Crab mentality in real estate practice

Indeed, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" at least for people who have lost their place in the business. And I would like to relate the story of a friend who is presently a victim of such people. A smear campaign was spread on the internet against this friend citing that his company does not pay taxes or the necessary licenses to solicit business.

On the contrary, he is a licensed real estate broker, with a verifiable license from the Professional Regulations Commission, including proof of tax statements and payments. So cowardly of his accusers, that they hide under the skirt of anonymity and obscurity; feigning to be fighting against government violators, yet, do not have the balls to come out in the open to face against them, much less, to face one man whom they accuse of as an amateur and a neophyte.

The man they accused of, Mr. Anthony, “Tonton” Leuterio, has carved a name silently but remarkably in the field of real estate agency. Before he made his fortune in real estate, he spent his first year advocating and leading the call for professionalizing a practice laden and saddled with greed, factionalism and distrust that he is known among his colleagues and partners as the exponent of ethical standards in real estate in Cebu.

Unfortunately to his chagrin, the very things he is advocating for are the very things that he is faulted for. It makes me ponder sometimes why life is so unfair, why good people always have to pay the price for the acts committed by evil people.

One of the strongest reasons why a lot of people do not last in the real estate profession is because of the very people therein. In real estate, there is an unusually high dose of enmity among practitioners; between and among realty firms; between realty firms and developers and; between real estate groups and associations. You can hardly distinguish your real friends in the profession as there seems to be a culture of suspicion and distrust that fuels that disaccord from within.

When you're in the business of selling real estate, you feel that you are not safe when you are with your colleagues or associates because they look at you as rivals rather than collaborators. And for some reason that they could not make a sale, they fault a productive colleague for unfair practice.

And this is exactly what happened to Tonton. For his innovation in real estate selling, he tops year after year the sales charts of almost every property developer in Cebu since he started selling more than three years ago. And because of such extra-ordinary feat, his detractors question his methods, the people behind him, his very person that they are willing to go as far as threatening real estate developers to revoke their license as if they have the authority to do so!

“Why can’t they just ask me how I did it? My methods are open and unpatented. I have always been willing to share to them what I know since I started in this business.” says Tonton. He also adds that, “The problem with many real estate agents and brokers is that we always think that we know what to do and do not care to listen to ideas, especially new ideas. My success in real estate is not my own.  I follow what successful people do. I follow their ideas and innovate.   It’s not a hard thing to do. I believe they can do it also. People in real estate should gather as many ideas and adopt them for their benefit. Pulling each other down does not contribute any good and to the industry. We only drive buyers away because we destroy each other instead of helping each other.” concludes Tonton.

And if I may add, we have an economy to take advantage. People have money to buy these days. Real estate professionals should restore the faith in the practice, building trust among each other so they may be able to network and sell their inventories fast. Collaboration is the call of the times for the real estate profession to flourish, and to play a key role in driving the real estate market to new records. Vigilance in real estate is not just only about sifting the wheat from the tares, it’s also about the realization of a much deeper misfortune that lies within the profession – crab mentality.

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