It's Saturday night and I just got paid.........$$$.....that little jingle is what all of us are hoping for when we make a sale. Today I should be singing this..... with 5 purchase offers going at the same time, and 5 counters, you would think there would be a dollar at the end of this, but I'll never see a penny :)
So, why would I have 5 contracts and 5 counters and NOT get paid....I am a Broker.....I take my responsibility seriously, and I have Integrity. I want all my agents to be the best that they can be.....so when they are representing their clients that they will not only give them good personal service, but also have a sense of self worth by knowing they can handle any situation.
Very recently, probably about a week now, my daughter, Corina McGraw, joined our team. Remember when we took our Real Estate exams.....we memorized......and if we took classes, again we memorized, and we filled out our contracts for the course. But what about your "First Client." Remember that one.......I do, and I laugh every time.....it was a purchase agreement for vacant land. I was so proud; I hid my jitters, and tried to go slow enough not to miss anything, yet fast enough that the client wouldn't need to move into a 55+ community by the time I was done.....
I had to write the contract on those old forms from the Board, the 4 or 5 copy carbon ones, the ones without any blue highlighted boxes that the on-line Winforms gives you :) Anyway, I got it all filled out, the client was very gracious and signed it......Great, my first one done. Wrong.......
I don't remember if it was right away, or after I presented it to the other Agent.........but I had put my name WITH the Buyers, as a Principal, to buy the property.......oh god, where can I hide. I wanted to die of embarrassment, and of course I had to fix it. I messed up, and it was my responsibility to take responsibility.
I called my client and told her what had happened.....it went something like this:
Me: Hi Patricia- this is Kathy McGraw. I have some bad news for you, we have to redo your contract.
Patricia: Why, what's wrong......
Me: Oh it's nothing major -unless you want me to own the property with you .....
I then told her I had put my name on the wrong line, and that made me a co-buyer.....We both got a laugh out of it, but I will never forget my embarrasement.
So, back to the 5 contracts and 5 counters. These are a training tool I decided to use. I would give the agents one of my listings to write an offer, then I would counter them back. They have deadlines, today was the deadline for me to receive the offers, tomorrow they would get them back..........talk about a lot of work!!!!!! This is in addition to my Active Rain Blogging, taking pictures of my community this morning, going to the office, and working on a new listing.......but I had already told them to do it, so I have to follow through......:(
Now back to our newest Agent, .....last night she calls me at 10:30 PM. Did you get my contract?' What, it's 10:30 at night.........I come to find out she not only took her assignment seriously, but she wrote her 2nd Post here on AR about it: If you want a newbies perspective check this out...it's funny.She's also new to AR....WELCOME CORINA.
Winforms, Kids, and Active Rain...............Where's the Beach?!?! :-)
I found this out after she insisted I go check my fax for her offer :) New agents..............what would you do without them :) :) Reading her Post I had a renewed appreciation of the Excitement of being new, the challanges, and the desire to do a good job.
Jim Crawfordwrote 2 great Blog Posts:
Real Estate Brokers Need to Be Invloved with New Agents | Have Real Estate Brokers Become Recruiters Only? | Real Estate Training and another one What was the real estate agent thinking when they wrote this contract?
I like to share not only the wealth, but the blame as well.....so, all you agents that had to submit offers and counters, you can go thank Jim or Corina.........Jim for his great Posts, and Corina because.....well because......because I don't want her or any other Agent to make the same mistakes i made.
Experience truly is the best Teacher.......
By: Kathy McGraw CELLing Realty
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