Call it the luck of the...Italian Greek (?)
Call it kismet...
Call it a really interesting strategy that works all the time...
PICK UP THE PHONE!
"Kimble." You proclaim, "Get to the point."
You know how I like to ramble. OK, the point is this:
We (bozTEAM) have a fabulous listing (California modern, looks out over the interstate, great visibility, great house, etc...). And we decided no fliers. People frequently wind their way up the hill to find this little modern enclave at the top of town with great city views. We'd rather have the drive by caller.
But that strategy also requires that when that phone rings, we had better pick up. And we had better be ready to just drop everything and go over there in case someone wants to see it. Otherwise, we are not covering all the bases for our client and that no flier strategy can backfire.
So, we made that promise to our clients and we have honored that commitment. At least three times a week, we have packed up and made the 10 minute drive from office to listing to show an interested 'driver-by'.
In the interest of fairness, I have also made quick calls to the showing centers of the other 4 listings on the hill so we can try to get those interested 'drivers-by' into a sampling of the houses. I hate to be 'that person' who schedules the last minute showing...but I try. And many times, I am only able to get potential buyers into one or two of the four. But I keep trying. And so do the listing agents.
I owe a great debt to the home owner/builder of two of those houses...who scrambled across town to quickly show both to a 'driver-by'.
But yesterday, as if to illustrate to us all how important it is to coach our sellers on the necessity of living-like-you-could-have-a-showing-any-second...
Potential buyer calls. "I am going to buy one of these houses for cash, close next week, only have a few minutes to look and no one will call me back."
Guess what? I left skid marks out of the office parking lot and was at that hill in 5 minutes with three showings scheduled.
Potential buyer says, "I really want that one." All I have to do is go inside to be sure and we can write a contract."
It was not my listing. Oh well.She was not working with a Realtor and happy to work with us on that property. Yippee! Perfect.
So I called the showing center. No showings without 4 hours notice.
"Can you call the agent? We don't have four hours and this is THE ONE."
Call back from showing center. No showings without four hours notice.
OK. Forget that one. If she really wants it after we see the other three, then we will schedule for tomorrow.
Next house. great house, but a mess. Didn't show well. To be fair, it was not only the mess. The layout was not quite right. But the price was great. And she 'almost' had enough vision to make it work.
Last house. Our listing.
Guess what? She fell in love with it. She was so happy not to need to do any work, change any colors, etc...just move right in. Contract. Accepted Offer.
Moral of the story...please please please be ready to show at a moment's notice because we cannot predict when the buyer will want to see it, how much notice they will give their agent (or the agent who just happened to return the call).
Other moral of the story...no fliers on the listing with great visibility from the road that you know you can get to in a moment's notice. (I even have the speeding ticket to prove it - but yesterday paid for it.)
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