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How "NOT" to sell Real Estate~

It's been a long and hot summer. I am pleased with the production and the happy homeowners I have placed and moved. Although, I do remember one day's showings in particular though and now have to "giggle" just a bit.

With a shrug and a sigh and an "oh, well...I'll try again" attitude.

Lake Livingston is a huge MARKET area. My lake is 88.000 surface acres of water in 4 (four) counties. It's big. Like Texas....it's big. Huge that is. An average showing will log over 100 miles with no problem.

Even though I am a seasoned Realtor and have driven many a road here....I still get a bit lost at times. Maybe it's my lack of sense of direction or....the sheer magnitude of acreage I am traveling....hmmm..

I would like to think the latter.

PICTURE THIS...LOL. 103 DEGREE TEXAS DAY ON BLACK PAVEMENT

So, we're driving a back road to the lake and I missed the turn-off. My clients were following me with their children and we were on house number five already. So, to make it easier I did a u~ie in the middle of the deserted road. It looked easy enough but then..........

BAM

My little car dropped completely off the pavement into a ravine that I didn't see....

Client, "well, Deb, you seem to have chosen the one and only place on the road that had a drop-off." We immediately began to work on getting my car unstuck (if there is a word like that) and we all failed miserably. bbcarcliff.jpg image by dabydoll

We tried adding weight to the front for traction...nope.

We tried placing rocks and sticks and debris under the tires for traction...nope.

We tried neutral with everyone pushing...nope.

We tried readjusting the tire direction to gain traction...nope.

I was then calling my roadside service. I said, "could you hurry?" and they said, ..."NOPE."

As it turned out, all of the local tow trucks were assisting an accident. The closest truck that could come was 85 miles away. That's the one they sent.

FINALLY...TWO HOURS LATER.

Unfortunately I was teetering on total destruction AND BLOCKING THE ROAD FOR NORMAL TRAFFIC (which wasn't too much thank heavens) but the disgusting shaking of heads that were looking at me will forever be in my memory bank. Ish.

My lovely clients hung with me till the end. We saw one more house. I managed to get them to leave earnest money and an option check for this house before we parted ways and agreed to wrap it all up by fax.....................

KICKER...

I never heard from them again.

Nope. Not ever. I still have the checks to remind me How "NOT" to sell Real Estate~

It was still a good year! lol.

Later in the rain~Deb

Brooks Prime Properties

Specializing in Lake Properties

Lake Livingston Texas

936-295-0005

Posted by Deb Brooks, Lake Livingston Real Estate on 10/13/2009 07:33 PM

Comments (74)

How Not to Sell Real Estate in the ActiveRain Channel

lake livingston real estate, lake livingston homes, deb brooks

Originally posted at: Deb's Lake Livingston Real Estate & Stuff! : How "NOT" to sell Real Estate~

Post is included in group: The Art Of Marketing You
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74 Comments on How "NOT" to sell Real Estate~

OCT

That's an amazing story Deb. Maybe those wonderful clients were in shock all along and speechless. The checks remaining is the mystery. Glad your business is going well.

Deb: Ummmmmmmmmmmm I can just imagine what they were thinking. Some folks just need to improve their driving skills.

Hi Deb... this is clearly one of those cases where the truth is stranger than fiction! What an experience!

Deb - I was hoping to hear a happy ending to this one, but I guess you can at least say it made for a good story, right? :)

Oh Deb, I am with Jason, I was hoping for the happy ending too!!! So sorry to hear it!!!

LOL Deb. I'm sorry, I tried not to laugh. It seemed quite serious there for a moment, but it was funny. :)

I am assuming everything turned out OK in the end...

It was probably a blessing. They were probably going to be difficult. :)

I thought for sure you were going to write that they purchased a home from you. In retrospect, funny story. But I'm sure at the time it wasn't.

That's pretty funny... we have ALL had days likes these and always fun to go back and laugh about it. Glad you are okay and thanks for sharing, we all need a little something to amuse us along this crazy road!

Hi Deb~ I am sorry that happened to you. Also, why would they go to all that trouble if they weren't serious? I guess there are some things we just can never really figure out!

I am a rural land agent, and have found that getting stuck almost always kills the deal. There's nothing worse (to a potential buyer) than getting dirty or having to walk a few miles or wait for help to arrive. Thanks for sharing and good luck on future U-turns!

Deb, I too was hoping the story had a happy ending. Don't understand leaving the earnest money and then disappearing but do think it was special of them to stick with you for the long haul (no pun intended).

