Ok, I need to vent. And you, my fine readers, can listen, or rather read. Or not. Whatever.
First, I am an ethics lawyer. In my profession, we have a lot of very serious rules. Failure to follow them can get us in a lot of trouble. So I am having a lot of trouble understanding the behavior I am encountering with realtors right now.
Realtors Are Harassing Me
So here’s the deal. I decided to put my house on the market. After about a week, I changed my mind, and decided to take my house off the market. Since that time, real estate agents have been calling. And calling. And calling.
Day One – It Begins
The first day, I just found it odd. The agent told me that he was calling, essentially, because he was a better agent than the agent I had before, and he could help me sell my house. I told him thanks but no thanks. Changing my mind had nothing to do with the agent I was using. She is great.
The next agent, without introducing himself, started quizzing me. I said, I have no idea who you are or why you are asking me personal questions, but it is highly inappropriate, don’t call me again.
Day Who Knows – It Continues
Now, my house has been off the market for a little while. Today, so far, I have had 6 calls. Six Friggen Calls. One literally came in while I was writing this post. I just snorted and hung up on her. Yes, I actually snorted. Like my dog Millie. She likes to snort. It is adorable.
The first one came at 8:00 am, today. Today is a Monday. I am a night person. I am not a day person. I do not want people calling me at 8:00 in the morning.
I really don’t want people calling me at all. Unless they know me. People who don’t know me? Send me an email. Or a letter. Or a post card. That is ok.
Here We Go Again
Great. It continues today. I gave this one a lecture about the do not call list and his ethics.
Where Did they Get My Number?
The other thing is, I have absolutely no idea how these people got my phone number.* I asked my current agent. She didn’t know. I looked online to see if my number is listed with my address. It isn’t. My number is not listed. So these people are using some tool, finding my number, and calling me. They are going out of their way to disturb me, without any thought whatsoever about what I do or do not want.
*It turns out that there are companies that sell the lists. They gather your number from every source they can. My research tells me that these companies mark the numbers that are on the do-not-call lists, which I am. So the realtors calling me are violating the law. I am reporting every call to the FTC.
Here are the numbers of the realtors who have called me since 10/16/17 (I didn’t track before that date.)
- 610-640-9325 – 10/17/17 11:12 am – This one has a real estate firm connected to the number. I called corporate to complain.
- 267-281-6025 – 3:50 pm 10/16/17 (When I hung up on her, she texted me)
- 484-832-5697 – 2:06 pm 10/16/17
- 484-290-0328 – 11:27 am 10/16/17
- 484-297-9703 – 10:30 am 10/16/17
- 610-316-5725 10:06 am 10/16/17
- 610-283-6828 10:02 am 10/16/17
- 484-416-0715 8:06 am 10/16/17
Is your number listed here? Are you embarrassed? You should be.
I Get to Decide What is Harassment
Today, I said to one guy, why are you people harassing me? He responded that he isn’t harassing me. Really? Don’t I get to decide whether you are harassing me? I think I do.
This is Not Ok
If lawyers did this, people would get very angry. It is called solicitation and it is against our ethical rules. I have no idea why realtors think it is ok to call some poor soul out of the blue. Does it not occur to you realtors that we are getting call after call? That we might get annoyed? That there is no way in hell I would hire you after you disturbed me?
Texting Me? Really?
OMG someone just texted me. It read “I am sure you are getting a lot of calls. Is the unit still for sale.” What is she friggen blind? It says right online, not on the market. I responded thus:
Leave. Me. Alone.
In Conclusion
Realtors:
Stop. Calling Me.
Stop. Texting Me.
Forget. My. House. Exists.
*mutter*
I think I may buy an air horn.