Ok, so I had an interesting email interchange with a "Broker Associate" recently. We recently listed a home in the Dallas market. Like many of our listings the seller sends us the data and photos.  Unbeknownst to us, the seller sent in photos from a previous listing.  This is a "No No" in the MLS rule book.  Mostly for good reason.  Sometimes the old photos do not represent the current house. Or maybe the previous agent paid to have those photos taken. The MLS takes this pretty serious to the point we as agents can be fined up to $200 for using old photos without permission from the previous agent. The seller I am sure was unaware of all this and sent us the previous listing photos. On Friday night at 10pm I receive an email from the previous agent telling me I need to remove the old photos.  No problem I think.  I write her back and tell her I wil take care of everything 1st thing Monday morning.  You would think the fact that I write her back at 10:30 on a Friday night would show good faith.  How many real estate agents are actually working on a Friday night at 10:30 right?  The other agent should be thrilled that I responded within 30 minutes. Not good enough for Lucy B.  I get this email in am

Please remove the pictures and call me asap or I will be reporting this because it is important to protect our industry. If your clients are ignorant you need to teach them and correct it.  Thank you, Lucy B

I can understand that this is a life or death situation and that I must drop everything and get these photos changed out immediately.  The future of real estate depends on it (sarcasm). What I can't accept is her calling my client "ignorant".  What does this Lucy B know about my client??  She is certainly smart enough to want to sell her home by owner. And how do these photos protect our industry?  This is where the insecurities come in to play.  We have been offering Flat Fee MLS listings for over 20 years now. And to be honest, the "Hate Mail" we used to receive ws a lot worse than it is now.  Nonetheless we still have Lucy B's out there.  Agents who cannot accept the fact that the real estate market is changing.  Agents who feel entitled to their 6% commission. Agents who feel the sellers should not have a choice in the level of service they choose, or how much, if any commission they should pay.  To be fair, there are a lot of great agents out there who are not insecure and do a great job for their clients.  We are a full service Brokerage too.  We just believe in giving our clients a choice in what type of service they choose. And if they choose our Flat Fee Listing to save money on the commission we are happy for them. Never insecure