To Text or Not To Text ~ How Does Your Client Like to Communicate?
Communication is vital in the real estate business. There are certainly a lot of options - face-to-face, office phone, cell phone, email, mail, fax and texting.
It is important to establish upfront what method of communication a seller or buyer prefers to use. On a recent transaction, I probably texted with my buyer client 90% of the time. She doesn't get email on her phone and she rarely checks her email on her pc. She specifically asked that I text her unless the messages were very long or critical.
A few days ago I was trying to get in touch with a client who wanted to see a house at 5:30. I made the appointment, called him (as he had asked me to yesterday) left a message and heard nothing back. I called again at 4:45 and did reach him.
He said while working he cannot talk on his cell but could check text messages and would I PLEASE text him moving forward. By the way, he had to reschedule. I texted him the confirmation, and he acknowledged right back within a minute. No problem. Works for me!
It's important to decide at the onset what method of communication works for both parties. It doesn't matter how you and a client communicate. It just needs to be mutually agreeable and acceptable.
With texting, it is important to ask before texting as the recipient may not have an unlimited texting plan and has to pay per message. 
Also, while I love texting, I do not recommend it for the important stuff like negotiating offers or getting acceptances of any kind. Switch over to email for that OR if something very important is texted, transfer the message to your email so you have an audit trail. Many phones do not have a text backup feature so you don't want to lose anything important.
Just a reminder, for your safety and the safety of others, DON'T EVER TEXT WHILE DRIVING. In CT and many other states, it is against the law...not to mention completely unsafe.
k. thx 4 reading. hav a gud dA. c U l8r.
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