By. Sean Bugg, 2024 NVAR Grievance Committee® Chair

Now that we all carry tiny microcomputers everywhere that function as digital Swiss Army knives for our lives, it’s easy to forget — or ignore — the one app that gave birth to the device in the first place.

The phone.

One of the greatest generational differences in our culture is the divide between generations over the importance of phone calls. Older generations — Baby Boomers and Gen X — consider the phone call a requirement for their business and personal lives; To them, it is every bit as important as the computer on their desk and the MLS in their web browser. In contrast, the younger generations — Millennials and Gen Z — see phone calls as intrusive interruptions that should be preceded with texted permission, if allowed at all.

This can lead to some amount of conflict between Realtors®. One camp insists that a phone call is the first and best way to handle any communication about a listing or transaction. Another camp insists phone calls are intrusive and time-consuming, especially when it’s so easy to just send a text. And that doesn’t even get to the conflict over whether you should leave a voicemail message.

I‘m Generation X. I grew up with landlines as the only means of instant communication. Back then, when answering machines were still expensive luxuries more common on TV shows than in actual living rooms. You wouldn’t call during supper or after 9 PM, unless it was truly important.

And if you dialed long-distance without parental permission, well then that meant trouble (“What’s long distance?” I hear Gen Z asking as I grasp my AARP card).

There were eventually fax machines, which were phone-driven, cumbersome office equipment hated by nearly everyone. Ask an older real estate agent what they thought of doing contract negotiations via fax and you’ll get an idea why they think younger generations have it easy.

What I’m saying is, for Gen X and older, phones were a central part of our lives. Phones were how we got things done. Phone calls were how we got stuff done now.

Skip ahead to Millennials, who came of age with cheap cellular phones, America Online Instant Messager, and email. Their technological successor, Gen Z, has only known free unlimited texting, Instagram accounts, and Tik Tok.

It should be no surprise that the generations would have different thoughts on the need for and efficacy of the little green icon in the lower-left corner of your “phone.” At the risk of sounding wishy-washy, I believe both sides have a point. I may be on the older end of the Gen X spectrum, but I fully identify with Millennials and Gen Z when it comes to phone calls — I generally hate them. The phone always rings when I’m in the middle of a deadline. If I’m waiting for an important call, it won’t come until I get up to go to the bathroom and I can never make it back in time because phones literally will not ring more than four times anymore.

But — and this is the important part — there are times when a phone call can be one of the most effective tools you have as a Realtor®.

In my time as a member of and chair of the NVAR Grievance Committee, I’ve seen so many cases submitted with email and text chains that show a problem starting small then growing, growing, and growing until — BAM —the transaction falls apart and an ethics complaint is being filed.

And nearly every time, committee members wonder, “Why didn’t someone just pick up the phone?”

Why would a phone call have made a difference? Because often what’s missing in texts and emails is tone and intent. I’ve been a professional writer most of my life — long before I became a Realtor® — and I often struggle with conveying tone in texts, especially when things are potentially heated (which is why I sometimes overcompensate with emojis, which I think annoys people from every generation).

It’s very easy for anyone of any age to open the text app to avoid a potentially difficult conversation. But those conversations are often the most vital ones for you to have, in order to move a transaction forward and serve your client’s best interests.

In my experience, most agents have the same goals and desires as I do — to ensure what’s best for their clients in the smoothest way possible. While I still dislike working with the phone, I’ve had transactions that start sliding sideways, so I called the other agent, and things worked out because we were both operating in good faith.

Sure, there will be the rare situation where a phone call doesn’t solve a problem or, even rarer, makes it worse. That’s what email and paper trails are for. But those are the exceptions, not the rule.

So, next time you see a Gen X agent asking for calls, not texts, in a listing, hit that little used phone app and make a call. And for my cohort, when an agent is asking to use texts first, don’t roll your eyes, loosen your thumbs. Give a little, get a little isn’t just a theory for contract negotiations.

When it comes down to it, clear communication serves all our interests and our clients as well.