This month, the ActiveRain challenge is about thankfulness as is typical with our November challenges. Our host, Lynn B. Friedman CRS Atlanta, GA 404-617-6375 has indicated we can share someone's thankfulness FOR us, or our thankfulness for someone else. Specifically, someone who may have been helpful in our real estate role. My first post focused on an attorney I met while taking real estate courses. This post focuses on my gratitude for people who were not so helpful.
Huh? What am I talking about?
Specifically, I am grateful for:
1) The first seller I ever worked with.
I took my own photos, wrote my description, (good enough for her to say, "Wow, if I didn't already live here, I'd want to!"), went through all the questions for the actual listing, got the forms signed, and listed that house. It expired without selling. Why? Because I ignored all the signs she was giving that she probably didn't actually want to sell.
She turned down almost every single request for showings, refused to leave when she did allow a showing, shared information with the intent to scare off buyers ("there's a bear that has pulled the drainpipe out of the lawn"), wouldn't do any of the maintenance, etc. I am thankful to her for all the lessons she taught me so I would not take another listing with a seller who didn't want to sell.
2) The first buyer(s) I fired.
This couple wanted to purchase a home; I showed them quite a few that met their needs. The problem came from their lack of respect with my knowledge. You see, they lived in a nearby state which had a totally different process for buying real estate than the state they were trying to purchase a home in. To make matters more complicated, they had several real estate friends in the other state who were telling them how things should be going, and what I should be doing as their agent.
The buyers' friends were wrong as they were in a title company state and I was in an attorney state. The who-does-what in each state was totally different. And no matter what I shared about how we should be operating, and what our next steps should be, the buyers refused to listen. After we obtained an agreed upon offer for a particular house, they decided I was STILL not doing what I was "supposed" to be doing and when that deal fell through before a contract was signed, I fired them. I am thankful to them for giving me clues on what types of language/signs I should avoid in future buyers. I had much better luck with other buyers after that.
3) The first brokerage I worked in.
The company I picked as a new agent was one that rewarded top performers with things like personalized attention and leads and did not do the same with new agents.
For example, I, as a new and low performing agent, would make an appointment to speak with my manager, the appointment would be confirmed, and on the day of the appointment I would show up at the office, and would be greeted with, "oh, she decided not to come to the office today and I'm sure such-and-such can help instead." Well, such-and-such is not who I needed to speak with. That was disrespectful behavior.
Or new agents would come into the office to work "floor time" but when leads for listings walked in or called in (more likely), those leads would go to the agents who already had a full plate of listings.
Or a long-time agent and a new agent might both have a death in the family at the same time. The long-time agent got calls, flowers, notices, visits. The new agent would be ignored.
So why would I be thankful to that company? Because my experiences there taught me how a broker and/or supervising broker should NOT act. It also helped me decide to provide my assistance to new agents whenever I could. And it led me to find much better sources of information and assistance. And of course, it eventually made me realize I needed to be working with a better brokerage. And it made me be sure to tell agents who were looking for a new brokerage where NOT to work.
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The point of this month's challenge is thankfulness for helpfulness, but I think it's just as important to be thankful for those who were less than helpful. They can teach us much.
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