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Crossing the invisible line......

By Anna Matsunaga

Real Estate Agent with Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma

September 04, 2008 06:44 PM

I've only been in real estate for 5 years, but I have found a theme in my transactions and in fact my life.

The reoccuring theme is crossing an invisible line. It's about passion and purpose and decisions too.

Some of you know right now what I am talking about and some of you will understand in a few sentences, because you live your life too crossing this invisible line. Others may not know what I am talking about and if you don't, at some point you will have to decide if you will cross it or not.

What I am talking about is that point in every business relationship or Real Estate transaction. The point where you have to decide are you going to do you job and just your job and do it well and leave the rest alone, or will you step over the line and do something that others may question, that you may regret or that simply is really not your job. The point at which it stops just being a transaction and it becomes personal.

By nature I walk close to this line all day every day. I have never been good in the role of uninterested observer. People draw me in. I am addicted and frankly seduced by humanity in general. I know many have very negative feelings about people in general, but my experiences while I certainly cannot say they are all positve ( I'm Anna, not Pollyanna!) I feel that in general people are good. People are interesting and worthwhile when you get to know them not matter who they are. I also feel that when I have been slighted or treated badly I might have done the same in their shoes.

But here lies my dilima. I have found that I cannot work with people with out becoming involved. I cannot work with a client with out coming to really care for them and I cannot remain detached. I also can't seem to come to a place in business where I am not crossing the line.

I am not here talking about some lines that I have vowed NOT to ever cross. Those lines involve clients asking me to be dishonest or to do something that is no ethical. I also have never had an issue with crossing a line with a client in any moral sense, nor have I ever been tempted by that or the ethical question. However.......well let me explain the line.

The line is that place where you know you are doing or are about to do something for a client, other realtor or business person something that well, really, is not your job. It is outside not of your scope of practice ( I get help for that from another Realtor who knows more than me about what ever it may be) but it is outside your scope of well....I guess the scope of things that keep you neatly removed from the client. Some times it is subtle and some times it isn't let me give you some examples and I think you will recognize some of the times when you too cross the line.

*Meeting a client @ 2am in the morning since they have a flight that leaves @ 5 am and no access to fax on their trip and that is the only time they can sign off this counter offer.

*Inviting a client who is losing their home to foreclosure over for dinner, since you know they have nothing to eat.

*loaning a client money

*Answering the phone late at night

*Meeting clients @ my home

*Going from door to door in the rain to promote your listing ( some times with a baby on your hip)

*Calling the bank that is about to foreclose on your client even though you are on the only "real" family vacation your family has ever taken. ( and getting up before 5am since they are on another time zone)

*Staging a home for a client who does not have the money to do so since you know this home will not sell at all with out the staging.

*Agreeing to be a client's power of atty since they have no one else they trust as much while they are out to sea.

*checking on a client's home you sold them when they are out of town.

* driving by a client's rental homes even though they have a property manager to be sure nothing looks out of place.

*Securing a loan for some one so they do not lose their home.

*Staying up well past 1am to be sure a client's ads get on line when your assistant was sick and it didn't get done so you are doing it ( did I mention you are sick too?)

These are just a few of the times when I know I have crossed that line with a client. Some other examples I know of with Realtors that have crossed the line.....

* painting the weather side of a house so that it will pass inspection and be able to close since the sellers do not have the money and are not physically capible of doing it.

*paying to have a lawn mown since the out of state seller can't and the fire department is calling.

* labeling every plant in a huge over acre garden with the type so that the home could be marketed as a " secret garden" and appeal to gardeners who are looking in the area.

*Helping an elderly client sort through all of their belongings before they moved.

*Taking care of a fellow realtor's business when she was in a coma in the hospital and never taking her clients, just caring for them and giving the injured comatose realtor ALL of the profits.

*Taking a fellow realtor who's disability into their home to live

...........

I could go on.

I will keep crossing the line I am sure. I think some days I do it several times in one day. I cross the line for my team too. I will not say that I will repeat every decision I have made in the past or repeat some of the ways that I have, ( hind sight is 20-20 and I don't like to learn from more than one lump on my head from the same thing) However I know I could not live my life personally or professionally in a dispassonate way.

Many people have crossed the line for me you see....some fellow realtors, some simply the people in my life and some, yes some of them are clients.

*Standing up for me when I was being criticized for working with my children in tow

*Taking the time and patience required to teach me when I was brand new and even though there was training available on this very thing, I could not come for lack of childcare.

