I've written enough and read enough about the chronic misuse of a Realtor's time to know that it's a problem for a lot of us in this business but I still don't understand it. I don't think I will ever understand why people think it's ok to not practice the same courtesy with their Realtor that they would any other professional. The same person who would be outraged with the electrician who is a no-show doesn't think twice about doing the same thing to their Realtor. The same person who grouses because their doctor is running 15 minutes late for their appointment doesn't see why it's an issue when they are late for a showing appointment. I've come to grips with the fact that despite the amount of education we are required to have, despite the enormous amount of personal time we give up to help people buy or sell a home, ignoring the expenses that we may never recover, and although this is probably the only business where you work hard without any guarantee of ever getting paid, the general public may never see Realtors as the professionals that we are.
Case in point. This past weekend a fellow Realtor referred some buyers to us. We had numerous phone calls with the people, discussed their needs, emailed listings that we felt would meet those needs, and ultimately set up six showings for the weekend they would be up here. The first of the showings were on a Saturday when we had already made another commitment but we left the event early so we could be on time to meet these people who were coming in from South Carolina. An hour before we were scheduled to meet, we got a cryptic voice message from the wife who wanted to confirm that we were indeed meeting that day even though we had spoken and confirmed everything the day before. Of course, we returned her call, but could only leave a message. Nonetheless, we drove to the designated meeting place and waited. And waited. And waited. We made more phone calls to her cell and to the hotel where they were staying to confirm that they had in fact checked in earlier that day. We waited some more. After 45 minutes we left. We tried the cell phone again as well as emails. Nothing.
Now I realize plans can change and things can happen but common courtesy would dictate a phone call or an email to us at some point because it wasn't just our time that they wasted. Several of the homes they wanted to see are still occupied by the sellers so no doubt, the sellers spent time getting their homes ready for the showing and may have made plans to be gone during the appointed showing time. A phone call or email with a simple explanation would have sufficed and although we would never recapture what we missed at the event we had to leave, or the time we wasted waiting on these people, we understand....stuff happens. Personally, if I'm running even 5 minutes late for an appointment, I call. Could it be that they were just too embarrassed to call and say "sorry, we messed up"? In my book, being a no-show, with no explanation, is and always will be a no-no, no matter who you are.
Real estate is a wild and whacky business to be in. It has enormous challenges and cavernous disappointments. But somewhere in the middle are the reasons why we keep doing what we do. It's in the middle where you find clients who are truly thankful for the work we do on their behalf and the ones who still refer to us as "my Realtors" long after the sale and never hesitate direct business our way every chance they get. Somewhere in the middle are those clients who become friends. Somewhere in the middle are those clients who know what it means to "do the right thing" and they do it. Buying or selling a home is a life changing event for many of the people we work with. Being a part of that life event, helping those people realize a dream....that's what keeps me coming back even after I've been stood up....again.
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