It's Not Personal, It's Business

For me this is not how I work and yet I have to remember that while real estate is personal it is also a business. What could be more personal than helping a young couple find their new home to start a family. Or perhaps helping an elderly couple downsize from the home where they raised their family and now while still active they go into a more modest one story home. All of our clients have different stories. However, recently down here in Frisco where the market is simply crazy I have to tell myself, it's not personal, it's business.

Real Estate Is Personal

Real estate is so personal that many agents working in certain situations will have sleepless nights and bad dreams. Let me explain. My client is a wonderful mother of a sweet little girl. They chose me to list their home and I was honored. She was a dream of a client. She knew how to stage her home as she was an interior designer/decorator. She listened to suggestions and made things happen. In less than a week we had the photographs taken and within 10 days we listed her house. So far, so good.

Due to the market and the area, we started it on the higher end of the CMA. It listed during the afternoon of yet another Frisco snowstorm. Since her child was home she was unable to show it that Thursday. However, she was not home on Friday, Saturday or Sunday as  the home was booked for showings non-stop. Over 30 showings during the three days ending in an open house on Sunday that was more like hosting a crowded party.

The results were excellent. Well over half a dozen offers with only one below list price. We were lucky as most of the offers were from professional Realtors®. They asked their buyers to write letters explaining how they fell in love with the house and could see themselves raising their family and letting the dog run in the back yard. How they found out they were having a baby. These are real people with real families just trying to purchase the right home for them to start a new life in my client's beautiful home. How can you not be impacted by these stories.

This is when as an agent you have to try to remember it is business, not personal. It can be difficult to separate yourself as you listen to agents explaining their client's situation. They make an offer and the clients include a personal letter to the seller. I actually met some of them as they came to the open house. They were all wonderful people who I would have loved to assist. I had to keep telling myself, I work for one seller. Remember this is a business deal, it is not personal.

What Is My Seller's Priority

When I first spoke to my client the focus was on how she needed to clear as much as possible as they were moving out of state to start a new life of their own. Money was very important. As her realtor it is my job to make sure I do what is best for her. I shared with her all of the offers in their entirety. She was very touched by several of the stories. I told her to sleep on it and we could review them again the next day. That night I took the four top offers she wanted to consider and laid them out a spreadsheet that I use to negotiate offers and show the impact on the net sheet.

Isolating The Emotions

The next day I could show her the actual offers and review the importance of each aspect of the offer as well as the finances of the offer. I did not want her to focus on the stories because her priority had to be taking care of her little girl. After a review of the offers, she made her decision and we pursued that offer. In this case it was not either of the young couples but a very strong offer from a recently divorced woman. Everything went well even with a slight scare of the house not appraising. It did and we closed.

Personal and Professional

She was grateful and happy. I was happy for her but I also had to call each of the three agents whom she did not select and tell them the sad news that their clients were not going to get the home they wanted. For some of these buyers it was the fourth and fifth home they lost out on in this crazy market. I wanted to call each because for me that is a more personal way to let another agent, who worked hard for their clients, know we appreciated the offer. Sure I could have sent an email and that would have informed them but for me this is personal, not just business.

However, my first focus and fiduciary responsibility is to my client. When I had to evaluate the offers it had to be business, not personal. My client appreciated my hard work. She now knows like my other clients that when you work with me—Your Success is My Focus.