Toilets do not flush by themselves.
Today’s Real Estate world has changed, yet much has stayed the same. Showing property still entails our presence, negotiating and closing deals still require our knowledge, it is still a people-dealing-with-people business, and we all know how many people can be involved in a transaction.
Although the world of social media and internet have entered our Real Estate orbit, showing and selling houses is still done today as it has always been done.
However, in today’s world, messages come at us from every direction, emails and all sorts of text messages have replaced the phone call and replying promptly is the name of the game. We don’t communicate via a telephone conversation as we used to and a personal conversation or face-to-face presentation of offers is virtually non existent.
Yet communication is key to moving a deal forward, listing agents are an integral part of this communication, and sharing their insight with the selling agent is just as important today as it always was.
Social media has made it easy for many Realtors to over hype their achievements. I have never seen so many take credit for listings they don’t have or deals they have not made, since this venue allows you to say anything you want to whoever wants to listen. Communication has allowed a small world to become even smaller, and this same technology that allows you to BS has also offered us the ability to easily search and uncover these untruths. As a result those who brag and make it up as they go along are always unmasked by those of us who have been in this business long enough to know who is who, and what is what.
When you reach out to a broker to show their property, an immediate response makes it so much easier for us to do our job. We all wish we could schedule appointments in a timely manner but this doesn’t always happen. We are in a service business, where we are the boss of our time, but we are at the mercy of the clients’ availability. Sometimes you plan your showing path and have to shift gears mid-way, calling on your colleagues to provide quick access to their listings. This is where responding and accommodating showing requests on short notice are crucial and frankly this is when deals happen. It is that momentum and that ability to bounce from one path unto another where we are essential to each other.
I had qualified buyers wanting to see properties over the Holiday weekend. I called four different Brokers to show their listings. None but one responded, and that one agent was what I like to call an “old reliable” agent, one of a handful that understands the need to respond quickly and act efficiently. These are not the agents who you typically find busy photographing and preparing to post where in the world they are today, or who they are hob nobbing with. These are not the agents claiming responsibility for someone else’s sale. These are the agents with their ear to the ground and their foot on the pedal, this agent has a clear understanding of the importance of being present and available.
The “Old Reliables” will always be there, ready, willing, and able to return your call, accommodate your showing request, albeit on short notice, and take their job seriously and responsibly. That is why the Old Reliables endure, succeed year after year, as they clearly understand that hard work, perseverance, and focusing on their job equates to making sales. Bragging about it does not.
Here’s to 2017, may this year transform some unreliables into reliables and may this year bring forth clarity to those who think they are fooling the rest of us with their self proclaimed successes. May we work together diligently, expeditiously and communicate with ease and transparency. May we respect each other and may we use the tools of modern day society to speak accurately and clearly.
Now let’s go flush some toilets together!
