Forget about all the professional prognosticators who predict where the market is heading, based on market statistics, chicken entrails, tea leaves, and throwing darts at a board. I’ve got two much more accurate predictors of where it’s going: the number of calls I get from members, and the kinds of calls I get from property buyers and sellers. 

First, the numbers are changing: I’m getting fewer these days. I doubt that’s a surprise to anyone. I could even say I’m getting lonely. In busy times, every day I get dozens of calls and dozens of emails. Thank goodness few folks know my cell number or I’d get a bazillion text messages as well or messages from the infernal Office Messenger that staffers at the Board sometimes want to me to use. 

As an aside, how many ways do we need to contact someone? With all the platforms and devices at hand, it’s a wonder we get through the day. I thought technology was supposed to make everything easier. It probably does, but sometimes, I think it makes things harder, like wading through concrete. I mean, why would you text someone to ask if they can talk on the phone? I say, just pick up the phone, dial their number and talk to them. Or just text them and say what you want to say. Or email them. Or message them. I suppose you could fax someone, too, but only lawyers and doctors do that these days, thank heavens.

Which brings me back to those callers (members, buyers, sellers) and the kind of things they’re asking about, like the market. As if I know. I’ve been predicting a depression for at least 15 years, as I’ve watched prices ratchet up, thinking, “What goes up, has gotta come down.” At some point. I haven’t the foggiest idea when, but as I’ve said, things have changed.

Mind you, it hasn’t been a picnic for sellers’ agents, either. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to deal with a herd of agitated buyers and agents while looking after their sellers’ interests. Being a duck at the PNE shooting gallery would be less stressful.

So, I’m not getting calls from unhappy buyers who didn’t get the place anymore. Or from buyers’ agents who are apoplectic about the offer presentations. No, these days, I’m getting calls from unhappy sellers who are astounded their place hasn’t sold during the first five seconds their property was exposed to the market. 

I expect more of the same as the market becomes more evenly balanced between buyers and sellers. Rising interest rates are going to take a toll, believe me. I’ve seen this movie before. With every rise, buyers can borrow less, which diminishes their number in any price range where someone has to get a mortgage. With fewer buyers comes less frenzy and more haggling.

If you’re a sellers’ agent, it would be smart to manage expectations by doing regular CMA updates and keeping your seller informed about what you’ve been doing to get their place sold. (Biweekly updates, logged into your notes, are also a good idea.) Educate them on what an offer presentation and the countering process might look like now, which in “normal” markets everywhere else on the planet work something like this:

• Overpriced properties don’t get showings. When they do, offers often aren’t written. 
• When offers are written, they aren’t for more than the listing price. Heavens, they can even be for less than the listing price.
• The seller and buyer haggle back and forth, sometimes for a week or two, before someone agrees or they walk away to greener pastures.

So, no, I’m not expecting calls from unhappy buyers. Now, I’m expecting calls from sellers saying something like, “Kris hasn’t sold my place. I want to fire them and get someone else. I told them and they won’t cancel the listing. I want you guys to cancel the listing for me.” Or, “I want to make a complaint that Kris isn’t delivering.” Spoiler alert: the Board isn’t a party to the listing contract and therefore can’t cancel it.

I’ll have to dust off my scripts for those calls. And so will you. What will you say to your frustrated sellers over the next little while? Here are some tips:

• Manage their expectations and be innovative, because putting a sign on the lawn, uploading the listing onto the MLS® System, and posting it to your website isn’t necessarily going to get the job done.
• Remind your sellers that they face competition from other sellers. Have you helped them to understand that buyers have options and they’ll buy the most attractive place that is priced best? 
• Think about how you’ll ensure buyers’ agents put your listing on their list of places to show. They’re not going to beat a path to your door if they think you’ve been uncooperative with them in the past, or prickly to deal with. Karma, as they say. 

The Board sometimes hears from unhappy members who, after leaving their brokerage, discover their former brokerage still retains (and won’t give up) control over the WEBForms transactions they worked on while they were there. REALTORS®, managing brokers, and brokerages are all Board members. Serving the needs of each sometimes puts the Board between conflicting interests.

Since CREA controls WEBForms, we contacted them for more information. Here's a rough translation of their reply:

There were no administrative functions in the old WEBForms platform that gave brokerage control over their Realtors’ “transactions.” A transaction is like a binder containing all the forms, contracts, clauses, and associated files that pertain to a particular real estate transaction. Some brokerages wanted more control over these. Addressing this, CREA changed the WEBForms  platform to give brokerages more control over transactions.

Then, CREA received brokerage requests to disable its control over transactions because some preferred that the control should remain with the Realtors. In response, CREA added a “disable” feature (called a “Transaction Transfer flag,” located in office settings). When activated, the brokerage is agreeing to give up control of individual Realtor’s transactions. Realtors who have control of their transactions retain that control, should they leave their brokerage.

Being in the middle, the Board can’t demand that a brokerage release control over transactions any more than it can demand brokerages retain control over transactions. If there’s a dispute, it would be considered as being an internal matter between the brokerage and Realtor and, as such, the Board wouldn’t have any authority to wade in and start telling the parties what to do.  

A thorough read of your independent contractor agreement and brokerage policy manual is recommended. For questions about WEBForms in general, contact CREA at 1-888-237-7945.