I only get paid if Adams successfully bought a house, but if Adams underbid for the property, then the bid will be rejected outright. I have worked hard for Adams, and it would be for nothing…all because of Adams.

But…I wasn’t working for me. I was working for Adams. My real estate broker told me that my goal is to represent the best interests of the client, by giving the client good advice. But if the client refused to listen to the advice, then we still have an obligation to fufill the client’s wishes. So I issued the bid anyway, knowing full well that it was going to be rejected and that my time would be wasted. That was my job.

The source of the conflict between me and Adams was money. Adams was a fairly wealthy person, but he wanted to maximize his wealth by buying houses cheaply and then renting them out. I wanted to get paid for my work by ensuring that Adams bought a house, regardless of the cost that he had to pay out of his pocket. Adam and I were only thinking about our own self-interest, and tried to force the other person in the business relationship to submit to their whims. This was not healthy at all.

In this conflict, I felt that I was not having my my time respected by the client, and that I was forced to do rather meaningless and pointless actions for the client, even if said actions were not in the client’s best interests. However, I did maintain a professional demeanor throughout the conflict. I did what I could to convince the client, and then implemented the wishes of the client anyway, even though I disagreed with them.

Thinking about this scenario, I think that while I handled the conflict well, I should be more accepting of the client’s stated desires, rather than question him. There may have been reasons for why the client was underbidding for the house that I did not appreciate at the time. For example, maybe the house would have been unprofitable for Adams had he purchased it at the fair market value. By respecting my clients’ opinions, my clients would have been more likely to respect my opinions as well.

After this conflict, I have came to accept the fact that I may do stuff for my clients that I personally would disagree with. I would explain why I disagree with the client’s proposal, but I would also listen to my client and acknowledge that what he is doing does have some logical reasoning behind it.

I also learned to walk away from any business relationship where neither side respected each other. After Adams’ bid for the house was rejected, I suggested to Adams that he should find and purchase a new house by himself that would be within his price range. Adams ended up doing just that. Both Adams and I retained our dignity throughout the process, and the conflict soon became a thing of the past.

[1]I left real estate in 2010 to focus on my graduate studies in Political Science. By that time, the real estate market in Arizona was recovering, so I was losing clients.

[2]Adams is not the real name of the client that I worked with.

(THIS IS THE CHANGED POST ALPHA MAN)