At Home In Chandler

Don’t you just love talking to people, in any industry, who absolutely L O V E what they do? Everything they seem to say just exudes their excitement about their talents, skills, passion.

 

You know the old saying “Enthusiasm is Contagious” – well that’s what I’m talking about. I’m talking about that moment of time when someone says something and you just get it. Ah! Ha!

 

That’s the way I felt when I was talking to another stager-friend about the unique qualities of our industry and the exciting things that are on the brink of happening.

 

That’s when it happened … she mentioned a friend of hers that she felt was confident, passionate, intelligent and a leader. Doesn’t that sound like someone each of us should have in our lives?! I felt like I was missing out because I don’t know her friend like she does.

 

 

Who is this friend? Well, you can guess by the title

– it’s Michelle Minch of Moving Mountains Designs & Staging

in Pasadena, CA. By the end of the conversation,

I really felt like I had been missing out on meeting Michelle

and seriously, like I should be boarding an airplane

and joining her for Thanksgiving! Yeah - it was like that.

 

 

 

So – from interior design to set design, this is what I've learned of Michelle:

• She’s passionate about what she does!
• She’s incredibly TALENTED! (visit her website for proof!)
  
• She’s very eloquent and a good writer/blogger!
• She’s someone you can trust! (read the testimonials on her profile!)
  
• Her clients feel honored to have worked with her!
  
• She makes doing business with her, a pleasure!
• She’s a smart businesswoman!

If I were a home seller or hot shot Hollywood type, I would be calling upon Michelle! I would like to thank A/R for yet another opportunity to meet such an amazing person. I am so blessed. Have you met Michelle?

Dear REALTOR,

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Prospective Buyer.  I am the person that all of your marketing and advertising dollars, when applied properly, appeal to.  If all the stars align, I’m your client.  I’m even already pre-qualified to buy a new house.  While my credit score is not quite perfect, it is in the excellent range. 

Quite unexpectedly, I found myself in unfamiliar territory (outside of the state that I currently reside in) looking for a new home.  As the majority of today’s buyers do, I started my search on the internet.  I looked through the local MLS and determined a quadrant that appealed to me.  My search included four local cities within a 25 mile radius of my new office location.

After two days of searching (without a local REALTOR to help), here is what I determined:

 

For re-sale homes:

I visited approximately 26 single family homes with for sale signs posted in their front yards. Out of those 26:

12 had no fliers at all

10 had no price listed on the flier

1 flier’s information did not match the sign in the front yard (different agent!)

0 fliers invited me to call for more information (or to make an appointment)

 

 

From the new home communities:

 

Who we'd hire:	Who we  would not hire:
KB Homes representative was very nice to my family & smiled a lot!	Agents that did not greet us upon entering or did not offer their name.
Beazer Homes REALTOR took time to explain what set his homes apart from others (even showed us).	Agents who talked about items that were of no consequence to us. Like the Agents who warned us of how terrible Arizona’s real estate market is!
Beazer Homes REALTOR who personally showed us around the first model to explain upgrades vs. standard options.	Agents who did not explain their product, build outs, incentives, phases, etc.
REALTORS / Agents who referred to us by our names & pronounced them correctly.	Brochures with incorrect information, misspellings, etc.
The REALTOR / Agent who opened the door for us & obviously ready for business.	Model home offices that closed prior to the times listed on the door – even though their car was sitting there!

Now, as I mentioned that I did not have a local Real Estate Professional and before you ask, I want you to know that I did contact a few of them – 4 to be specific.  I called on Sunday afternoon to see if they could show us around on Monday.  What I found was, 2 did not answer their phones, 1 already had a meeting and could/would not refer me to another agent in their office and 1 didn’t work with new home communities – so I felt this left me on my own.  (Remember, I said I was there unexpectedly).

If you are spending your money, energies and your time to sell your listings and catch the attention of perspective buyers, then it shouldn’t be this hard to do business with you. 

Here are my suggestions:

 

• When your phone rings – answer it. 

 

• If you’re too busy to answer my questions, please refer me to someone who can.

 

• Be patient with me.  I’m going to ask questions that you have answered a hundred times, but it’s all new to me.

 

• Update the fliers and keep the tubes/boxes filled.  Even black/white copies are better than nothing.

 

• I know it’s probably inconvenient, but could you please put the price on the flier?

 

• Consider including additional information on the back of the flier – how about your other listings? More info on the house?

 

• Tell me why I should hire you as my REALTOR?  Even if it’s over the phone, I really want to feel/hear that you like – no make that LOVE – your chosen profession.  (There’s nothing worse than working with someone who hates their job. Right?)

 

• Use the Internet.  If you can’t include info on the fliers (which seems like a loss of opportunity), at least point me to an Internet website that will fill me in.

 

• When posting your listings on the local MLS, please, please, please provide me with as many photos of the actual property that you can.  I don’t care about the community pool as much as you think, but really want to see what makes this particular property worth my time to call you and schedule and site inspection.

 

• Take advantage of out-of-state buyers and blog!  Share yourself, experiences, education and listings with me – appeal to me like you really want my business.

 

I want you to know that I DO want to hire you.  I do want to be able to utilize your skills, talents and education to my fullest advantage when either buying or selling property.  This is not an area that I am comfortable in and am willing to pay you to share your expertise and represent me in this transaction. 

Thank you for taking your time to read my letter.   I appreciate your time and look forward to working with you in the future.

 

Most sincerely,

Prospective Buyer

 

(The above story is true and based on this bloggers recent experience. On a personal note - I work with incredible and professional REALTORS and real estate professionals every day.  I have been well educated by them on what is a fair and acceptable expectation...this is probably why my recent experience caught me so off-guard.  In my naivety, I thought most agents operated the same way.  (Obviously my mistake)).