Hi All,

It is another beautiful sun-filled day here in glorious Claremont California.  The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, my phone is ringing and all's right with the world... or is it?  I put a call in to a client of mine a couple of days ago followed by several text messages (and boy do I love my new phone the LG EnV2 but that's another story) and I have heard nothing back.  Zip, zero, zilch, nada.  This is indeed unusual, especially for this person.

I was starting to believe that they had found a way to get a cellphone implant before anyone else, because I could barely press send when a response was winging its way to me, especially where text messages were concerned.  So, placing a call and not receiving a response within minutes, let alone hours was unusual to say the least, and a definite clue that something just might be rotten in Denmark and Claremont.

When I did finally get ahold of them today I found out that my concerns were justified.  They were and are planning to flit to yet another possible Real Estate purchase situation.  Now they are thinking about Lease Option, yet another change that has come out of the blue.  Unfortunately, this does not come as any great surprise, considering the fact that I was but one flower upon which this particular Butterfly Client had decided to land. 

Sure we've written offers and looked at gobs of property (thank goodness for the Internet as some of our searching could be accomplished from our living rooms), but we aren't moving forward... yet, and herein lies the rub.

What they want is a house, they're sure they want a house... or maybe a townhouse... or possibly a condo... no, no they want a house... a new house... a really new house... with a pool... or maybe not... with 3 bedrooms... but 4 would work too... in Claremont... or Fontana... or Pomona... or Pasadena... or Riverside... or Pacoima... or Granada Hills...

Are you sensing some indecision on the part of these little Butterflies yet,  because I sure am.  Now I mentioned the fact that this behavior is no surprise to me considering the fact that they have been as indecisive about their representative as they are about what they want to live in.  Yes, we are under contract.  Yes, it is exclusive and for compensation, and yes, we did go over every square inch and they fully understood what they were agreeing to, but I don't think that Butterflies pay much attention to paper.

Butterflies like pretty, colorful things that attract their attention and they suffer from incurable "Grass Is Greener" syndrome.  It doesn't matter where they light or what they light upon, the flower just one stem over will always be better than the one they are occupying now.  They are forever in search of "the best" and the shame of it is that "the best" only remains so until they acquire it and then it not only isn't the best anymore, it may not even be deemed any good at all. 

What to do?  How does one deal with a Butterfly Client?  Can they tamed?  Can they be happy?  Can their agents hold tightly enough onto them to close a deal but not so tightly that they are all damaged in the process?  Who's to say... The only thing I am sure of is that the next time I encounter a Butterfly Client, I am not going to worry as much about whether I have my Supra Key handy as I am about where I put my net.

Take care all, help lots of people and have a wonderful day,

Tisza

Oh, and for some beautiful butterfly portraits check out http://flickr.com/people/zenmasterkha/