Mission Statement

This statement is in response to a conversation I had with a very unhappy woman, at one of our Oliver and Associates mall locations. This customer had signed a Listing Agreement with a High Profile Agent for what she felt was an excessively long period of time, and she wanted out, “RIGHT NOW’. The aforementioned agent refused to do open houses, nor advertise the listing in any of the standard publications available to agents. I was told that the Realtor stated that “The MLS sells real estate, not advertising or open houses”. That may be true, or not, depending on what side of the fence you’re on. All I could do was make solicitous statements, tell her to talk to her agent to work something out, or if all else fails, talk to her agents Broker to see if things might be looked into.

When everything is said and done, the glaring oversight, at least by my standards, was in the fact that the High Profile Agent had lost sight of the rule that AGENTS WORK FOR THE CLIENT, and are supposed to follow the lawful requests of that Client in the marketing of their property, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. What we have here is, “The Tail Wagging the Dog”, as my darling Father would say. As much as I agree that real estate isn’t a charity, and the name of the game is for the agent to make a reasonable living in relationship to his responsibility, education, and cost of doing business. But, I also believe that some agent’s actions and perspectives revolve more around the fact that anything outside of the bare minimum is going to intrude on their lifestyle or happy times, and when concerned with themselves, they AREN’T looking out for their Clients best interests.

My experience is that NETWORKING sells houses, may it be the MLS, strategically placed reasonable amounts of advertising, co-operating agent open houses, brokerage open houses (better know as CARAVAN), neighbourhood open houses throughout the week, including weekends, advertising within the neighbourhood, and, within reason, being available to your client and prospective buyers at inconvenient times, seven days of the week, 364 days of the year.

These were the rules when we became Realtors, and we ALL understood this when we entered into this profession. The name of the game is SERVICE, because this is one of the THREE pillars that our profession is built on, the other two being SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE, and the MLS SYSTEM.

AFTER HAVING SAID THIS, I PROMISE...

you can put on hold or transfer your listing to another Oliver and Associate agent, if at any time you become dissatisfied with my Service or Performance. I’m not going to hold you.

no listing will be longer than (90) days MAXIMUM, unless requested by you, the Seller.

my clients, have a direct line to their agent, not a Team Member or an Assistant, 24/7, even in the inconvenient times.

the Buyers Agency Agreement is signed for the minimum amount of time that it takes to complete the deal, and only at the time of presentation or the earliest convenient opportunity. If you don’t want to be here, I’m not going to hold you against your will. I keep my clients through hard work and loyalty, not legal ploys.

that I will market your property with the same diligence, intensity and dedication, as if the property that I’m representing, were my own.

that I always endeavour to work around YOUR schedule, you don’t work around MINE.

that I will represent you, when purchasing a property, with 100% complete loyalty. I’ll always look out for your best interests, even at the costs of my own position.

that I will always endeavor to supply the best value for your commission dollar.

that I’ll always address, to the best of my ability, any concerns that you may have. I’m never too busy to listen, after all, you are the most important person in my business, the client.

Graham Gerken
Oliver and Associates Real Estate Brokerage