becoming a better agent: Buyers Want To Buy but They HATE to be SOLD To - 05/25/12 12:19 AM
How often have you heard "Buyers WANT to buy.....but they HATE to be SOLD to..."  How true, how true. I hate it when I am the target of someone selling something.  Recently I have had an uptick in phone calls from West Coast Area Codes, people who are going to sell me the solution to every web-presence issue you can imagine.  Those phone calls just make me grit my teeth. 
In the last several weeks I have gotten down-right obnoxious.  In the last day or so, I have started being right on the edge of rude. Sometimes, if I actually listen … (4 comments)

becoming a better agent: Where Do Real Agents Get Their Business? - 06/06/11 06:12 PM
You just never know where business will come from next.
I was having lunch with my friend Joyce the other day when she told me a story about the source of one of her clients.  Joyce has been a real estate agent for almost as long as there has been land to sell.  The day after the continents emerged from the waters, Joyce was there to help people begin to settle in.
One afternoon, her phone rang.  It was a new prospect who we shall call Sally.  Sally told Joyce that Nancy had referred her.  Joyce worked real hard to remember who Nancy … (10 comments)

becoming a better agent: Agent Irritants - 04/16/10 04:05 AM
I got feedback from a showing on a condo listing.  The agent wanted to know if my client would take less than list price.  Now, Gentle Reader, you and I both know that the only response that I can give is "make us an offer and I will be delighted to present it". 
I called the guy because I just closed another transaction in this condo complex so I have the name of a lender willing to lend.  That is valuable information in this age of lender uncertainty.  Having something to offer an agent, giving them something-of-value after they have shown … (5 comments)