* For generously giving me gifts like , giving our family the deck off of their house. ( se recent post)

* For taking the time to teach me about what they know about investing, even though I am their realtor.

* Offering my family a 1 week paid vacation ( we just need airfair) as a thank you gift ( no we did not take it)

*bringing my children gifts

* putting up with my children being along for the ride at the time.

*throwing me a baby shower.

*Helping me refinish a space for my new office

*encouraging me when I am down

* referring great people to me

* being willing to meet me @ my house to sign papers since it means less time away from my children

And so much more.......

Now I am not saying everyone should cross the line and there are times I would ( knowing the outcome) make a different choice the next time. For a long time however I beat myself up, saying other realtors were more professional than me, that I should be all business and so on, and yes, I have had to learn to set boundaries, but I have come to the conclusion it is just as important to know when to cross them. To help simply because you can and it is the right thing to do, even if it means doing the right thing means you will not get a paycheck for work you have done, even if it is inconvenient or difficult.

I admit it alot of what seduces me about humanity is the fact that we are really all very very vulnerable and we need eachother. This can be terrifying...until you realize that means everyone else is too and they may need you. Then you can set the fear aside and focus on others and simply ask how can I step over the line, offer your hand and help more than what was expected, care more than was expected and make a difference more than expected.

It is a frightening, exhilarating and wonderful way to do business, and instead of fighting it like I have for so long, I have finally decided to embrace it.

So if you need a realtor who does not do the exact same thing for every client. Who you want to see long after your first Real Estate transaction is over, who will step over the line if it is called for, then my team and I may be right for you.

If you want someone with perfect professional bearings, the type of back ground noise you would expect in an office and who always has an answer for you, well we are not going to keep you happy. Stay inside the lines and choose a Realtor who does too. If this is how you operate you will be happiest with an agent who has a very well segmented life.

However I submit, to potential clients and to Realtors and other business people as well,

The business person who does not burn out, who grows personally while growing professionally and who you feel like coming back to over and over usually is the person you know DID step over the line for you, isn't it?

Realtors, if you hesitate to step over the invisible line, but feel yourself pulled there, go ahead, step over. Do set boundaries, but be sure they are simply to protect you and your clients, not just out of fear or discomfort. Be willing to think outside the box, but be sure you also color inside the lines.

Anna Matsunaga is with Team Momentum, Keller Williams Realty, a company that is known in the industry for thinking outside the box & stepping over the line. Feel free to contact our team for Real Estate questions or for other ways we can help @ 253 212 1252

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Anonymous

Bonnie Cox

Karen, I could not agree with this assessment more. I was beginning to wonder "what's wrong with me?" I believe, if even half of this "Mother Teresa" saga is true in five brief years of practicing real estate, the time playing Good Samaritan would have been far better served with continuing education that would enhance a relatively new agent's skills to truly better serve the client. Establishing your own website, improving the rankings of that site and creating your own blogsite that features your skills and listings are all endeavors that further improve your business and help your clients. We get paid for professionally helping and counseling our clients. For me, that is a 60-hour a week job. The contracts, the laws, the addendum, the interests rates, the guidance we deliver all change rapidly. These are the areas in which we should all be focusing our efforts. Lets all raise the level of professionalism so that the public will hold us in esteem for our knowledge and service but not servitude. That is what people resort to that have nothing else to offer.

Sep 06, 2008 06:56 AM

#79

George Fanucci

CoreFact.com - Los Altos, CA

Internet - Technology - Business - Solutions

Sometimes a job becomes more than a job, it becomes one's passion. That can be good, or bad, depending on the circumstances! Thanks for your posting, but I agree, it could have been a lot shorter. There's an old saying at Apple Computer in the 1980s... the CEO would not accept any memo over one page. One Director wrote up an important issue. He added at the beginning: I would have made just one page, but there was not enough time!

Sep 06, 2008 06:57 AM

Tamara Perlman

Referral Network Inc. - Truckee, CA

Before I started in real estate, I thought I was too "soft" to be in real estate. I'd heard stories!!! When I finally decided to make it my career, I stepped over the lines you talk about repeatedly... and more people started using me and referring me. Not what I had expected. They said I wasn't the typical realtor they had expected to "HAVE" to work with. Worked out well for everyone concerned. Keep crossing those lines, as long as they aren't the questionable ones!

