Would You Do The Same?

Answering all of your phone calls is always an interesting experience.  You never know who you’ll find on the other end of the line.  Could be a disgruntled agent, it could be an old friend, it could be a new buyer or seller, basically it could be great or horrible, you just never know till you answer the phone.

So guess what happened the other day?

I missed a call.  It went to voicemail.  At the other end of the line was this frail crackled voice.  I couldn’t understand it too well so I called back, uncertain of who it was.

I found myself on the other end of the line with a gentleman who’s wife passed away 2 years ago at the age of 93.  Wow!  He had seen some pictures of one of my properties on the Internet and liked the pictures (thank God for my photographer:))

He informed me that he is ill and wanted me to list his San Diego real estate with his trustee (his niece) and liquidate it for her since both he and she had no family left. 

We only spoke for  a few minutes and he informed me that he was going to send over my contact info to the trustee so we could list the house.  I stopped him and said, “You know, we’ve never met, do you mind if I bring you some coffee and chat?”

I felt like this would be a fair thing to do.  I mean, my photographer may take phenomenal pictures, but with all the horror stories of real estate agents out there being “used car salesmen,” coupled with the fact that he didn’t even know me is a little worrying.

I could have been the most crooked agent in town, I could have been an ex-serial killer,  I could have been mentally unstable, I could have only sold that one house in my lifetime, I could have…..you fill in the blank.

Point being, I want you to care about who you trust with hundreds of thousands of dollars.  In this case, it was me, not a serial killer.  It was me, an agent that grew a team in the toughest market anyone I know has ever worked in.  It could have been worse.

Ask your real estate agent how many homes they’ve sold this year, how long they’ve been in the business, and definitely discuss marketing, those picture won over someone’s trust.

In this case I was graced with a new listing albeit with not the happiest health situation.  Sometimes that is what we have to do, deal with the tough situations and make them better for people to the best of our abilities.