Really Real Estate....................... Blog

Graduation

My daughter graduated Cornell last weekend. Needless to say it was a milestone, forcing me to take 2 full days off from Real Estate in the middle of my Spring Market. As my daughters name was being called, my wife and I beaming with pride, my cell starts to ring. Do I answer it or do I watch my daughter get her diploma? That I have to grapple with the question is what worries me. The phone call is not a matter of life and death (I hope). The client can always leave a message on my voice mail. Yet I am so conditioned to answer my cell, capture that potential business that I have to check myself on one of the most wonderful days a parent can experience. My wife slaps me back into reality by quipping, ‘I hope you’re not going to answer that because if you do you’ll be spending the rest of the day by yourself.” I did not answer the call. Instead, I watched Sydney get her diploma, cheering like a proud parent. Yeah Sydney.

Maybe Some People Should Not Buy Houses

I had a Buyer Client, a single woman, who recently purchased her first house. She was a sweet woman, but was very nervous about the purchase. Every time I tried to guide her through the process, she made the assumption that somehow I was working in the Seller’s interests and not hers. Her friends and relatives had drummed it into her that the Real Estate Agent is always working for the Seller or their own pocket and she had to protect herself.  I understood where she was coming from and tried to allay her fears.

     On one house, I even stopped the inspection and got most of her money back because she could never have corrected all the problems on her budget (even though I knew I would have to show her twenty more houses before we found another one that she liked). However, on the next house, if I recommended an inspector, she made sure not to use that inspector. Same with the attorney, the mortgage person, etc. She was so sure that the septic system was in failure, that even after three septic inspections from three different septic companies certified that the system was functioning properly, she tried to get out of the contract. On the walk thru, she took a shovel out of her trunk to dig up the fields herself. I will never forget the look on the listing agent’s face as my client proceeded to dig up the yard. I still don’t know what she was expecting to find. She would call me late in the evening about a dream she just had of “doo doo” floating around her back yard.

     At the closing, their was mix up between the attorneys on a financial escrow and she yelled at me across the table that “this was all my fault” even though the attorneys on both sides assured that it was not. Through it all, I kept my cool, kept the attorneys from leaving the table, and made sure she closed on her dream house. The day after the closing it snowed. I made sure that she had someone to plow her driveway and deliver pizza to her new home. The other agents in my office thought I was nuts for continuing to communicate with my client. So was my wife. But you know, not everyone deals with the difficult process of buying or selling a house in the same way and our obligation is to the client whether or not they recognize (or appreciate) your intentions.

Sitting At An Open House

Sitting at an open house recently, I was struck by an observation of a recurring behavior of my “visitors.”  They walk into the house and seem annoyed by my very presence. They walk in as if they were expecting no one to be there so they can walk through the house unfettered, not to be bothered by a host of questions by an annoying and impertinent agent. They seem genuinely surprised when I ask them if they are already working with an agent. They seem more shocked when I ask them what price range they are looking in, as if that was a shameful secret and absolutely none of my business. (I haven’t even gotten to the Pre-Approval question yet.) When I try to ascertain what they are actually looking for in a house they look at me with great suspicion and with an eye on the escape door. I wonder what they think is my reason for being at the house. Certainly it’s not to ask questions, certainly it’s not to show them around, and most certainly it’s not to offer them any help in their search for a new home. They do take my card, however reluctantly, on the way out after forcing them to sign my login book.

            In trying to analyze this behavior, I need to figure out what the purpose of an Open House is for the visitor. I call them Visitors and not Buyers because they are not exhibiting Buyer behavior. Even though many of them are working with an agent (or say they are to avoid any solicitation by the sitting agent), why isn’t the agent accompanying them to the Open House? I find this a really curious phenomenon. I try to accompany my Buyer Clients to all the public open houses that I am aware of.  This is my naturally protective behavior of my business. So why do most visitors show up at open houses with out their agent of record. Is it because they just want to look and do not want to be sold? Is it because it gives them a chance to see the market for themselves without any professional input? Are they really just curious? Is it the desire to go to a neighbor’s house just to see how it’s decorated?

            I try to respect their position. But I still have a job to do, which is to ascertain whether they are truly a buyer for the house or potential future business. I am always astonished when the visitor is surprised when I try to do my job.

            That’s not to say that every now and then a Buyer walks in to my Open House and lets me do my job. And for those buyers I am grateful.