This is quite an amusing story... I can write a book... and I'm sure you can too about your adventures of a realtor. This one would be on chapter one

Deb, no one bats 1.000. We all strike out once in a while. The good news is you had a good year despite a harrowing experience. Thanks for sharing a story that didn't have a perfect ending. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who misses once in a while.

Dan

Deb, Sounds like we went to the same driving school, lol. I"m the queen of backing in to things :( I can't believe they gave you their earnest money and then never reappeared. That stinks!

You know what? You still did your job like a pro - after all that, the heat, the wait, the blocking traffic, you still showed them property and got them to write a check. The fact that they didn't follow up is on them.

Michael

Whoa...you think they didn't like your driving: lol. wow...I'd be all bummed out thinking that driving in a ditch put a damper on a contract. wow.

Oh boy..didn't you feel like a smack..I have been in situations where I really felt like I really messed up..broke out in a cold sweat..and all..but this one takes the cake...well we all make mistakes ..we are human too..Great story

HELPFULHANNAH

Gary, I contacted them many times about their checks...I just imagine they knew me well enough to know they (the checks) were not in harms way! lol.

Carl or Ceil....which one of you said that? Driving skills? Okay, I'll admit I could have done better. But still, it's a huge lake!!!!!!

Steve, stranger than fiction? Not my life!!!! I could get crazier than this in a heartbeat! lol.

Jason, I guess it's all in how you look at it. I think it was a happy ending since it helped me learn this lake! If you would ever like a tour I would be honored to give you one. You may turn in horror though! Happy Birthday to Pam by the way! You have such an ideal family. I know it gets tough sometimes but that's just the way life is. Nothing more than we cannot bare right? That's what I have to remember. Hugs.

Marney, I guess I just have a positive attitude. I simply laughed and felt sorry I didn't do a good enough job for them. I hope they found the right home with the right Realtor! I'm the right Realtor for certain people but obviously not for everyone! Thank you.

Sylvie, I'm glad you laughed. I know I did. Better to laugh than to cry my friend! Just keep one foot in front of the other. I'm glad I could make you smile...he,he. Deb

Alma, I try to think of each situation as a learning block. This certainly was one but not the first time I've gotten stuck! Really!

Dianne, I'm glad you smiled too. Yes, we all go through so many crazy days in this business. I love it though. I don't want to change anything....except my driving. lol. Deb

Hi Deb -- Wow, I'm just glad you didn't go down the ravine. How odd they never responded. Their loss, you are one great REALTOR!

We all have those days....hopefully they will be few and far between.

They probably closed the checking accounts after they wrote them.

They must have been scared stiff.

You are a die hard agent to go through that and still be laughing.

We've all had our unseen ravines. You think you have a loyal client, maybe even a sale and then, crash. You lose a day of your life, the sale and the people. It happens to the best of us.

Wow, Deb. I, for one, will not judge your driving skills lest the Big Man Upstairs decides to put me in your shoes as punishment. So glad you were okay. I can't help but laugh at your confusion when the client disappeared. If you're like me, part of you might have been secretly happy that you didn't have to face them again. LOL I'm laughing WITH YOU....

My sense of direction and driving almost kept me from starting in RE. A C in Driver's Ed was the only reason I was not 2nd in my graduating class....should have taken it for no credit!

I mostly work with sellers and I tell everyone up front that I have very little sense of direction, cannot read a map and am a bad driver, this is a good excuse not to take anyone in the car with me.....in part that is why I don't drive with clients and part of it is I either have one or more ( possibly crying) kids with me, the car is not clean enough AND I don't want to pay extra insurance...oh and my choices to take them in right now are either a 2003 strip model Kia Rio or a 2 seat red Itallian sports car that has me and a baby already riding in the 2 seats....

Funny story.....some times it seems we can't win for losing doesn't it.

Vicki, I would like to think they had some unrelated reason for not responding! They might have thought that if it's "this hard" they would forget it! lol.

Jonathan, does this mean you have experience the same type of problem? I would love to hear about it if that is so! We all would. ;-)

Leah, yep. Tough huh? I will always wonder the same thing. lol

Judy, maybe we should co-author??? Boy, do I have a lot to tell!

Dan, this ball went wayyyyy out to left base!!! I think it dissappeared in mid air! ha!

Elizabeth, you too? I kid that I never have an accident unless a tree jumps behind me! woo. Not kidding...I really do still have the checks...lol.

Michael, thank you so much. I also feel as if I did my job...just with a few "oops" in the way! I think I've been forgiven. I certainly forgave myself. lol. Deb

Sally, I was bummed all right but mostly from exhaustion!!! I sweat like a piggie in 103.....

