Do you have the ability to turn down listings for all the right reasons? What if it's a really great listing, and it costs you a few deals in the process? Can you still stand beside your convictions and do what you know is right?
About a month ago, I made contact with a young lady who wanted to buy a home. She would be a first time home buyer and she was already approved for $150,000. I was happy to see that she was very serious and very motivated. So, I sat out showing her and her boyfriend properties that she was interested in and things were going great.
As I was showing her properties, she made mention of the fact that her father ahd decided to sell his house and buy a new one. Being the attentive Realtor that I am, I asked if had spoken with a Realtor. I was again happy to hear that he had not, and that she would be more than happy to put him in touch with me. As we were looking at one of the properties, she realized that we were around the corner from her father's house and asked if I would be interested in stopping by to speak with him about selling his house and helping him find a new one. Of course, I said I would love to.
This whole thing seemed to be going great. When we arrived at the neighborhood her father lived in, she directed me to his house. It was easily a $250,000 house as were the other homes in the neighborhood. Good for JL, a great listing and two buyers on top of it.
Well, her father wasn't home, but she assured me that he would work with me because he was so ready to leave that house. So, I asked how long he had been there and she said for just over a year. It seemed strange to me that someone would have such a nice house in a nice neighborhood for that short of an amount of time and want to leave so badly, so I asked why he wants to leave.
She said that when he first moved in, it was a great place to live, but after about four months, "blacks moved in on both sides of him and he didn't want to live there anymore". Unfortunately, she didn't even have do me the courtesy of saying blacks, but I really don't feel right writing what she did say in my blog, you get the picture. Trying not to show that I was a little shocked, I said excuse me. So, she repeated her previous statement.
I'm sure she had a very difficult time containing her shock with my response, and I would like to tell you what the look on her face was like, but I never looked back. I simply smiled looked at her and said, trying to keep my composer, that I am sure somewhere in this town there is a Realtor that would love to work with you and your father, but you have not found him yet. So, have a nice day. Then I just turned around, walked over to my car and left. It cost me three deals, but sometimes the money just isn't worth it.
I'm not naive enough to believe that people don't still feel that way, I just honestly don't encounter it that often. I know that this world will never be a perfect place, but ignorance is certainly not the answer to making it better. No matter what particular race, creed, color, or ethnicity of people you would like to avoid, the only way to do it is leave planet Earth. So, if don't plan to do that anytime soon, you may as well except the fact that we are all stuck here with you. Just except us for who were are, and hopefully most of us will do the same for you. But, like it or not, we're all in this together.
Comments(20)