Part II of Standing on the Empire State Building. (or pick up the phone and call them)
Yesterday, I received a inquiry from one of the sites I syndicate my listing to. She wanted to see my listing at 1216 Birk in Ann Arbor. She had requested on the showing request form that she preferred to be contacted by email.
Well, I am not going to email someone that I don’t know, have never talked to and say, “Sure, I’ll meet you at 1216 Birk in Ann Arbor, site unseen. I want to know who I am meeting, both for safety reasons and to get to know them, their specific needs through a phone conversation. I am not a Realtor that just opens the door for people. Nope not gonna happen.
This person, let’s say Wilma had given us her phone number so I called her.
Here is how the conversation went.
“Hi, Wilma how are you? This is Missy Caulk, you requested a showing on one of my sites for 1216 Birk in Ann Arbor. I know you preferred an email but I really like to speak with internet visitors before we go look at houses.”
“No problem”, she said.
Then the conversation started. I found out she had not been pre-qualified and was just contacting the listing agents on different web sites. Sound familiar?
I was able to explain the different ways Realtors in the State of Michigan are able to represent a person, including Buyer Agency. In the course of the conversation I encouraged her to visit my best search site: Search Ann Arbor Houses and told her we have Google Maps, Satellite Images and multiple photos.
“Oh, she said, we have been on your site before and really like it. We are registered under my fiancé name.In fact, we just emailed Pattie to see if we could see some other homes."
“Great”, I said. Pattie is one of my best Buyer Agents and she can show you not only what you picked out but also 1216 Birk in Ann Arbor. I would rather she show you that home, as you see I am representing the sellers and I would prefer to keep it that way. You can have Pattie’s representation for you 100%.
“Gosh, no one ever told us about Buyer Agency before”.
Well, we make sure before we show any houses that you understand the law in Michigan on Disclosure of Agency Relationships or the different ways you can be represented in a real estate transaction. I would have shown you 1216 Birk in Ann Arbor out of my fiduciary responsibility to my sellers, but I could not represent you the best on this house. (Yes, we practice dual-agency in Mi, but I have team of Buyer Agents, so why I?)
Now my blogging friends, what if I had not called her?
If I had not called her, we would not have found out all this information, and she would not have understood the different ways she could be represented in Michigan by Real Estate Agents.
I promise you it would have been a one time showing.
Our goal is to help people find a house, not show a house. We want to become their Realtors. We want to establish a relationship of trust. (Us to them and them to us)
They are now pre-qualified, they met Pattie at the office this morning and went over the Michigan Disclosure of Agency Relationships and looked at six homes including 1216 Birk in Ann Arbor.
More to follow… on the importance of picking up the phone and calling your leads.
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Absolutely right Missy. No one gets by me to agents without a phone number, price range and location.