Yes, experience is said to be the best teacher, for some learning from others and for some of us that would be learning for our ownself. Today I learned a very important lesson when dealing with another realtor in unfamilar territory. I was showing homes to a new client today and had already arrainged to pick up keys for several homes that had no lockboxes.(man I love those things). I drove an hour to the first stop to pick up key 1 for one home. Then went 15 more minutes down the road to realtor number 2 to pick up keys for their listings. Bam, Shock, "NO KEYS" and the office assistance had not even left my information for showing the listing. So I waited patiently while they took another 15 minutes of my time to set up the showing, and when all was done, still NO KEYS! I was told to go ahead and by the time I reached the property someone would have the doors unlocked. I left and went to the next town, another 20 minutes away, showed several homes with lock boxes and then came the ones with the keys. House number 1 with key number 1 did not open front doors! I had to travel out to the back and figure out they had given me a backdoor key and one garage key. Not good when the customer arrives at the same time you do? Well at least the home showed nice, even though I was not told the present owners were in the middle of moving out and there was a big mess. Anyway, back on the road to the next two homes with "keys". The next home was a pass from the driveway, as the customer did not want to live next to a grocery store that had its dumping section near the home. (Not mentioned anywhere in the listing notes, or by the agent), and before I even got back in the car, I received a call about the "house with the missing keys", they could not find them, so the neighbor had broken in the back door for them, to show the house. They were speaking loud enought the customer heard! Next we were given directions to show the home, and guess what? They sent us on a wild goose chase. Yes, how embarresing. I had lead my customer miles out of the way. I stopped the car and had to call their office to find out that the directions on the listing and the ones from their office were both wrong. Finally I was able to call and get the right directions from my husband of all people. Thank goodness for the computer!! We did travel to the home anyway and were in and out in less than 2 minutes. I understand houses are left empty, and housing situations on foreclosures, but this home smelled so bad, and at least someone could have cleaned a bit. Needless to say, out of 6 homes, only 3 showed well. The day ended with me traveling back to the other towns to deliver keys and to hear one agent tell me that "the home my client was interested in was priced at what the owner was only going to take, no lower offers period" and that was that. I got in my car, drove an hour back home, thinking all the way:
Mental Notes to Thyself:
Double check showing times and addresses
Locate Properties hours before showing times
Make sure the agency that has listing also has keys!!
Pack a map, or a mapping device would be handy.
A flashlight, because someone forgot to tell you there was no electric in the home.
If the agent your dealing with acts like they don't know anything, they probably really don't(sorry but today was an unbeliveable experience)
Don't forget to give the buyers a copy of the listing/a paper to take notes
Well another day in the backroads of Tennessee, and another wonderful day of experience, that has left this girl self taught once again.
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