Shelly Long, CDPE 916-806-4663 Sac Short Sales

A Realtor's "Dear Jane" letter to a Wishy Washy Buyer

Dear Buyer,

When we mutually agreed to work together, I “assumed” that meant a “working” relationship. Meaning you give me a list of parameters that you establish for your purchase and I help you meet those parameters. What I mean by this is that if you tell me that you….

A) already own a home and that you’re wanting an investment property, then I understand that to mean that you want to get a “deal” and not offer above list price the first hour on the market.

B) don’t care about this house because there will be others and you can wait, then I understand that to mean that you’re not emotionally tied to any one particular house and that you want to exercise that leverage by choosing the best house for your situation as a new “investor.”

C) need to take a break looking because it’s too stressful, then I understand that this is very complicated and can be highly stressful, at best, and so we’ll take a break…

However, when you then email me the next day and tell me that I’m not aggressive enough to represent you because you’ve now lost two houses to cash investors (as if you're the only one that EVER happens to?!) even though we put in offers the first day on the market….well, now THAT is something different altogether. So, now that you’ve fired me for not doing my job properly when you effectively tied my hands behind my back, let me say something to you…

First, please have enough decency to be HONEST with me, at all times. Give me the facts, even if they’re changing moment by moment, otherwise I can’t assist you and neither will anyone else.

Second, if at any point in time the process of buying a house is confusing and/or you don’t understand something, please talk to ME. Don’t go to your loan officer, your adult children, your neighbor, your book club, your friendly grocery clerk….WE are on the SAME TEAM, so talk to me, FIRST.

Finally, you hired me to represent you, so please let me do that. If you think I don’t know what I’m doing, then why did you hire me? I came to you highly endorsed, yet you doubt me. Why waste my time, and yours, if you’re not committed to working TOGETHER?

Best Wishes with your new agent!

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Ahhhhhh, the joys of working with Buyers~!

Hope you all had a productive day, or at the very least more productive than mine!

Fellow Agents .... friends or foes?

Are you a friend or foe? What would you do to help a fellow agent? Anything, nothing, go out of your way NOT to help? I suppose it all comes down to being sure about who you are and how you feel about others in general, right?

Allow me to explain; yesterday, as I was perusing AR I found a very informative, interesting and enlightening page from a local Sonoma Realtor. Interestingly, it was the first blog I read, and matter of fact I couldn’t stop reading her blogs because I really enjoyed what I was reading. I was so impressed that I decided to shoot her an email and see if I could pick her brain about her area. Mind you, my email was rather vague and didn’t detail exactly what I wanted, but I did ask if she could spare a few minutes to talk with me, a fellow Realtor. She cheerfully called me a few hours later and we ended up talking for almost an hour. An hour out of a busy Realtor’s day!!! Here’s the interesting part….I am relocating to her area. I’ll be her competition, right?!

Clearly, the odds are stacked against me in a market such as ours. My undertaking of moving from my large Sacramento hometown and starting over in a new area that is much smaller and tight-knit than my market would appear to some to be professional suicide. Daunting at the very least, yes? Sure, but change can do wonders for one’s soul and one’s career! I digress, but you get the point.

This agent kindly and happily answered every last one of my very probing questions in great detail…..even though I’ll be her competition! She asked to meet me the next time I’m in town! We hit it off so well that by the time our conversation had ended (an hour later plus a few dropped calls!) I felt as if I had made a new friend in what is soon to be my new hometown.

So, I ask again….are you a friend or foe? What are you willing to do to help your fellow Realtors? What will you give? Who knows, you may make vital connections you never had, and may one day NEED!

I challenge you to be a “giver”…. in times like this, we ALL need to stick together~!

Thanks Kirsten, I owe ya one!!!