Is it more than a lack of common courtesy?

I’m in the midst of trying to deal with the listing agent for a bank owned property and it’s really getting frustrating. I say trying to deal because this particular agent refuses to return calls. He has one of those syrupy voicemail messages, you know the kind – “Sorry I missed your call but I’m currently out of the office. Your call is important to me so leave me a message.” Yeah, right! If it’s so important to you why can’t you return the call? It’s been two days now and I’ve left three messages. So this afternoon I got through to his office and was told that his assistant wold help me. Now, I'm making progress, I thought as they transferred me to the assistant. Then the assistant answered, "I'm away from my desk but your call is important to us so leave a message." Noooooooo!!!

Unfortunately this has become all too familiar in the current short-sale and foreclosure landscape that makes up the majority of the real estate business these days. That business has become concentrated in the hands a few agents, most of whom are overwhelmed, even if they have assistants and staffs. Unfortunately they are just the front-men for bank staffs that are equally (if not more) overwhelmed and sometimes even less responsive. It is not uncommon to hear stories in the office of short sale offers that have been in to the bank for 4-5-6 months.

So the rest of us have to put up with poor response or no response at all from these foreclosure-listing mills. It is the cause for constant grumbling by the agents who happen to represent people who are trying to buy one of those houses. We are forced to keep explaining why the real estate business doesn’t operate under the normal rules of business courtesy or really under any rules at all, when it comes to foreclosures and short sales.

And what can the industry do about it? Apparently nothing. There have been numerous attempts at formulating MLS rules that might help, but other than getting a few things enforced about the completeness and truthfulness of the data inputted to the MLS, there is really nothing that they can do. And states have little or no power over the large lenders, since they are governed under federal laws. There appears to be no way to require either courtesy or competency in either the Realtors or the banks involved with those distressed properties.

The only justice to look forward to is that someday this market will all turn around and then those same clowns who wouldn’t return our calls today will be calling us to try to do business. Oh, yeah, I remember you. You're the foreclosure clowns who didn't return calls - leave a message.