I had sellers who wouldn't help themselves. They wouldn't clean, pack, paint, mow or fix never mind "stage" their house. At the listing appointment we went room by room pointing out what should be done. The sellers were all yes, yes, great we've meant to do that. I explained to them that in this market there are about 30,000 homes in their price range and they need to make theirs the most appealing. Oh we know, we know! They chanted. we'll get right to it.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing was done. The next day the sellers called me up and told me they were all moved out. They had moved in with her aunt, who lived like 4 houses away.
This made it easy to come back and do laundry and pick up clothes as needed. There were ironing boards and ironing set up in the master and the laundry, cob webs in the windows and vaulted ceilings.
It wasn't thilthy, more untidy. Every room had way too much furniture, way too much big heavy furniture.
Pictures, on every square inch of wall space, on every flat surface in every room was a family picture. A picture in a frame, most of witch tied into the theme of the house. Now the theme of the house was BLACK-N-WHITE COWS.
Nowhere could you stand, at no angle could you look and not see something to do with
BLACK-N-WHITE COWS. They were on coffee cups, salt-n-pepper shakers, cookie jars the corners of picture frames, stenciled on crown molding. Statues of BLACK-N-WHITE COWS standing, sitting, dancing, reading the news paper. Fuzzy BLACK-N-WHITE COW hide toilet bowl rugs and covers. There were even BLACK-N-WHITE COW pulls on the ceiling fans. I could go on.
I explained the feed back I was getting from the showings several times. I even went so far as to forward some of the email. Nothing, absolutely nothing. All I got was "my wife likes BLACK-N-WHITE COWS".
The listing is expired. The owners are going with a new broker. I truly believe I could have sold the place if it were DE-cluttered, DE-personalized and Cleaned, D.D.&C.
I've thought about writing about this for some time. In the state of North Carolina we who hold real estate licenses are brokers, or provisional brokers. We are not salespeople! Salespeople have customers, Brokers have clients. Brokers owe their clients Fiduciary Responsibilities. Here in Brunswick County many Brokers have forgotten that they are agents of their clients.
So let me write about Fiduciary Responsibility #1, LOYALTY. This is loyalty to your client, not to your wallet. As the agent for your client, you must be loyal and keep their best interests ahead of those of any other party, including yourself. Knowingly accepting an overpriced listing just to attract buyers so you can sell them another properly priced property is a breach of responsibility. Not doing any of a hundred things that will help your client, including consulting them on price, condition of their property and show ability can be a breach.
I will always remember it's not about me it's about my client. If I do all I can for my principle including giving proper advice and consultation, use all the traditional, innovative and effective marketing at my disposal, and work for them, everything else will fall into place. Including my business.
It was Time for a Change. So I made a move. I left my old firm and joined World Properties International Gatefield Realty!!
It's a smaller brokerage out of Wilmington NC, I however will still do my business in Brunswick Co. NC. The main reason for choosing WPI was their innovative marketing and flexibility in dealing with clients as individuals. I now have a lot of leading edge techniques and tools to meet the demands of my clients and a changing real estate market place.
I'm looking forward to helping you with your real estate needs. Please visit my new Web Site DougJacksonHomes.com .
Doug Jackson
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