A waste of time

Tom Watson was referred to me on January 6th by a long-time business associate and I was pleased with the way Tom jumped right in. During our very first phone conversation as well as in every subsequent meeting, I made it a point to be very specific about my situation: I would like to sell my multi-unit building but the market may not be right for the required price. When Tom told me that he has the desire, the client pool and the know-how to sell my building, I told him that the listing is his and set up a time for a property visit. Prior to setting up this site visit, I once again confirmed with Tom that he understands my concerns with having to give notice for entry to numerous tenants and my reluctance to bring anyone in until they were ready to list the property. The first visit we calendared had to be rescheduled because Tom forgot about it. I had to give a second notice to my tenants in order to be able to show the property. When we finally conducted our site visit, we met immediately thereafter to discuss the next steps. Following that, I sent to Tom photos of each separate apartment. Since it was decided that a bit of time was necessary for Tom to get the listing going, I did not think much of Tom's lack of response to me. When I checked in with him again in a month, I received the following via email five days later on May 3rd: "I have been quite busy in the last few weeks. I've thought long and hard about your listing and I’m afraid there’s too much of a gap between the price you need and what I’d be comfortable listing it at. Additionally, I feel listing as a traditional sale, via the MLS vs. a pocket listing is the key to a successful listing. Best of luck, Tom". I was surprised that after 4 months of waiting for Tom to list the building he decided against representing me. I respect his right to choose which listings to take on but feel that it was dishonest, inconsiderate and unprofessional to waste the months that I could have spent choosing another agency and listing my property with them. What I found most disappointing is the way Tom chose to communicate his dismissal to me: he did not even give me the courtesy of a phone call so that we can have a voice-to-voice conversation. Ironically, the day on which he finally responded to me with his decision not to list my property was the same day that he had an open house at another property located just a few blocks from my home. Considering the personable and amiable working relationship we had to-date, it was shocking to be treated such an unprofessional way. It did not seem to matter to Tom that his behavior was also a reflection on the person who referred him to me and that it could have caused damage to that business association. I am very disappointed with my experience with Tom Watson and would never do business with him or Hill & Company, either as a seller or a buyer.