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New Year's Resolutions we can all keep

By
Real Estate Agent with Real Living At The Beach

Happy New Year!  

I think most of us are very happy to see the end of 2009, now onward and upward for 2010. 

Many of us are buys writing our New Year's resolutions and working on our business plan for 2010.  Let us start the new decade with a blank slate.  Forget about the sins and excesses of the past decade and start off a new. 

To help you start the new decade off on the right foot, let us take a look at some of the foolishness many of us committed in the past and vow never to do these things again:

  • I vow to read my listing word for word and try the map feature and test all the bells and whistles before posting it live on the MLS;
  • I vow to never post a photo of a dirty kitchen, messy bedroom or cluttered counters;
  • I vow to not post photographs of furniture unless they are part of the package;
  • I vow to keep my listing information accurate and up to date;
  • I vow to include accurate contact information in my listing;
  • I vow to return phone calls within 24 hours from clients and other agents;
  • I vow to thank agents for honest feedback about my listing;
  • I vow to keep my voice mail messages accurate;
  • I vow to be polite in my posts and comments on Activerain; and
  • I vow to refrain from "atta girl" posts and try to add something constructive rather than just running up my point total.
  •  Feel free to add more suggestions.  I assure you I will not be offended.   

    Comments (3)

    James Bath
    Gulf Shores Realty - Venice, FL
    REALTOR® , AHWD® , SRES® ,e-PRO®

    Every Post deserves a comment!!!  Cherry, your list is pretty basic, isn't it, but oh so real as so many of your resolves are broken often by all too many out there. Often it is the basic stuff that is skipped over, like saying your name clearly, enunciated and loud enough so that the new acquaintance has a chance of understanding and remembering it.  I think that your last one is long over-do in the "RAIN".  I call those "wonderful" comments little more than Copy-once

    and Paste-forever Point(less)makers!  

    Jan 05, 2010 10:42 AM
    Cherry Temple
    Real Living At The Beach - Myrtle Beach, SC

    Thanks for the response.  Sad but I've encountered all of these in the past couple of weeks.

    My business is in a very large geographic area and if I click on Map feature and end up miles away from the stated community or click on the Tax info and nothing comes up because the tax info is entered wrong,  Those are mistakes we can avoid by taking time before posting the listing and then checking it after it is posted.

    But what I cannot forgive are some of the photos and the lax attitude of some listing agents.  Why would anyone post a photo of a dirty kitchen?  I live in the south - I see a dirty kitchen and I think ROACHES!   Last week I was checking listings for a client and the agent had a great photo of a beautiful desk.  The listing didn't mention any furniture was included.  So why post a photo of the desk?  It wasn't as if the photo was taken from across the room to show the size, it was a closeup of the desk.

    Agents will have their out of office message on long after they return from vacation or the worst sin - not return my phone call.

    I've never under stood the "atta girl" posts.  Maybe one day someone will explain it to me. 

    Jan 06, 2010 12:58 AM
    William James Walton Sr.
    WEICHERT, REALTORS® - Briotti Group - Waterbury, CT
    Greater Waterbury Real Estate

    OMG, Cherry, your comment about the photos hit the nail on the head for me.

    I was going to post about one of my brokerages new listings, but I took a look at the pictures first.

    An absolute disaster, the house looked like inside. Bad thing about it? The listing wasn't from a fellow agent. Need I say more?

    And you're right, the resolutions you've posted are ones that all realtors should keep...

    Jan 15, 2010 12:54 AM