The following is a true story that actually happened to me....
Okay, it was my first month in Real Estate. I was hungry and ignorant, and...I was working the updesk. I got a call from a buyer who wanted some information on a home, which I gladly provided. This man wanted to see the house that afternoon. I informed him that it was an apppointment only listing, told him I would secure the appointment, and got his phone number so I could confirm. At that time he informed me that he had just come into some money, and needed to invest it in real estate. This seemed too good to be true (guess what?). Did I clarify his income, how much money he had come into, or other "prequal" info? No.
I called the listing agent, who called the home owner, and got me an appointment about 90 minutes out. I called my new client with the good news. My first red flag should have come right then and there when he asked me to pick him up. It never dawned on me that if he didn't have money for a car, how could he have money for a home? I got his address, consulted the map, and headed off to pick him up.
When I got to his house, I found it was in a very bad part of town, known for the crime rate. Now, I don't dress like I come off the pages of GQ magazine, but I felt very out of place as I approached the door. Hesitantly, I knocked.
What answered the door was a man who looked like a bad nightmare. Unkempt, smelly, and a command of the English language on the level of a true "red-neck" I was now actually scared. He invited me in and offered me a seat. The entire home smelled like it came out of the wrong end of a cat. I declined, and decided to stand. He said we could go "as soon as my friend Buba gets here...he owe me money". The word "money" came out more like "monna". I thought I was being set up.
In the mean time, he began to volunteer the financial information about the money he had "come into". I am not joking when I tell you it was a stack (abount 4 inches thick) of Publishers Clearing House type mailers and other mail scams. This was the source of the money he wanted to invest! "This ones worth $40,000. All I have to do is send in $20 processing fee..." was what he told me. He went through each and every item (there were about 15) detailing everything he had to do to get his money.
He turned out to be a harmless soul who I just think wanted some company. Fortunately, my wife (also an agent) called me to check on me (we do that to keep an eye on each other when we meet new people), and I was able to make it sould like I was talking to the listing agent of the home we were to see. I made it sound like the appointment got canceled, without my "buyer" being alerted to the wiser.
If you've ever watched cartoons where they leave a smoke trail behind them when they leave somewhere quick, you have some idea of what it looked like when I made my exidous.
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