Dont Forget To Ask...

  As a 3 month old agent fresh in the business....floor duty and an opportunity to serve a potential prospect is exciting and you jump quickly in hopes of sealing a relationship....

   You receive a call and the customer on the other end of the phone sounds all together excited about a home and its recent price reduction.  In their excitement and disbelief of the possibilities of seeing the home on such short notice, you go out of your way to tell them...ABSOLUTELY....I can show you this home today..

   When I think about the conversation early into the phone call, the one comment that flew right over my head was...we had seen this house before, but it was out of our price range....I probably assumed that they had only viewed the home on a web search, not allowing room to think that maybe an agent had already shown the house and was representing them as well.....

  In my rush and anticipation, I drove 15 miles one way...(I know that isnt that far, BUT....) and while the prospect was excited about the price reduction......that's when it came out.....

  I will have to get with my agent and let them know........Well I knew then, I wasnt their agent  nor was the listing agent because I had already spoken with him......so where did that leave me...???  Certainly not their buyer representative.... Now I know that there are a lot of questions that I could have probably pursued with this individual but trying to remain above board and allowing Real Estate Ethics to remain in play, I basically backed off and just shut up...

  I should have been on my toes from the very beginning and asked... ARE YOU WORKING WITH ANOTHER AGENT???   IS ANOTHER AGENT REPRESENTING YOU??? HAVE YOU SIGNED A BUYERS REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT WITH ANYONE???   I dont know, but half way through the home, this individual told me that their agent could not show them this home and told them to call my agency and see if someone could show it...???  Maybe they were told to contact the listing agent which would have been a more likely thing to have done rather than just pull a straw from the hat and waste someone elses gas and time....

 So if your new or youve been at it for a while.....dont forget to ask a buyer or a seller....Are you currently being represented by another agent..???