Sometimes, with the game on the line in the bottom of the 9th, the pitcher gives you a perfect pitch to hit. I mean, he throws a fat, lifeless tater over the heart of the plate. It's like the All-Star Game home run derby, and you should be able to park that ball in the upper decks. Instead, you whiff!!! Nothin' but air.
A buyer gave me a big, juicy pitch to hit the other day, and I whiffed. Big-time.
This prospective buyer told me she had decided to work with another agent because of her mortgage lender's national tie-in with that Realtor's parent company, a franchise. She didn't specify, but there was some sort of incentive. Maybe there was some closing cost assistance involved somewhere, or some other "saving." Whatever the incentive, she said this affiliation between lender and preferred real estate franchise would mean more money in her pocket. That was the pitch I needed to knock out of the park.
It's like the FSBO who is trying to "save" $15,000 in commission and then underselling their home by $50,000.
But not only did I strike out, I didn't even take a swing. I was driving and talking (a subject for another blog), and wasn't focused enough on the conversation (yet ANOTHER blog topic), and that was pretty much the end of the conversation. I wished her good luck, and that was that.
Of course, after we got off the phone, I immediately thought of several major flaws in her logic. Such as......
1) If her assigned Realtor is a lousy negotiator, she may pay $20,000 too much for the home.
2) What if the Realtor doesn't encourage her to request a home warranty? Two months after she moves in, the water heater or A/C may go, and whatever money was in her pocket is now out the window.
3) If the Realtor does not work with her to ensure certain home inspection items are addressed -- an aging roof, for instance, well, guess who's going to pay for that when the roof begins to leak?
I could go on, but -- as Larry King 
would say, what's the point? I had my chance, and I blew it.
The great thing about real estate, though, like baseball, is that you always get another at-bat. An old sales manager -- my first sales manager -- told me that mistakes are not a problem, but repeating the mistakes is.
So next time this issue comes up, we won't be blogging about a strikeout, we'll be blogging about the high fives we got as we rounded the bases. Have a terrific day.
Comments(4)