Tony and Sue got pre-qualified and we found 15 homes that they wanted to see. I recommended seeing 8 today and the other 7 tomorrow. I'm not opposed to showing houses from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, but in my experience I think 15 with 1 client in 1 day is too many. Even though I take notes in each home, they will start to run together. Oh, and there is always fatigue... especially since it was 90 + and humid that day. I believe that if you are fatigued, sweaty, tired, and grumpy your vision will be different than if you were fresh and wide awake. So here is how it went.
10:00 AM, Showing 1: All smiles! Great house, awesome lay out, but it wasn't quite the one.
10:30 Showing 2: Another nice one, but it had a funky smell. The bedrooms weren't big enough either.
11:00 Showing 3: Too much wall paper and the kitchen lay out was bad. Tony liked the wall paper but Sue didn't.
11:30 Showing 4: Tony asked if it was okay if he used the restroom. I told him okay as long as it wasn't a "twosie". Basement stunk and smelled damp, big turn off.
11:45 Showing 5: Sue's turn to use the bathroom. While she was in there she noticed that there was some mold in the ceiling of the bathroom from a roof leaking. We ran out of that one.
12:00 Showing 6: I heard the first sign of things to come. Tony said "Man, I just want to find a house. It's hot, I'm tired, and I just wish she would pick 1. Damn." Home 6 goes to the top of our list. Great lay out and it has almost everything they wanted. The master suite didn't have a jetted tub and there wasn't much storage space.
12:30 Showing 7: Tony's stomach starts grumbling. I hear him mumble something about chicken McNuggets. He starts to complain and Sue rolls her eyes and tells him to "suck it up" Tony barks back "But I'M HUNGRY!!!" Bad home, smelled like dog urine and the counter tops were terrible.
12:45 Showing 8: (This is where I would have stopped) Tony asks if we can stop by McDonalds and get some food. Sue gets mad and says that we can't because we are on a schedule. I told her we had time to stop for 15 minutes or hit the drive through. At this point Tony couldn't care less about houses, he just wanted food. Home 8 was extremely dated, no go.
1:00 McDonald's stop: We went in and sat down for a quick lunch. I asked them what they remember about the 1st home that we saw. They didn't remember much.
1:15 Showing 9: I was walking behind Tony and every time he burped I smelled the chicken McNuggets. It was not ideal. The home was awesome! The only thing wrong was that it was right by train tracks and a train happened to go buy while we were in there. No go. Those suckers are LOUD! Sue was very disappointed and was starting to get cranky.
1:45 Showing 10: Fatigue is setting in. Tony is dragging his feet and his shoulders and slumped. When Sue asked him what he thought of the kitchen he mumbled "I don't give a sh*t. It's hot. I want to go home." The kitchen sucked in this one.
2:15 Showing 11: Tony's back is drenched in sweat. Sue is not talking anymore. I make a few jokes to liven things up a bit and nothing. Crickets. No, it's not because the jokes were bad, I'm a very funny man. They are both tired. I offer to get them ice cream on the way to the next showing and nothing... yeah, they said no to ice cream. No go on the house. I can't remember why.
2:45 Showing 12: Couldn't get in. The lock box battery was dead. I stood out there for 10 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong. Now my back is drenched in sweat and I'm getting cranky.
3:15 Showing 13: They were both dragging now... and sweating, and arguing. Sue barely made it up the stairs. She looked around, shrugged her shoulders, and said "This one is okay. It's my favorite so far." I told her she didn't seem to enthusiastic and she just shot me the look. Her and Tony were really getting on each other's nerves now.
3:45 Showing 14: We were in and out on this one. The rooms were colored pink and Tony and Sue aren't visionaries, especially after 14 showings.
4:15 Showing 15: By this time Tony and Sue were arguing. I don't even remember what it was about, but they were arguing. The house wasn't one, again, I can't remember why.
6 hours, 15 houses, McNuggets, potty breaks, sweat, fatigue, and arguments. We ended up going out again the following week (only 5 houses that time) and found the perfect house. Again, I don't mind working hard and showing a lot of houses, I just don't think that a client should see any more than 8 at one time. What are your thoughts?
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