Guestpert : Toni Patillo
Category : Real Estate
Tags : Real Estate, Bullies, depression, Mental Health, Work
Ms. Patillo is the Principal and Broker for Toni Patillo & Assoc.’s, a Residential & Commercial Real Estate Company whose expertise is in the liquidation of properties for people who are selling due to particular circumstances. Leading her own sales team, in standard sales and purchases, Toni Patillo & Associates has a specific niche in Senior Transition sales, Probate, Trust sales, Bankruptcy, Divorce, Short Sales, and Pre-Foreclosure liquidations.
As a Broker of Record for a large Real Estate Brokerage, Keller Williams Santa Monica/Pacific Palisades/Malibu (with over 450 Agents), I have the pleasure and the curse of being responsible for the oversight of all my sales agents and broker associates My biggest challenges when managing a brokerage of this size is making sure all my agents with the various levels of experience, are complying, following procedures, guidelines and protocols. Fortunately, we’ve been in a successful growth pattern and functioning as the number 1 office in production and volume on the Westside for the past 10 years.
So, you can just imagine, I’ve seen it all, but I never imagined dealing with Bullies in Real Estate. Just recently I was contacted by my team leader about one of our newer agents who was being bullied and manipulated by a senior sales agent. The new agent brought in a very high-profile lead that they’d met over a year ago but was nurturing the relationship. As the lead was approaching the trigger point, meaning they were ready to buy. The new agent had been recruited to work on the senior agent’s team. Initially it sounded great, but over time it became apparent the senior agent had alternative plan’s. As the new agent was called away on a family emergency, it was the perfect opportunity for the Vet to swoop in and control the deal. Upon the new agent’s return, things had radically changed, and it was devasting to the new agent and the client whom she’d developed the relationship with. As a matter of fact, it was a deal killer. It was quite interesting to observe and review the chronological layout of the events. Now that I look back over the years there have been several bullying activities between agents, Buyers bulling Sellers and visa versa. I would highly encourage Brokerages to initiate a “No Bullying Policy”. If an Agent feels that they are under attack or being bullied, immediately bring this to the attention of your leadership so they can bring it to a stop or at least get it documented for building a case. Now that this is such a common thing that we are all hearing about. I would say it’s best to keep your eyes open always. You never know when someone is being bullied and their too afraid to speak up.