I'm going to talk about on-line lead generation systems in this post. Regardless of whether you like them or hate them, they do place you in contact with people.
The lower level of inventory we have in our area has created an interesting situation. How is it possible for prices to remain as weak as they are and yet properties sell so quickly?
This poses an interesting problem when working with buyers. We've been getting a lot of leads from various on-line systems lately and the buyers are having a tough time grasping the fact that the house they initially inquired about through the lead system is already sold. I'm sure that some of them think that I'm just placing listings that have sold out there in order to capture leads.
I've tried various ways to explain and apparently my efforts have worked because I often get a response and sometimes that ends up as a sale. So, in general, I'm somewhat in favor of on-line systems. I've also gotten a number of complaints from people who have found their house apparently advertised for sale on the system when they've purchased it years ago and have no intention of placing it on the market. I can usually deflect their ire by explaining that my ad just appears at random and they need to contact the agent who had the house listed when they bought it and ask them to take the listing out of the system.
Generally, systems that are fed directly by the MLS don't pose such a problem. However, sometimes you get a response from someone who has an adjenda other than finding a house. I offer the following email transcript for your entertainment. It has been strategically edited to remove all traces of identity.
I received this lead from RE/MAX.Com:
This email is to inform you that the contact below has been assigned to you. They submitted the "Sign Up" form requesting more information.
Contact Details:
Full Name : ------------ ----------------
Phone :
Email : -------------------@-------------------
City :
Company : Regarding : Sign Up
Notes: SignUp : IDXPhotoRef: 1 ImageThumbNailID: 1 Listing Type: Single Family State: FL City: ------ SpecialFilter:
Time : ----------------
So far, so good. I responded as follows:
On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Eric Martell wrote:
Hi -----------,
I received your RE/MAX sign-up info below. How can I help?
Regards,
Eric
This usually is as much of a response that I'll give when the inquiry has been so generic. I don't know about you, but I don't have time to create a dissertation for absolutely every email lead. If the lead responds back with specific information, then I'll go to the extra work to look up potential properties and whatever... Anyway, this time the person's response was a little unusual and, I felt, very entertaining:
I'm really interested in the house at
#### xxxxxx St., City Name, FL Zipcode $Price
and i'm working on getting the money to buy it and move into it when i get all the money and i have plenty of ideas to fill the land of about 734 football fields worth of land i'm planning on sports fields, private gym, swimming pool, private theater, all my future company buildings and much more! i'm planning on getting married in July on the 9th 2012! so i'm just getting the money together and trying to get into real estate myself and i have a few companies i'm trying to get to be able to work with and if your hiring when i get down there even though i have no real estate working experience i would probably consider it! and if possible if your company is hiring and like me i would like to work from home because ill have a new wife and son after July 7th! and i dont want to have to leave her alone because she is moving from another country to the USA to be with me!
How could I resist hiring someone like that? Wow! I have no idea what qualifications they have other than an overactive imagination about how to apply for a job and possibly a very positive attitude about their potential. I do admire their enthusiasm and wish them the best of luck in getting "all the money." I hope they'll still consider working with me when they receive it.
I especially like the idea of working in real estate from home. My buyers would really enjoy showing themselves through properties while I relaxed at home. Now, if I could just figure out how to do that myself...
Namaste!
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