Public Expectations

I am working the Property Desk at the office today. What that means is that I am sitting here, waiting for possible clients to phone in, usually off yard signs. My job is convert those callers into clients. Usually, they are Buyer clients. Not always, but usually. Converting those calls is one part Science and about 43 parts Art. Part of the Art is making a decision about whether or not I want the caller to be my client.

I just got a phone call from someone who gave me the following information: He is moving to Dallas as quickly as possible, someone had told him that there was a property on the market but there wasn't a sign out in front, that he wanted to see the property and he wanted to see the property in the next hour. I asked him a few questions. He was resistant. The only thing he wanted was to get into that specific property and he wanted to get in now. It was obvious that his perspective was that my only role in his life was to get him what he wanted and to get it now.

I was clearly talking with someone who mistakenly believes that the sum total of my job is to unlock doors. Period. That always tells me that the person hugely misunderstands my relationship to a real estate transaction. It also tells me that they are not going to be receptive to the possibility of a different perspective. I can change that perspective, but not quickly and almost never on the phone.

By this point in the conversation, I have already pretty much made the decision to let this fish go on down the river. However, there is no reason to not try and make it possible for him to get what he wants. He obviously has a very low opinion of real estate agents generally. There isn't any reason to actively make that opinion lower if I can avoid it.

I looked the property up for him. It wasn't even listed by our company. Where I have no obligation to show the property, the listing agent does. Part of the duty of a listing agent is the obligation to show the property to any qualified buyer who wants to see it. There is an obligation to prequalify the buyer, but that it about it.

The Caller needed to know that if he is dealing with the listing agent, he is unrepresented. I asked about his experience level. He told me that he has bought and sold real estate in the past. This guy wasn't going to listen to my lecture on the Laws of Agency. I gave him the phone number for the listing agent and wished him the best. Phone call ended.