Lessons learned in the heat of battle.

**CalGreg** · 12-30-2007, 10:21 PM

We now live in California. My wife was in touch with a local real estate sales lady in CA before we moved into town and started looking for a place to buy.

My wife moved here first and shared a home with another lady on a short term basis. I came out two months later and knew we had to get into our own home or go crazy. So we set out on a Sunday to scout out the territory and decided to stop by a real estate office.

It was high noon on a Sunday. The high profile office in a large shopping center was closed! I was shocked because I always figured that Sundays were great days to be "on duty" in the RE biz. So we drove to another office about 5 minutes away and found the door open and a very nice lady was ready and very willing to help us. She showed us about 10 homes but my wife wanted an in-ground pool so our choices were a bit limited. So after three days of showings I told our lady that I did not feel obligated to buy through her. We were about to go to the original agent my wife contacted months before.

Needless to say, the lady who was working with us got a bit upset and said something like "Well, I've been working hard with you!" When she saw I was serious she really got down to business and we found the perfect house in two days.

We paid $560,000 for the house. You do the math on the 5% commission.

About a week later the first agent called us. She wanted to show us some houses. I was sorry to tell her that we already bought a house. I could feel her pain at that answer.

So, are there some lessons here? I think so.

1. Always have someone in your office on the weekends.

2. Don't ever think you've earned the right to reel in a sale just because you spent time with the buyer. Buyers do not necessarily feel attached to you. Unless they knew you for a long time before, I don't think they should feel they owe you anything.

3. Stay in touch DAILY with potential clients especially those who have large down payments and great credit.

4. Keep asking questions. In this case we decided it would be better to buy a home with an existing pool rather than one where we would build a pool. Our agent did not pick up on that because she didn't ask us if we preferred one or the other. Or she didn't LISTEN carefully enough.

**Greg** · 12-31-2007, 06:17 AM

The reality is that you ended up working with an agent whose only success in this business comes from sitting around the office on Sunday waiting for someone to walk in the door. This is not the way to pick a winner, as you obviously found out after you had to threaten the agent with getting fired before she did the correct homework.

Why didn't you call the original agent before you went out blindly looking for a house? Sometimes loyalty has it's dividends.

**CalGreg** · 12-31-2007, 08:10 AM

Greg,

I didn't say she wasn't a good agent. I suspect she is like most of us who don't really listen hard enough.

She took us to 10 houses in the area in three days. To assume that someone is lazy or not capable because she was in the office on a Sunday is not necessarily correct.

Though I do agree with you that if someone does their networking and works hard outside the office they will come out way ahead of the agent who depens on floor time. Having said that, I cannot excuse the broker who had his office door locked at that time and day. They guy lost $9,000 for about 12 hours work. His or her loss.

Actually, I find more fault with the original agent who did not stay in touch with us.

**CalGreg** · 12-31-2007, 08:14 AM

Also, we did stop by the original agent's office (she was in the office just like the one who found the house). We talked for about 15 minutes. I don't remember why she did not show us houses immediately or even offer to. Perhaps we waved her off at the time, but I would have been on the phone with me within two days.

I think the point is that to many potential customers the real estate agent is just a tool to help them get happy. That is not a bad thing. It is reality.