Real estate is a team sport and you better have the right team
If you are going to be doing real estate of any kind, the one thing that will make or break the transaction is teaming with the right Realtor. You must find one whose passion is the customer and helping them meet their goals. They are out there: you just need to find them.
We see it every day, people selling a home for 6 figure losses, paying too much for a home, reducing their list price 41 times before finally selling, and on and on and on. Almost always, it is because they didn’t do the only thing that really matters. Finding a professional who understood their goals and whose passion was making sure they met them.
We are a few days away from ending the 1st quarter of 2105 and for us it’s been a wonderful 3 months. More closings than most will do in an entire year and each transaction we hope that we were focused only on our customer. It didn’t matter if the property was worth over a million dollars, under $100,000, or a rental, we hope that we were a good teammate because real estate is truly a team sport. We like to think of ourselves as the coach developing a winning game plan for each unique customer and situation. In any real estate market, if you do not have a game plan you are set up to not do as well as you could.
Understanding your goals is crucial and that should be your brokers first step. Making every effort for you to meet those goals should be the driving force of every action in the process. Your broker should be focused on you meeting your goals, or you picked the wrong team, and probably won’t win the game.Yesterday, we negotiated a lease for a client that is a good example.
Let’s face it, a rental is not exactly a game changing transaction. Many agents will look down their noses and not even help someone trying to find a place to live if they are not buying it. We love the business, we love helping our clients meet their goals. It’s the game that matters and it’s winning the game that drives us daily to help others. It’s the reason we are in real estate.
We had not even met this client. We had spoken to her on the phone, we had traded e-mails but the one thing we did was understand her goals. We knew where she worked, we knew what her budget was, we knew what type of property they needed both inside and out. For instance, we knew they had a passion for growing orchids and needed outdoor space. We knew she had a dog who weighed between 22 and 24 pound and was 10 years old. I knew his name and even asked for a picture of him. That’s him in the picture. I knew her budget.
Understanding her needs I knew the perfect location but the last unit that would work rented quickly. I asked her to be patient but to keep a close eye on her e-mail as I would forward any new listings that met her unique goals. It didn’t take that long and Friday morning she called. The property I sent that morning looked perfect and she wanted to see it, maybe over the weekend. I realized that may be too late so we made plans to see it as soon as she got off work: before she headed to her second job.
Arriving at the property about 10 minutes early I immediately knew it was a perfect match. I understood what she was looking for and this was it. When she arrived she knew it as well, immediately. She wasn’t there 2 minutes and knew we were close to meeting her goals. This wasn’t my first rodeo and I knew there was still much to do as demand is high and inventory is low. I immediately called the listing agent and put him on the speaker phone. We were at his listing, we loved it, were happy to take it at full price as soon as the association could process the paperwork. We confirmed her dog was welcomed and asked what we needed to do to lock the property up.
I know her heart sank when his response was to get him a Contract to Lease as he has a few other people telling him the same thing and had to make a decision. We thanked him and told him we would have everything to him shortly. I understood we had work to do. We needed to make sure the owner had the information needed to pick our client from a group of applicants. And ours came with a dog.
This is where the passion come in. The only thing that mattered to me was my client getting the property. On the way to the office to prepare the paperwork my mind was racing. How can I present this offer to put my client’s offer in the driver seat? It helped that my client had a great job, wonderful credit and I had an e-mail from her explaining who she was and a picture of that dog. That would help but I knew I needed more to win this game.
I added three lines to my presentation of the offer:
I am so convinced that Debbie is the perfect tenant for your home I am putting my reputation on the line. Not only do I ask that you cut the commission due me on this transaction from $700 to $500 if you ever have any issues with Debbie during the term of the lease I am happy to fully refund any funds Paradise Sharks has made on this transaction. We truly are THAT confident and only wish I had a property to put her in as my tenant.
This wasn’t about me, it was about my client and meeting her goals. The fact is they had multiple offers, those that offered more money, those that offered a quicker occupancy, those without dogs. But those three lines I included got her the home. The response we received the next morning proved it. “Thank you for the commission reduction, we loved the e-mails from you and Debbie. It made the difference in our decision”.
It was a good day. We had helped another client meet their goals. We took the time to understand them and we put together a game plan to meet them. We didn’t let multiple offers stop us. We won the game and had fun doing it. If you are thinking real estate, pick your team wisely. Make sure it’s about you and not about them
Tom Priester
Principal Broker
Paradise Sharks Real Estate
561.308.0175
tom@paradisesharks.com
Comments(3)