Why I Sell Real Estate
Posted by teamthompsonfl on March 23, 2008
Yesterday, Good Friday, was a weird day. Most of the world decided that it was time to just stop moving! I had a lot of work to catch up on, so I decided to go on in to the office. My day went pretty good because I was able to catch up on a lot of work. About 3:30pm, I decided to head on home.
Just after arriving home about 15 minutes later… I received a call from someone who was sitting in front of a house I have for sale. “Unfortuntately, that particular house just went under contract about a week ago.” I explained. As I did, I heard a quiet, sad pause. The caller didn’t seem to know what to say. Understanding this (I’ve had it happen Many times before), I quickly asked “What are you looking for in a house?” This opened the door to a much happier tone from the caller and I was able to find out exactly what they are looking for! “I will email you a list of properties today. Take a look at them… and email or call me back with a list of properties that you’d like to look at. We will make an appointment and take a look at them!” That sounded great to him. We hung up.
Usually, I would have put off doing that for a while… an hour or so… since I had just arrived home and wanted to grab a bite to eat, watch a little tv, and relax a little. My wife and son were visiting a friend and wouldn’t be home for an hour or so (they were painting eggs for easter!) But, I decided I’d just go ahead and take care of it, my computer was already on… so I logged into my mls system and performed the search and sent it out.
It wasn’t 15 minutes later (as I was starting to relax) that my phone rang… It was the buyer. “Do you think you could show us a couple of properties today?” Let me stop the story right here… 1- I rarely show properties to buyer’s without any sort of pre-qualifing. 2- It was around 4pm on Friday… Good Friday… and I had already put in my dues for the day… I spent most of it at the office doing work… and the office wasn’t even open! 3- I hadn’t seen my wife and son all day.
What else could I do? “Uh, O…K…” I said. “I just need you to email me the MLS #’s of the properties you’d like to see… no more than about 4, since it is late, and we’ll go take a look at them. I’ll call you back in about 20 minutes, after I’ve set the appointments up to let you know where we can meet… ok?”
“That’s GREAT!” he said.
<boing> I had email… Wow, that was quick. I sighed, pulled them up… made the appointments… headed out… in jeans, an old t-shirt, and dirty tennis shoes (it was raining yesterday and I didn’t want to get my shoes ruined… so I wore my “cleaning” shoes.” I called him as I left and told him which property we’d meet at first (The suspense was probably exciting for him!)
I arrived before he did… I opened up the house… opened the blinds and turned on the lights. The house was a wreck, since the seller’s didn’t have a clue we’d be there so fast. A car drove by slow…. I watched it from inside the house as it made a u-turn and stopped just up the street. I knew it had to be the buyer… but I guess he didn’t feel comfortable stopping in front of the house since it had cars parked in the driveway. Maybe, he thought the owner’s were home? So, I walked outside and motioned him up to the house.
It was at that moment… I re-affirmed… once again… WHY I love selling real estate… Why I got into this business in the first place. A very young couple (18 & 19 years old) opened up the doors to their car. They wore bright, cheery smiles. They held hands… he opens the door for her every time they get back into their car. I learned very quickly that they had been married for 8 months and that they wanted to buy a house! (And yeah, I finally did qualify them a little…their parents were going to be helping them out… but they get to pick the house and they are very responsible.) They don’t know a thing about buying a home, what to look for, that this journey is treacherous, that it is important to have good representation, that people aren’t always out to help them…
What a great feeling to know that on a gloomy, slow, Friday - in the middle of this real estate market that is in such turmoil; even though the media only tells stories of the “doom and gloom”; even though I’ve been selling real estate for 10 years and don’t work with buyer’s a lot anymore… There are still buyer’s who want & NEED a professional, honest, reputable Realtor. There are still buyer’s who NEED a real estate agent…to help them start their lives together, to represent them and their needs & wants, to help them navigate the tumutulous journey of finding a home, securing financing, negotiating an offer, working out the kinks, and closing on the deal.
It feels really good to be a real estate agent again! And for the best reasons!
This is why I started selling real estate 10 years ago… this is still why I sell real estate…
Carla said
This is a great article and I wholeheartedly agree with you! Helping people find the right house for them to call home. Hooking them up with the right people to take care of all the details like a mortgage, inpections, and insurance. Providing a FULL SERVICE program that makes it a smooth process. Taking the time to go over every step of home buying (more than once)and all the other things we do that our clients are not even aware of; all this when we haven’t had a moment to ourselves or family, it’s a holiday weekend, it’s the tenth call from them that day…
There is nothing in comparison to the smiles on the new home owners faces when they get to the closing table and the keys are placed in their hands. That you have been a part of making their dreams become reality and that you cared enough to take the time. I’d do it again and again.
KV said
I like your venture into blogging! I’ll be the guy this time that says “that was a good post,” with not much else to add. Someone recently told me “people like it when other people act human,” and this post shows how you and the couple are all human. Take care…