Sally
Searcher Let Me Explain
So yesterday I receive a call
from a prospective buyer. We’ll call her Sally Searcher. So, Sally had
called on one of my listings.
Sally:
Is the home still available, what can you
tell me about it, how much is it…etc.
Me:
Thanks for calling Sally, how long have
you been looking?
Sally:
Oh, hold on we’re driving around
looking at homes.
Me:
<gasp> You are not wasting your
time & gas randomly driving around calling on signs are you?
Sally:
Yes, we have been SO busy driving around
trying to find a house.
Me:
Sally, are you working with a real estate
agent?
Sally:
No. We are not.
Me:
Sally, that house is blah blah blah blah
(price, size, gulf view, etc.)
Sally:
Wow, that sounds great. We want to see it. When are you available
to see it? We could be over there later this afternoon.
Me:
That’s great Sally. I am not
personally available at that time but I could have one of my agents assist you.
<PAUSE>
Sally:
I’m going to be very honest with
you. We only want to work directly with the listing agents.
Me:
Could I ask why?
Sally:
Because then we can negotiate the best
deal.
Me:
Well actually that isn’t quite
true. The listing agents work for the seller. We work to assist the seller in
obtaining the highest and best offer possible.
I personally prefer to only
work for the buyer or for the seller. When I work directly with the buyer I
help them buy the house for the best possible price and terms. In this market
it is critical to have your OWN agent showing you homes. I would be more than
happy to have one of our agents be that agent for you.
Sally:
Hold on a second. <She goes to speak to her husband, for I kid
you not, about 5 minutes.
She comes back>: Well, if we should be working with one agent we already have someone in
mind.
Me:
Ok Sally. Feel free to have your agent
give me a call to set up the appointment.
Sally:
Well, can’t you or one of your
agents go ahead & show me the house?
Me:
With all due respect Sally, if you are
working with another agent they should be the one to show you the home. It
would be a waste of one my agents time to come out and show you a home if you
are already working with another agent. But if you don’t have an agent
and wanted to meet with one of my agents and decide if you wanted to work with
them then they could show you that, or any other house that is on the market.
Sally:
Really? They can do that?
Me:
Of course. I go over with her the
agent’s experience, skill, personality and she feels better. I’m
referring her to my mom. My mom has been in the real estate business for almost
30 years. She’s lived in Cape Coral since 1994. She doesn’t
pressure people and she is very helpful.
(obviously this lady has a
trust issue with agents)
Sally:
Well should I call you back for an appointment
or can I call your mom directly?
Me:
Either. Again, my name is Susan Milner
with Florida Future Realty, Inc and my mom is Peggy Milner with Florida Future
Realty, Inc & her # is (239) 282-9219.
Sally:
Great thank you. I really appreciate your
candor and look forward to working with you/your agent to buy a house.
(There were parts of the
conversation left out but you get the drift)
Now, I’m not for sure if Sally will really decide to use
just one agent. She already told me she is out there calling every sign. But it
is very sad to hear consumers driving around randomly wasting $3.50-4.00 gallon
on gasoline calling random signs – we have a lot of them you know! And all the while expecting to get a better deal going directly
through a listing agent.
In this market I think it is critical to have ONE agent working
for you. One that you trust of course and who is showing you
the best houses that match your criteria.
Does Sally know that after one 30 minute conversation with her
& maybe 1 time out viewing houses I could hand pick the 3-5 BEST houses in
all of Cape Coral for her? No, of course she doesn’t realize that. She
doesn’t KNOW me. She obviously doesn’t TRUST me. YET
anyway.
Later I observe another agent in the office following up with a
buyer. This buyer had been doing the same thing. After a few minutes of
counseling and armed with better advise he is on board again to allow one agent
to do all of this work for him.
Consumers, if you are considering a home purchase, please give us
a call and a few minutes of your time. We have access to ALL of the available
homes for sale. We know what the inventory is like and we watch for new homes
to come on the market as well. You will get a much better ‘deal’
working with ONE great agent vs. a million random ones.
If you aren’t ready to give us a call, feel free to visit
our Real Estate website to search for the available homes in SW Florida (we
cover Cape Coral, Ft. Myers, Estero, Bonita, Lehigh Acres & surrounding
areas).
Susan Milner
Florida Future Realty, Inc.
(239) 218-2229
Search Cape Coral & other area
listings: www.Florida-Future-Realty.com
Property Management and Trying to Sell a
Rented Home
Many of the houses we have listed for sale are in a pre-foreclosure situation right now. That’s ok, we do have experience with short sales.
But we also have many pre-foreclosure homes with tenants in place. No, we didn’t place the tenants, we don’t think that is right, they were already there & typically prior to knowing about any type of pre-foreclosure issue with the owner.
Ok, fine. So how can we sell these homes with a tenant in place?
In the best case scenario, the tenants would work WITH us. If we sell the house to someone else BEFORE it forecloses their lease will remain in effect. Great. They still have a place to live.
Here’s my ideas
of a tenant working with us:
Not too much to ask for, is it?
Well, here’s what is reality.
The companies handling the property
management are:
So, here’s my question to Tenants/Property
Managers & even SELLERS.
How are we supposed
to sell your home & save it from homeless/foreclosure if we can’t get
anyone in to see your house?
Do you see how that can be a problem? No price will fix this issue. Or at least no price that the bank will agree to will.
So, either the seller will get frustrated & sign a deed in lieu (if the bank allows, etc) and the tenant will be HOMELESS within a few days. Yes, that is TRUE, once the banks own the house they don’t play games, they kick you out – just like that. I got a call from an angry tenant like that a couple of months ago, no warning – just “you have to get out, here’s $500 BYE BYE”.
Or we keep trying to sell the house & eventually we get an offer but it is very low because it has been on the market for a few months & everyone thinks something must be wrong with the house. #$&)!, we’re too late, the bank has foreclosed. Same scenario folks, tenant is HOMELESS, Seller has a FORECLOSURE, the house sits vacant and deteriorating for months, and no one is happy.
Wouldn’t it have been better to work with us, allow us to show the house properly, receive a proper offer, negotiate the short sale & have a successful closing? New buyer=HAPPY, tenant=HAPPY, seller=HAPPY.
Doesn’t everyone just love a happy ending?