Sep 06, 2008 08:29 AM

Anna Matsunaga

Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma - Lakewood, WA

Seller specialist, Certified Negotiation Expert

Yes, guys the post was too long, I must have written it in the middle of the night. Please know too that in addition to doing these things for my clients I do go through lots and lots of training, on an average my team invests 10 hours or more a week in training.

Most of my clients are over and over and over clients. This makes the doing more for them make more sense. Instead of investing the same time in looking for new people, I invest it in my clients and most of my business is referral. I do take time off. I do take care of myself. I also have help in serving the client. Yes I am relatively new, yes I have much to learn. The whole reason for this post was to see where the rest of you are with this same quandry. I so appreciate the honest feed back.

Speaking of spell check how do I do that with Active Rain?

Sep 06, 2008 10:11 AM

Tamara Perlman

Referral Network Inc. - Truckee, CA

Anna--

I agree, investing in current and repeat clients is worth so much more than all the "techniques" used to garner new clients. Study after study shows that client retention is much, much less expensive than creating new ones... Now, if some of the cell phone companies and other
providers" would learn that lesson and stop treating their existing clients as if they didn't matter!

Sep 06, 2008 10:16 AM

Anna Matsunaga

Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma - Lakewood, WA

Seller specialist, Certified Negotiation Expert

I agree caring about your customers makes you have better retention. It is critical you DO have a line / boundaries but you can care for them while crossing the line of caring on a personal level and still have boundaries. Unlike most big companies, we have the opportunity to make the calls and to give of ourselves to the extent that feels right to us.

Sep 06, 2008 01:48 PM

Anonymous

bullshit

Sep 06, 2008 06:08 PM

#85

Anna Matsunaga

Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma - Lakewood, WA

Seller specialist, Certified Negotiation Expert

By big companies, I do not mean real estate companies, I mean big huge corporations, realtors have small businesses and as small business owners we can make decisions on a case by case personal basis. If I am an exec with a big corp like Microsoft for instance I may not be able to make those calls like I can as a small business owner.--Hope that clarifies what I meant, by we I mean realtors.

Sep 06, 2008 06:29 PM

Anonymous

Shannon Kiernan

My husband and I are both Realtors and I am the one who usually gets personally attached and involved and he tends to pull me back when I would go to far on the giving end for our clients. I have, however, gone through a whole library of books with an elderly client so they could donate them because they were moving out of the country and couldn't move the extra 50 boxes of books. And I found a library in need to give them to, arranged to have them picked up and helped them get loaded into the trucks. I was the only person he trusted to help him with patience and love and he needed someone to hear the stories of his beloved books. I think that is part of being a good agent, homes are a personal business.

Sep 07, 2008 05:15 AM

#87

John & Jessica Poltrock

RE/MAX Mountain Properties - Murphy, NC

Very interesting...

Sep 07, 2008 06:58 AM

Lisa Mancha

Edson Broker - Osterville, MA

As I started reading your post I was inline with the feelings and sentiments that was behind the post itself. I know that I am the sort that gets emotionally involved, I care and I give 110% and then some of myself when working with a client. Normally my involvement brings me into alot of extra time listening and resolving, extra footwork running around so I can get things where they need to be, check up on things and heck I have even been known to get my husband over to clean up the landscaping on a place,..cleaning up a property for the walk through, installing a mailbox after the sale, shmoozing a home inspector into fixing a faulty heating transfer unit so my buyer can be in the home on time, and even babysitting the kiddies while my clients view property. I also spend a whole heck of alot of time troubleshooting and even doing alot of my cobroker's work that they fail to want to undertake just to make everyone happy in the end. I know for sure there are alot of agents who say why do you all that?!, and I have to say, quite simply, it's because when the end result is some very happy people, then I am a very happy person as well.