Hannah, all I could do was roll my eyes about myself and my driving. I, at times, feel the car and myself have wings. I get quickly grounded. :-)

Oh, Deb, my heart goes out to you! I can't imagine putting that many miles on my car for a day of showings--EVERY day! Not to mention, after all of that and they just disappear?! You did a great job closing the deal--I just wonder why they disappeared? I'm sure that it had nothing to do with your driving but, if I were you, I'd just be dying to know!!

Hey stranger, what an experience.The good news is that you lived to tell about it! ;-) {hug}

Oh Deb, that is too funny! That is definitely one to save for real estate memory lane :)

Wow Deb what a story. At least, they didn't abandon you in the ravine.

Chris, thank you sir! I'm happy about that too. It was a concern....I assure you! geesh....

Damon, really? You've had a day like that? Sounds like a blog to me!

Monika, It was a bit wierd... no,. more than a bit. As I said, I still have the checks. No answer to my phone calls!

J Philip, wow. I don't want to think of it as losing a day of my life....really! I would prefer to think of it as a learning...lol, check out the next time I make a u turn in the middle of no where! Ha!

OCT

You had me at 100 miles for the average showing! WOW!

Deb - YIKES! So glad you and your not-clients were okay! Sorry to hear you lost them....it could've been worse though....they could've dropped into the ravine....

And boy, wouldn't THAT have been awkward! :)

Lina, you are a doll my friend. Quite honestly though I feel blessed. I think you would be happy to step into these shoes! I am simply a happy person and look at the positive of most aspects..... not all. I would be telling a fib but this incidence allowed me to learn from my mistakes...lol. lol...my insurance company is glad too! Ha!

Deb

Visions of Bridget Jones are dancing in my head.... :-)

I can relate to your lack of a sense of direction. My GPS has saved me countless times!

How embarrassing. I reckon that would be a good lesson on how not to make friends and influence your clients. ~~ Too funny ☺☺☺

Helping you live your American dream...

Deb,

My first thought when I read this...you missed the turn, got stuck, were supposed to know the area-they bailed out.

Wow, glad you were OK.

I can't imagine people just leaving their EMD check with you and not ever hearing from them. Shall we say money to burn?

Oh! Deja Vu. Deja Vu. Been there. Survived.

Deb, how embarassing. Oh the lessons we have to learn the hard way sometimes! We all have our stories I'm sure, but thank you for sharing yours. Sounds like you did OK in your goals anyway this past year. Good luck to you!

Deb,

Hah! And people think being a Realtor is an easy job. Great story to start my day.

Rich

In Florida, those ravines lead to canals. Those canals are filled with very hungry alligators just waiting for Realtors to come and visit.

Don't think alligators aren't reading all of the bad press and jokes about real estate agents. They are! All the more reason they can't wait to get their mouths wrapped around us!

On a serious note, you cannot count how many tiny memorials are built on the sides of the roads and along canals down here where people have been killed in accidents. DRIVE SAFE!

Scott Miller, Realtor Associates, Boca Raton, FL

Deb:

That was a terrific story and one that I think many of us can relate to. There are so many things that can go wrong with property showings: the lockbox does not open, we lose our way, have a traffic incident, encounter a vicious dog -- and each thing could potentially cost us the client. You just can't control everything!

Ok....Im sorry. I really tried not to laugh as I read this...but, I couldnt help it. Wish the story ended better for you...but, thats just funny. Sorry...but its funny.

I've had lots of people drop off the face of the earth after showing them around all day (sorry, had to get that in there), but none of them have ever given me a check before they did that.

Deb, that is a dreadful story! I have done the U~ie thing myself a few times....but thanks to my Garmin GPS I am no longer lost and I drive right up to properties with ease!!! It was the best Mother's Day present my son ever gave me!

Well Deb. Thank goodness we can laugh about our mistakes, huh? My good REALTOR friend ran into a river with clients in her car. The car landed upside down. Fortunately nobody was hurt. They didn't buy either.

Deb,

Well they certainly left you hanging (sorry couldn't resist that one LOL). At least you were not hurt and as said above they were the losers.

Thank you for the laugh.

Sharon

If nothing else you got a great post and good story out of it! ;-) I had a colleague once who was robbed at gunpoint with her client while sitting in a shopping mall parking lot! They never returned either! I imagine more because they decided the area wasn't safe than that they had an issue with the agent but who knows...what fun would the job be without some of these "stories"!

