While scrolling through Facebook recently, I saw that one of my past clients had shared photos of her flooded basement. “Oh No!” I said in the comments. “Third time this has happened since I bought the house,” she said.
Now, it’s been a few years since that transaction, but I remember some details. First, the seller was a licensed contractor. Two, we had it inspected. And three, there were no signs of water issues in the finished basement.
Normally, I would offer some sort of support- does she need a contractor to come look at it? Does she need a recommendation for a restoration company? But a relative commented before I could. “There has to have been a messed up realtor that sold you that house.”
Reading this, my heart begins to pound, my brain starts to scream, and I’m ready to pounce. I want to respond about how this isn’t my fault, nor any other Realtor’s for that matter. We did our due diligence as a buyer and a buyer’s agent. That if there is any blame to be had, it most likely lies with the seller, and only the seller, no one else.
Furthermore, if I had known about the other two times the flooding occurred, we would have been able to discuss the situation with that seller and his agent in a timely manner to see if in fact he knew about the issue. Doing so five years later is a little harder to prove deceit.
But instead, I stepped away.
It went against every fiber in my body to keep my mouth shut. But, I stayed quiet. Why? Because although my intended outcome would be that this person learns the different roles Realtors, inspectors, appraisers, sellers and buyers play, the actual outcome of my comment would have started an online brawl. And I’m not a fighter, especially on social media where the reach is further than we can ever imagine.
So I stayed quiet. I set my phone down, walked away, and started a new project to busy my brain for the next hour or so. When I got done, I no longer felt the need to defend myself in what was certain to be a losing battle. 
Sometimes it’s best to say nothing. As hard as it is, you just have to walk away. Realize you can’t educate everyone; that a lot of times, people don’t seek to understand. They just want to place blame on someone else so they have a perceived easy answer to their problems. Not everyone has a growth mindset. So don’t fall into the trap. Don’t take the bait.
Just walk away.
Amy Gilpin, Associate Broker, Manager, ABR, SRES.
Fifteen years of helping clients. Seven years of helping agents. All for this crazy thing we call real estate.
Production Realty 517-879-4141 Jackson, MI Amy@ProductionRealty.com
