Sacramento MetroList to Agents: We Lied, Too Bad, So Sad

Just when us Sacramento REALTORS thought it was safe again to bend over in the shower, our Mafia Sacramento MetroList proves us wrong. About 6 months after MetroList announced we were NOT required to sell our lockboxes back to MetroList at 60 bucks (or so) a pop and we could continue to use those lockboxes until the day they died, MetroList, without explanation, has reversed that decision. Wait, it gets better. Remember that shitty $60 trade-in allowance offered for the iBox Exchange? Now it’s only $20. They cut it by two thirds. But not wanting to be total assholes, apparently, MetroList will give every agent until the end of December 2015 to comply and buy new Bluetooth iBoxes, the Supra BT LE.

The way I found out was by logging into my Sacramento MetroList yesterday to read the announcement — which has since vanished from its homepage — so I thought it best to alert my fellow agents that some of us are about to get screwed even worse than last fall. If you sell 2 or 3 homes a year, this probably is not a big deal to you. But if you’re like me, a Sacramento REALTOR who moves more than 100 homes a year, it totally sucks. My Supra account reports that I personally maintain 62 lockboxes in my inventory, and 12 of those are new Bluetooth iBoxes.  This means I must sell 50 lockboxes, once worth about $5,000, for 20 cents on the dollar. Then I can replace that inventory by blowing $6,250 (*including tax for those of you doing the math) for the new Bluetooth iBoxes.

No matter how you look at it, if I want to maintain my present inventory, I’ve gotta dig into my nickel jar to find $5,000 to donate to MetroList. Not to mention drag out my red wagon to load up 50 lockboxes, and pull it along like a pack mule in 100-degree summer heat for 2 1/2 hours to reach MetroList. They should send a Rolls Royce to pick me up for the money I’m throwing at them.

What happened to the promise that we can keep our old lockboxes? I guess we’re SOL. My lockboxes still have plenty of juice left in them and should fully function at least another 4 to 5 years. They work, and when they don’t work for some reason, they can be fixed without much trouble. When a Bluetooth iBox malfunctions, you’re up a creek without a bolt cutters. I had a Bluetooth iBox die after only 20 showings. Stuck on the handrail of a home in Land Park. Just refused to operate.

I can speculate about why MetroList reversed itself without warning and without a conversation nor an explanation, but that would be pure speculation. It’s probably about the money, though. It’s always about the money. Especially when they say it’s not about the money, you can rest assured, it’s about the money.

Agents: If you don’t replace your lockboxes by December 31, MetroList will automatically fine you. Keep it up, and they’ll send you to, get this, a “tribunal hearing.” That’s a fine how do you do.