[photopress:tall.jpg,thumb,alignright]Sometimes when we call for an appointment to preview a property, a homeowner doesn’t like to accommodate us, if we are not bringing the buyer with us. Sometimes they even get mad when we decide, based on our evaluation, to NOT bring the buyer to see their home. As in, “Who the #*&# are YOU to decide that the buyer shouldn’t even SEE my house?!” With all of the photos in the mls, I have to say that we do not have to preview as much as we did in the past. Thank you for THAT technological advance!! But we cannot totally irradicate the need to preview property.
The best example is the tall client who likes old houses. Many years ago, I had a client named Bruce who was 6’4″ and his wife LOVED older houses. I remember yelling down the stairs, “Bruce! Get up here and stand in this shower, please!” He and his wife both came upstairs with very puzzled looks on their faces. This was “the” house…the one they wanted to make an offer on. I said, “I don’t think Bruce fits in the shower”. So Bruce took off his shoes and stood in the tub and the shower head was at his nose. They did buy the house, but with “informed consent”, meaning Bruce acknowledged his willingness to duck every day for the rest of his life to wash his hair 🙂
As usual, history repeats itself and I have a tall, soon-to-be husband, looking for a remodeled bungalow in Seattle. House says 1,300 sf. Sounds good. I look at the tax record and find that half of that square footage is up, where the ceilings have funny angles, or down in the basement. I have to preview the property to see if my client “fits” in the house, before calling him to come and see it. Last week she loved, loved, loved the house! He only fit into a two foot square, up in the bedroom. LOL
So far, all of those pictures in the internet do not totally irradicate our need to preview property. So homeowners, we apologize, but sometimes we come alone, and then come back another time with our buyer clients IF after previewing, we determine your house is a “good fit” for our client.
Hi Ardell
When you make such determination, do you discuss the substance of your decision with your client and then let them make the “final” decision. I am a tall guy and I would really hope that before my agent crossed off a home (that otherwise fit my search parameters) from a potential showing because of the shower head height (or anything else for that matter), the agent would tell me so I could decide if the showing was worth the time. If you don’t do this, that is ok so long as you have had the upfront discussion with your client that you will be determining what houses to show and they are ok with delegating that control to you.
Russ
Russ!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
So funny you popped by. I was writing a completely different post for today about how “1 day equals 5 but 6 days equals 6” by contract today. I deleted it because I said to my self, I said “Self, don’t do it. Russ will come after you for reading a contract” LOL
Now here you come anyway with the “Who the %$^&# are you to tell ANYONE” speech. LOL
Russ, I think we have already determined that I am not YOUR kind of agent, and you do not like agents who make decisions on behalf of their clients.
Here’s how it works for me and my clients. I go to some houses with them first. They rule out the ones that he can’t stand up in. Then I go out and rule out any new on market listings that he can’t stand up in. I take my “cue” from the clients. I see what they like and don’t like, and I go out and find them houses that are similar to the ones they like. They have complete access to property via public search sites, and can add anything they want. But I CHOOSE which ones I am showing based on THEIR cues, not their instructions.
They don’t “delegate control to me”. I am just THAT kind of agent. I save my clients a lot of time and most find a house they like very quickly, using my methods. You may not like that…but many do.
Nice to hear from you! and have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy T-Day to you too!!
You can call it what you want but the folks that like your style have, in fact, delegated that control to you. That’s OK. You are a control person, and there are many people who like that style. My point, simply put, was that if you were making decisions for the client, that they understand in advance how you work. I’m sure you do a great job of educating them which would be expected from a good agent. I’m a big fan of dialogue between the buyer and the agent as to the rules of the working relationship which, by the way, greatly reduces the risk of misunderstandings down the road.
Now go and eat some turkey.
Russ
With inventories of home increasing, previewing homes becomes a very important part of the process. Most buyers don’t have the time to see all 50 listings in their price range, nor do they want to!
Hope,
I like your blog. A good example of being able to introduce your listings on a blog.
A lot of blog “purists” suggest that agents shouldn’t do that, but I like the way your blog flows.