I had a caller leave me a message saying that some people just aren't cut out to be real estate agents and I might be one of them. This is because I said it might be difficult to find a home that fit all of her criteria.
She had called me from out of state. She sounded nice and I thought I was making progress. She wanted to find out about areas around Atlanta where she would be able to find the kind of house she desired.
I get many calls like this and have learned that I need to ask from five to ten questions in order to give them some possibilities. I've been in Atlanta for 23 years and have lived in several areas around town. I have been a real estate agent for 10 years and have shown homes far and wide.
Atlanta is a huge market and one agent just can't know everything about every area. Even though I try to cover just the northern part of Atlanta, I do know what you can get in other areas around the city. I have a network of agents I refer to and I keep tabs on the general market.
She wanted a new home in a golf community, good schools, close to shopping, close to activities, basement, 4-5 bedrooms, under $300,000.
I thought about it and told her that for that price and all of those criteria, she would have to be pretty far out at the edges of the suburbs, at least in the northern part of Atlanta where I am most familiar. Maybe Forsyth county, Cherokee County, Paulding County, Hall County. It's tough to get all of those things in the closer in suburbs. Some golf communities closer in are Indian Hills, Horseshoe Bend, Willow Springs, Rivermont, Atlanta Country Club, Country Club of the South, Sugarloaf, St. Ives. None of these are going to have any newer homes under $300,000. I know that for a fact. It's just the way it is.
She said she found a lot of homes on my site that fit her criteria and wondered why I thought it would be tough to find what she wanted. I asked her for the towns and listing numbers for the homes she saw on the Internet but she got frustrated at my lack of knowledge and hung up on me. She said that she'd find another agent who would want to work with her and had a better knowledge of the market.
Atlanta is a huge area. Many people get excited when they find beautiful homes on the Internet but then are disappointed to find that they are pretty far out from the city or in areas that just aren't that desirable for one reason or another.
This young lady then left me a message the next morning saying that she had found another agent who was helping her buy a home here in Atlanta that had everything she was looking for.
Then she had to stick it to me. She said that she was appalled by my lack of knowledge about what was available in Atlanta. She said that some people just aren't cut out to be real estate agents and I might be one of them. Ouch, that hurt but it also made me laugh. I was trying to help her out and give her my honest opinion. For that she insults me?
Maybe it was some kind of miscommunication. Maybe she really meant just a swim/tennis community and not a golf community. Maybe she was talking about some other part of Georgia. I hope she finds what she wants but I have a feeling she's going to get all excited but then find out that the homes that she wants in her price range are going to be about an hour outside of the city.
I've had out of state people who see Cherokee County on the map and tell me that the distance in no big deal. Then when they arrive and we begin driving out there, they begin asking "Are we there yet?" when we are just half way there.
The other thing that is happening now is that there are some homes that get put on the maket at a teaser price that's much lower than it's going to sell for. These homes are priced much like the starting price at an auction. If you don't know any better, you might actually think that you can get a home for that price when in reality, those homes might end up selling for twice what the initial teaser price was.
Then there are agents who might just tell you what you want to hear. They figure they'll get you down here and you'll buy something one way or another. Maybe I shouldn't be in real estate after all. I might be too honest for my own good.
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