Anyhow what I did learn from this post, is that we all do have a different concept of where that proverbial line lays. I thought that I was that renegade agent diving, sprinting and strong arming my way over that proverbial line but in reading some of the things you did I see my line is still conservative compared to yours (whew). My family does manage to get involved from time to time in my business, and I have been known to tote my six year old on some showings, of course only with customers I knew well and I knew they definately would not have an issue with having him along for the ride,..as well I tend to work late, take those late night calls, but also I have come to make a few lines that I do adhere to more often than not. My family has to make it to the top of my list, I learned quickly to allow a clients needs to come before my own families is a line I just won't cross and that family vacation you mentioned,..well sometimes we don't realize that our time and full attention is a top priority need. I learned one night at my house on "Movie Night" where my spouse, children and I were curled up ready to watch a movie and the phone rang and my three children gave me a look that layed the line firmly down,..I realized then that I had interrupted that time just one too many times and I finally understood that those 2 hours that I spend watching a movie with my family is uninterruptable. It is important to them and that is exactly what the answering service was for. If I we cut into our family time, specially a vacation, with someone elses needs the repurcussions may not be instant but I am not willing to risk hearing about them years later. When it's family time, especially vacation worthy, I make sure there is another agent available who I trust will make themselves available when needed in my place. Also as for the late night calls I also will monitor them and if it falls at dinner time, or homework time, I will let them go to voicemail and retrieve them and return if necessary when the kids have been settled in for the night.

This kind of continues with that theme when it comes to making myself legally vulnerable. No matter how compassionate you are if you put your family's finances at risk for a client, I think it really is an area needing review.

I am not criticising you, please understand that, I admire you and respect what you bring to the job, I just worry a bit about you as well because I think we are very similar people and through trial and error I have come to recognize some lines that need to be there especially when it comes to those silent members in our life who don't point out how important a line needs to be when it comes to their often unvoiced needs. I am not just talking about the kiddies and spouses but also our inner sanity. If we run ourselves ragged and let the boundaries of our personal life and needs be invaded too easily, we can become less productive and surely less compassionate and in the end that can't be good for anyone.

I'm for defining our own individual lines, but thoughtfully.

Best Regards

Lisa

Sep 07, 2008 11:11 AM

Joanna Quan

Keller Williams Realty - Alamo, CA

Realtor, SRES, Notary

Anna - If sometimes crossing that invisible line without compromising yourself is part of what the Keller Williams culture it, I'd be proud to be part of it. Great post.

Sep 07, 2008 05:54 PM

Anonymous

Larry Gilbert

Wow! What a friend you must be.

Sep 08, 2008 03:23 AM

#91

Kelsey Barklow

Hurd Realty - Johnson City, TN

423/948-9154

Great topic and very good blog. You are certainly dedicated to your craft and I respect that. I, as do many other caring Realtors, go above and beyond the call of duty to help my clients. I have arranged for a hotel for my client and her dog and bird just as they were rolling into town and found out that they could not get into the house because the sellers had turned the electricity off and not told anyone (she was renting from them prior to closing), babysat spiders, had a client sleep at my house because I was concerned that she might not feel safe staying in a hotel in a strange town, and on and on. I do what my conscience tells me to do and I try to help my fellow Realtors as well, whether or not they are in my office.

Keep up the good work but also be careful.

Sep 08, 2008 03:24 AM

Anna Matsunaga

Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma - Lakewood, WA

Seller specialist, Certified Negotiation Expert

I have to say that this really is in a way part of the KW culture. Not that everyone is comfortable with what I am comfortable to do, but the" Win Win or no Deal "part of the culture, and "the seek to understand first" all make it so we are more likely to operate that way. I think also the fact that most of our brokers really feel our business belongs to US and not our broker. That too make most of us being willing to step up and help others maybe more than others.

Sep 08, 2008 02:16 PM

Shaundra L Jackson

Quality Real Estate Services - Renton, WA

I am the same way and often go back and forth in regards to whether or not I am doing the right thing. I feel like I always maintain a professional demeanor as I may be hauling wood away or moving furniture and packing boxes in a suit or as another lady meniotned above, crying in my "phone" voice" with a client who has come upon hard times. I think each situation is different and as you mentioned, you learn from some that don't have a good outcome but given a different client and the same situation.... you may do it all over again. I hear loud and clear what some of the agents have said about the liability and risk factors and I do take head. However, my faith in God allows me to take some risks because I know his will shall be done and in the end it will all wash out. THank you for your inpiring blog and you have my vote to keep on doing what you're doing as I will. God bless.

Sep 09, 2008 07:43 AM

Anna Matsunaga

Team Momentum Keller Williams Realty Tacoma - Lakewood, WA

Seller specialist, Certified Negotiation Expert

Thank you, You brought up something I had not considered. Yes faith. I had not really thought about that being a part of the reason I operate like I do, but it is a big part of it for me too. I feel that I must follow my conscience when dealing with clients.

Sep 09, 2008 08:13 AM

Steve Graham

Inactive - Atlanta, GA

*Agreeing to be a client's power of atty

I have done this on a couple of occasions.

