post now while I have the chance...

Meeting this morning.  Home inspection at noon.  Showing properties in Baltimore again late this evening.  So, a good day.  I also finally got my car back yesterday, which makes life a good bit easier.

 

So, real quick: my pet peeve with the Century 21 commercial.  Realtor and client in client’s new house.  Paraphrase of client: “You are the greatest Realtor ever.  We must have seen 27 houses.”  Paraphrase of agent: “Actually, it was 41.”  Cue cheesy music and “Century 21” hits the screen, as if they are the greatest because their Realtors show 41 houses.  Gag.

 

Seriously, there are agents that show you 41 houses.  There are agents that will show you 121.  If you want that out of an agent, call someone else…actually, I’ll help you if you want me to. J

Again, I fear I am being a little too harsh here, but please hear what I am saying.  If you think that I feel this way because I am lazy and don’t work my butt off for my clients, you would be dead wrong.  Here’s what I wrote to a client a couple of weeks back:

 

“In my experience and with the training I've received, I've learned that there are two ways to buy properties:

 

One, we could spend several days going to look at dozens of properties with no clear idea of what our objectives are.  We will likely buy one or more in the long run, but I suggest that this is not an efficient use of time or energy for either of us.  Also, when you do this, you risk not getting the properties you eventually decide that you want because of the nature of how quick the…market moves.

 

Two, we do a lot of research by looking at the listings on line (this was why I originally suggested waiting until June 5th to go see anything).  We pick out our best options “on paper," and go to see these options with full intention of making an offer on one or two of them the day we do this "tour".  The most properties I have ever shown a buyer before they put in an offer is twelve (and this all in one day), and that is because I work hard with the buyer to narrow down their options with them before we ever set foot in a single one.

 

Now, I understand if you might want to spend a couple of hours or so driving through the areas that we are talking about one day, and then go back to do the tour I am suggesting another day...that would work for me.  However, I would really recommend against just going out to see some properties on several different days before we put in an offer on anything.  If this is really what you want from a Realtor, I would be more than happy to find a Realtor for you who has a different way of going about things than I do.

 

Again, I do want to reiterate that I have no intention of rushing you at all.  We will go out to tour properties and buy whenever you are ready...I just want us to do the majority of our homework before we hit the road, and not after.  If there is a list of questions that you would like me to ask about certain properties to help narrow down our search, I would be more than happy to call all the listing agents of these properties and do this research with you.

 

I really think that I can be a big asset to you, and I hope you understand that, while my method of helping clients buy properties does serve to protect our time, I also feel that it provides you with top-level service.  There are many drawbacks to seeing dozens of properties over the course of a few weeks that I would be more than happy to discuss with you further.

 

Peace,
Greg”

 

There…so I’ve said my peace.  Now, I hope you all feel just as ill over that stupid commercial as I do. J And, if you don’t, imagine driving around in a car on a several hot days looking at house after house when you can’t even remember the house that you saw three houses ago.  In my opinion, every house that you see after 5, makes it exponentially harder to have clarity in the home buying process…hence, why I don’t think I’ll ever show more than 12 to the same client.

 

But, again, that’s just me…it’s worked extremely well so far, and my clients love it, so I’ll stick with it until I see a need to change it.

 

Peace,
Greg