One of the things I have striven for in my real estate career is to be honest with my clients, even if it’s not necessarily what they want to hear. You won’t hear me tell them that I believe an offer or counter-offer will be successful when I’m certain it won’t, for example.
All I ask for in return is honesty. Yet many times in this business that seems like a hard hurdle for many to cross.
For example, about a month ago on Agent Genius I wrote about the clients who went house-shopping with me one weekend, set a second appointment and asked me to keep them updated on changes, and then canceled the day before our appointment. Two days later I was informed they were opting for an agent with “more local knowledge.”
It turned out to be a bald-faced lie. They didn’t select an agent local to the area in which they were looking - I was the local agent. Instead they opted to use the agent who listed their home for sale, most likely receiving a discount in the process.
I’ve got no issue with that (or at least I wouldn’t have an issue, presuming they not buy a property I’d found for them, shown them and answered questions about after researching it for them.) All I ask is I be given the honest answer, not a lie.
Today I called one of the folks on my follow-up list. She had called a month ago looking for a condo in Westbrook Village, set an appointment and canceled the day before. I’ve sent e-mails and left messages since, all ending with the simple phrase “if you’ve decided not to purchase at this time, let me know and I’ll take you off my list for follow-up.”
Seems straight forward, right? After all, this wasn’t a cold call. She called me not so long ago. So I’m not beating a dead horse, theoretically.
Today I call. She answers. I say hello. She hangs up.
She’s now off the list. But seriously, how difficult is it to say “I’ve decided not to buy right now?” Is she expecting me to beat her until she changes her mind? Use the Jedi mind trick all of us real estate professionals used in 2005 to convince sane people to buy at any price as we’re so often accused?
(Did you know someone under hypnosis won’t do anything they wouldn’t normally do when not under hypnosis? Sure puts a dent in the “my agent made me do it” argument.)
But she couldn’t do that. Even with me on the line. Better to rudely hang up than cowgirl up for 15 seconds of honesty.
Fortunately, this weekend I’ve had the chance to meet with two buyers who have found the perfect home for them. We’re negotiating one offer and heading back to the builder on the second. Commission checks are nice - I won’t lie. But even better is seeing the look on someone’s face when they walk into a home and they know. They just know.
That helps make up for the dishonest cowards we occasionally run across, for sure.
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Tags: General Real Estate, Tips for Buyers by Jonathan Dalton
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