Sep 11, 2008 10:01 AM

Anonymous

Anna,

I have so much respect for you and the way your handle your business. It is awesome to see you sharing your persepctive in this public forum. Keep it up!

Nothing but the best,

Theresa

Oct 04, 2008 04:26 PM

#97

Mike Wong

Keller Williams Realty Southwest - Sugar Land, TX

Realtor: Commercial, Residential, Leasing, Invest

Anna you are doing an exceptional job and an inspiration to many. Keep up the great work!

Oct 08, 2008 03:53 AM

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Rainmaker
141,900

Anna Matsunaga

Seller specialist, Certified Negotiation Expert

I've only been in real estate for 5 years, but I have found a theme in my transactions and in fact my life.

The reoccuring theme is crossing an invisible line. It's about passion and purpose and decisions too.

Some of you know right now what I am talking about and some of you will understand in a few sentences, because you live your life too crossing this invisible line. Others may not know what I am talking about and if you don't, at some point you will have to decide if you will cross it or not.

But here lies my dilima. I have found that I cannot work with people with out becoming involved. I cannot work with a client with out coming to really care for them and I cannot remain detached. I also can't seem to come to a place in business where I am not crossing the line.

*Meeting a client @ 2am in the morning since they have a flight that leaves @ 5 am and no access to fax on their trip and that is the only time they can sign off this counter offer.

*Inviting a client who is losing their home to foreclosure over for dinner, since you know they have nothing to eat.

*loaning a client money

*Answering the phone late at night

*Meeting clients @ my home

*Going from door to door in the rain to promote your listing ( some times with a baby on your hip)

*Calling the bank that is about to foreclose on your client even though you are on the only "real" family vacation your family has ever taken. ( and getting up before 5am since they are on another time zone)

*Staging a home for a client who does not have the money to do so since you know this home will not sell at all with out the staging.

*Agreeing to be a client's power of atty since they have no one else they trust as much while they are out to sea.

*checking on a client's home you sold them when they are out of town.

* driving by a client's rental homes even though they have a property manager to be sure nothing looks out of place.

*Securing a loan for some one so they do not lose their home.

*Staying up well past 1am to be sure a client's ads get on line when your assistant was sick and it didn't get done so you are doing it ( did I mention you are sick too?)

These are just a few of the times when I know I have crossed that line with a client. Some other examples I know of with Realtors that have crossed the line.....

* painting the weather side of a house so that it will pass inspection and be able to close since the sellers do not have the money and are not physically capible of doing it.

*paying to have a lawn mown since the out of state seller can't and the fire department is calling.

* labeling every plant in a huge over acre garden with the type so that the home could be marketed as a " secret garden" and appeal to gardeners who are looking in the area.

*Helping an elderly client sort through all of their belongings before they moved.

*Taking care of a fellow realtor's business when she was in a coma in the hospital and never taking her clients, just caring for them and giving the injured comatose realtor ALL of the profits.

*Taking a fellow realtor who's disability into their home to live

...........

I could go on.

Many people have crossed the line for me you see....some fellow realtors, some simply the people in my life and some, yes some of them are clients.

*Standing up for me when I was being criticized for working with my children in tow

*Taking the time and patience required to teach me when I was brand new and even though there was training available on this very thing, I could not come for lack of childcare.

* For generously giving me gifts like , giving our family the deck off of their house. ( se recent post)

* For taking the time to teach me about what they know about investing, even though I am their realtor.

* Offering my family a 1 week paid vacation ( we just need airfair) as a thank you gift ( no we did not take it)

*bringing my children gifts

* putting up with my children being along for the ride at the time.

*throwing me a baby shower.

*Helping me refinish a space for my new office

*encouraging me when I am down

* referring great people to me

* being willing to meet me @ my house to sign papers since it means less time away from my children

And so much more.......

It is a frightening, exhilarating and wonderful way to do business, and instead of fighting it like I have for so long, I have finally decided to embrace it.

So if you need a realtor who does not do the exact same thing for every client. Who you want to see long after your first Real Estate transaction is over, who will step over the line if it is called for, then my team and I may be right for you.

However I submit, to potential clients and to Realtors and other business people as well,

The business person who does not burn out, who grows personally while growing professionally and who you feel like coming back to over and over usually is the person you know DID step over the line for you, isn't it?

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*Agreeing to be a client's power of atty

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