Deb - It just goes to show us that every day our business can teeter on the edge of a ravine. But like your year we can always manage to pull it out. Thanks so much for enlightening us all

Deb: This is a funny story. Thankfully no one was hurt. That could have happened to anyone. I'm amazed at how some people just drop off the face of the earth and we never hear from them again ... it is as though we never spent time with them and we don't exist. Consider it a blessing ... you had a great year without them!

Deb - what a funny, buy not so funny story. Guess they decided you might not be able to steer thrm in the right direction with that home. :)

Jeff

Don't mean to be a copy cat, but I too was hoping for a happy ending. We're all human though, and we all make mistakes, especially driving mistakes. I always joke with my clients after making a strange driving maneuver that the police have created a new driving violation, D.W.R. Driving While Realtor, because of some the odd things we Realtors do in the car. Great post and best of luck to you.

Oh my! That'd be a hard one to get over. I can't believe they just left the checks. I have no idea what I'd have done in that situation, but at least you can laugh about it now. A little bit.... right....

WOW, now that is a bad real estate day! I haven't ever done that, but I have some friends who have done similar things...getting their car stuck in the mud and having a tow truck come to get them out, locking their keys in the car and waiting for roadside assistance to come pop-a-lock or my personal fave...backing their SUV into the utility pole in front of the house! Sounds like you had an adventurous day!

That sounds awful! I live in Arizona and people-- out east-- always tell me "I don't know how you can live in that heat."

My response is always the same: Have you ever been to Houston? Because I've never been any place hotter than Texas. I'm sweating just thinking about it.

Deb - Things happen, we are all human and I think every single one of us has experienced some sort of mishap. Glad you and your car survived.

not really anything to add, but to say thank you for sharing and glad you are ok. the check is wierd, but at least they stuck around for you.

Oh My Gosh! I'm glad you can laugh at it the situation now that you're on solid ground!

Ahhh been there, done that! LOL I was supposed to meet some buyers and missed my turn in to the subdivision. I also just decided to make a u-ie. I didn't realize the side of the road was a ditch that had grass "filler" in it. It looked like perfectly solid ground!! I ended up with the passenger side laying flat on the ground and my side was in the air. I called my buyers to let them know the situation. We made plans to see the property at another time as i was clearly going to be stuck for a couple of hours until AAA could come out. I never did hear from them again....

In my defense, a State Trooper came to the scene and he started to make the very same u-turn on the side of the road that I had made! LOL I had to stop him before he ended up in the ditch right along with me!

Deb - Your horror story was entertaining. I've had one too. I had wonderful clients here FROM Texas....and at a stop light, we got "rear-ended" with them in my car. I kinda, sorta, lost my cool and said some very "southern" cuss words..... the clients laughed. Everyone was ok....but - they never called back to see more homes. I know they still live in TX, but I guess Florida drivers scared them away.

http://www.cacoastalhome.com

This sort of accident can happen to anyone at any time. but it was such a horrifying story. And I think those clients are not going to come back again. At least not for you. lolz

Sounds like it might be time to spend some of that money you made on a four wheel drive. Living in Texas I think that is acceptable vehicle to show property in a monster truck.

OMG....what a story to tell!! Thanks for sharing with us today.

Patricia/Seacoast NH

Evening Deb, Funny story - unless you're in the middle of it ! Strange that they just vanished into thin air !?!

Great story! They must have fell over a cliff after all the shock!

Glad you were not injured or worse...those Texas ravines can be merciless. Too bad about your clients. Maybe they are not yet ready for Texas.

Deb,

Saw it first on Lenn's blog. Loved the story. The fact that they never called added a bit of everyday salt, but this is life, and that's how life is.

Deb - Wow. I guess we've all had those clients who have dropped out of sight but nothing I can ever put my finger on to be the reasonlike this. Do you really think this episode would have caused them to just write you off? Or, is there more to it? Certainly they should understand that we are all just human.

What a strange day. It's a fortunately, unfortunately sort of thing. Fortunately, you weren't hurt; unfortunately the clients disappeared.

OK Deb--three possibilities:

1. They wanted to make you feel like the day wasn't wasted, so they plunked down earnest money, and then...

2. They returned home and put a stop payment on the check, or...

3. They had ulterior motives, but after your road-challenged event they felt bad enough for you that they abandoned their evil ways.

You've got pluck, lady.

OCT

I had my engine blow up with a client with me. We were about 45 minutes outside of Phoenix, AZ. I had to get a tow. We waited at a new home site office until the tow truck arrived. It took us about four hours to get back to his car. I never saw him, again. Things happen for a reason.

OCT

So I am curious did the sellers of the house agree to the terms and then the buyers just bailed? Crazy..

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