THE GREAT AWAKENING:..."YOU HAVE BEEN SNOOKY-LOOED!!!"

THE GREAT AWAKENING: ... "YOU HAVE BEEN SNOOKY-LOOED!!!"

I became starkly aware of where I was the other night at 8;30 PM in a deluge of rain without an umbrella and standing in mud that was slowly encasing my shoes with a thick coating of mud.  As I followed my overzealous buyer into a completely darkened house-- I woke up: "This is not a good sign!...This is like all those other times I have overdone it with my over-time and my over-work output!" 

A buyer pushing me to the ultimate output of energy and physical involvement--has no intention of ever buying---they just like to look, and look, and look!!

I have found that to be the case in every single one of these situations: A last minute call and a push to show houses, a rush to find a property that turned into a quickly accepted offer ---then the big let down as the buyer says: "My wife won't let me do it".

I am a very hard worker---too hard sometimes and I get into these situations a lot...How do you over come that if you are so dedicated?

I read Kathleen Daniels' post the other day: What Would You Do With One Bean? | We Create With The Choices We Make    and it put me in touch with my "over-work" tendency. I can't help myself; it is part of my personality. I have had it all my life. I am now getting in touch with the fact that most of the time these over-work sessions are totally unproductive!

The "Looky-Loo" is out there big time right now--I have had 3 different buyers who ended up walking away from projects, accepted offers and in general, wasting my time. These are generally wonderful people with personality galore and good-natured attitudes. 

These buyers (usually) come into an agents life and they literally sweep them off their feet--they have snookered the best of them! hearts and flowers from a buyer are a clue that you have a "Looky-Loo"!!! Too bad we have no way of getting the names or the description of these people out there to the rest of the community--but that would be against all agency guidelines and code of ethics!

A PROFILE

Let's take a look at how these people operate:

• There is a genuine interest in a property or an area
• This individual does not even realize that they are not a buyer--
• They have convinced themselves that this is the time and this is the place and everything will fall into place
• Then they meet "us", the brave souls out there selling real estate for a living
• Things are going swimmingly: The "buyer" has flipped out over a property
• The have completely fallen in love; that is exactly what it is--love!
• They are un-stoppable in the process--they look and look or they find a property right away
• Either way they have thoroughly convinced us that "this is it" and the process seems to be rushed as never before
• We barely have time to think! It is moving so fast we have to pinch ourselves to make sure this is actually going to happen!
• The key word here is "going to" happen because that is exactly where you find yourself after the fever pitch of the process.
• This individual suddenly is called to Europe or elsewhere--maybe the city! But it will "Only be a bit" before they return
• Then the call comes: "I have to tell you that I will not be able to buy the property--something came up and my wife/husband will not agree to buy the house"

Just this afternoon I have been tested again! A buyer and her daughter who came here for the summer, rented a house in the MOST expensive Hampton, Sagaponack, and she contacted me  a week ago because I was "the first to come up in a Google search for the best agent in the "Hamptons".

Of course I did not know she was a Looky Loo--not until today that is! After sending her listings from Southampton to Montauk and not getting return calls from her, she told me she had been going by herself and knocking on doors and walking into listings without me and trying to convince the owner that I am her agent and if she buys I get the commission!!! She did that with a local builder as well, and yes, you can imagine the builder's attitude toward me!

Now, I have discovered that not only am I THE agent that comes up in these searches here, but I am also the first to be picked by the "Looky Loo" who is here to spend the summer months looking at houses! (Notice I said looking!) This one wasted my time but not for long--when she said to me: "Can you come to East Hampton to see the house I want to make an offer on--I met the owner and told her about you but she wants me to buy without an agent!" This was a house on one of the listings that  I had sent  to her. She went to the property without me and expected the owner to honor me as her agent....ARRRRRGGGHH!

Now, I can rant and rave--I can call him/her names, I can even threaten  to sue!....All in vain--all of it, and so I would be wise to take a big deep breath,  pull my rain  hood over my head and stay away from the office for a while....because as I have learned: "It is never wise to share what it is like to be "Snooky-Looed" with fellow workers because somehow it gets miss-interpreted"

I HAVE JUST STOPPED PARTICIPATING IN THE GAME AND I NOW FEEL MUCH BETTER! (THAT WAS THE THIRD ONE IN THREE WEEKS!) I AM GETTING BETTER AT RECOGNIZING THEM EARLY ON!....HOW ABOUT YOU? DO YOU "GET" THE CLUES???