This morning I was thinking about the fact that I had not heard back from someone that I had left a message for yesterday afternoon. It occurred to me that there are people who are still able to work business hours and respond to calls during those hours. It has been over 20 years since I had that kind of job; Real Estate is certainly not a 9-5 job.
If we are working together to buy or sell a house, you should plan to make yourself available. Here in Virginia, we have a paragraph called "Time is of the essence." It says that if you miss the deadlines, you may face a 'waiver of contractual rights.' Our contingencies have stringent and specific time frames. Most of these contingencies expire at 9 p.m. If you don't respond to properly, for instance, the Home Inspection contingency, you waive the right to ask the seller to make any repairs. The contract proceeds to closing. Getting back to me at 9:01 means that you proceed to closing without any seller concessions resulting from the Home Inspection. These are not flexible deadlines. I have paid for a radon system because I misread the deadline date; radon was present and my buyers were counting on me to get it re-mediated by the seller. Following that mistake, you can believe I that I work really hard to meet all dates and contingency time frames.
There are so many ways to communicate. I use any and all means to make sure that I reach my clients in the way that they want to be reached. I will email, text, phone, WhatsApp, or Skype (and whatever else) depending on what my clients want and need. I have stayed up late and gotten up early to reach overseas clients. That is how important these deadlines are in protecting my clients. I have used Facebook to contact a client from the Dominican Republic when no other Internet services were allowing me to get through. I have Skyped from a train in Italy. I have sprinted to landlines in Mexico, in an effort to contact my clients, to make sure we responded in time.
You probably realize how you can 'help me, help you.' If not, it is simply this; make yourself available--even when you would rather not. Understand that I am protecting your rights in the transaction and making sure that we make those deadlines!
Comments(2)