People can be so territorial. In some ways, being protective can be a good thing, like when neighbors put up fences to keep their pets and children safe within their own yard. There's nothing offensive about that.
I live in a small town where people are still kind and civil to one another. It's like the good ole' days when neighbors shared milk and sugar over the fence post. Yep, those were happy days. However, even in a small town, people can act like dogs pissing on a fire hydrant, staking their claim and protecting their territory.
Recently, I procured a sizeable sale in the next County over. As part of my due diligence, I called my 'local' Title Company to request a profile of the property, which includes basic tax info, plat map, aerial photo, etc. The Title Co. I typically use (who is always so helpful) explained they didn't have access to the tax information in the next County over, so they encouraged me to call the Title Co. located in that small town, which I did.
The next call went like this... Hi, my name is Melinda and I'm a Broker with Real Estate Cafe and I'd like to request a Property Profile for .... The gal responded, "We don't provide that information to 'outside' companies." Huh? Then I asked... "May I pay for the profile?" The response again was "No." Finally, I asked... "If I open escrow with your company, would you provide the information then?" She said yes.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, the Manager of my friendly, neighborly, local Title Co. (the one I typically do business with) also placed a courtesy call to the 'other' Title Co. and requested to speak with the Manager to ask for a property profile on my behalf. The 'other' Manager said... "it's our sandbox, and we don't have to play nice... we're the only game in town... and that's that" (paraphrase). I guess his answer was a big fat "No" with an exclamation point!
In that moment, I remembered a movie, Miracle on 34th Street, and the part where Kris Kringle (Santa) was so helpful in referring Macy's customers to other stores to find certain products that Macy's didn't have (who doesn't love a helpful Santa?). Macy's ultimately turned Santa's goodwill efforts into a wonderful marketing campaign... "If we don't have it, we'll find it for you."
Seems to me... the Manager of the 'other' Title Co. should stop pissing on his fire hydrant and take a cue from Santa and my friendly, neighborly, local Title Co. Just sayin' ;-)
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