Realtors Are Losing Their Minds: Let's Talk About the New HAR Fine

Let’s start with the obvious: it is absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, unprofessional to no-show to an appointment without cancelling or rescheduling. Full stop. Most of these homes are occupied, often with children, pets, or work-from-home situations. Sellers are going out of their way to get their homes perfect for a showing, loading up kids and dogs and leaving the house—sometimes for hours. Can you imagine if a client didn’t show up for an appointment with you and didn’t say a word? You’d be furious.

Bottom line: it’s rude.

Do things come up? Absolutely. Life happens. Schedules change. There’s traffic, emergencies, flat tires—you name it. But here’s the thing: it often takes one click to cancel or reschedule. Maybe the listing agent doesn’t use a showing app. You know what we do every single day? Deal with contracts. So do what we always do: get it in writing. Text. Email. Smoke signal. Whatever. Make sure you have a record that says, "Hey, we won’t make it." Done.

You’re driving around all day anyway—keep a pre-drafted cancellation message in your Notes app and copy/paste. That’s it. You have no excuse to leave someone hanging. Don't. Do. It.

But here’s where my brain goes, because it’s equal parts logic and chaos:

What if you DO show? What if you were there—and someone falsely reports that you weren’t? How do you prove it? Let’s not pretend that with over 55,000 Realtors in our area, everyone is out here being perfect. Maybe it’s an honest mistake. Maybe they use a combo lock and there’s no way to verify access. Maybe they just don’t like you (hey, it happens).

Here’s the advice you didn’t ask for but will thank me for later: take a selfie at every showing. That’s right. You take selfies all day long anyway—I do too. Snap a quick photo of yourself in front of the house. No need to post it. Get the proof. Because unless you have evidence, you’ve got nothing. And yes, I’m speaking from experience—I once had someone try to say I didn’t show up to a non real estate event when I 100% did. Guess who had a photo? This girl.

Is it annoying? Maybe. Is it an extra step? Slightly. Will it save your butt? Absolutely.

Everyone wants to complain about change. But here’s my mindset: accept it, adapt to it, and move on. Quit wasting energy being mad about the rules and start focusing on how to work smart within them. Our job is to sell houses. So do that. Sell the houses.

And finally—my biggest piece of advice: if you don’t like it, get involved. Join an advisory board. Serve your association. Use your voice where it matters. I’ve served on several over the years, including as Chair, and I can tell you firsthand: change doesn’t happen by complaining in Facebook groups. It happens by showing up.

Here’s to peace, love, selfies, and selling houses.