How I Built The Most Viral Real Estate Brand On Facebook (From My Couch)
Fair Warning: This story isn’t exactly short. BUT… if you stick with me til the end, AND you’re a real estate agent, you’ll receive a
Two-Timing Homebuyer Gets Busted!
Two-Timing Homebuyer Gets Busted!
I had a relocation client referred to me. He came alone and said he was currently working in town, but that his wife was back home taking care of kids. I picked him up at his short term residency. He got in the car said, “This is your lucky day. I need 2 houses!” Wow awesome! “Yes.” he said, “One for my girlfriend and one for my wife and kids. Once they get settled in, I am getting divorced and moving in with my girlfriend.”
I wanted to kick him out out of my car right then. I still ended up showing him houses that weekend. The next weekend, he brought his wife. The following weekend, he brought his girlfriend. The weekend after that, he informs me his wife found out about everything and he is in deep trouble. He said he’s going into a rental and I never heard from him again. Thank God!
Drunk Neighbor Keeps Blocking the Sale
My first few months in real estate I came across what could have been a very dangerous situation. I went alone to preview a home in a not so good neighborhood (certainly not the worst neighborhood in our area) for an out-of-state client. She wanted me to send her pictures of the home.
I made the appointment and arrived at the home with camera in hand. I noticed two gentleman sitting on the front porch of the home next door who seemed to be having a friendly conversation. I used my electronic key to enter the home and locked the door behind me as I always did. Moments later I heard a loud banging on the door and a man yelling to open up and asking what I was doing there. It was the neighbor.
I thought that if I opened the door and explained to him that I was a real estate agent and had permission to be there everything would be all right. After all, he was threatening to call the cops. As soon as I opened the door I realized my mistake. I should have talked to him through the door and if that didn’t work I should have called the police myself. He was the neighbor and one of the gentleman sitting on the front porch when I arrived. He was also very drunk.
As soon as I opened the door he pushed his way in and questioned me about my presence there. He didn’t believe my story of why I was there. He said he was worried I was trying to rob the place and was looking out for his neighbors. I had to give him my business card and show him my electronic key and explain that only real estate agents have these keys and that’s how we can get into the houses. Thankfully he calmed down.
He decided then that he wanted to “sell” the house for the neighbors. He walked through every room in the house pointing out what he thought were the features and made sure I took pictures of everything. I tried to usher him into the rooms first but he kept saying “after you” and “ladies first”. I didn’t want to irritate him so I obliged which I realized later could have been really bad. I breathed a huge sigh of relief once we finally made it outside.
I locked up the home, got in my car, drove away and promptly called the listing agent. He told me that this neighbor is the reason they can’t sell the house and that he does that with everyone. They ended up taking it off the market and renting it out. This could have been so much worse. I could have lost my life that day. Not to mention the liability of allowing someone into the home who didn’t have permission to be there.
It’s easy to point out someone’s mistakes when you are not in the middle of that situation. It’s not so easy to admit the mistakes you have made and learned from.
Famous Client?
One of my clients looks exactly like Jay Leno. There was a big party at the airport to celebrate the arrival of Southwest Airlines to our town and the wife of the Jay Leno “look-a-like” asked me to take “Jay” to the party. We spent the day with locals taking photos with “Jay”. They were impressed he was in town for the celebration. Neither one of us had the heart to tell these sweet people he was not “Jay”. We both smiled and knew he had brought a smile to several people that day.
Sneaky Husbands Know How to Clean a House
A seller’s wife seemed very upset. When I asked her about it, she said she was angry about all the cancelled showings. The thing is there were no showings to begin with. We ending up finding out her husband would tell her there were showings, just to get house clean.
You Called Me at 6am on Sunday For THAT?
At 6AM on a Sunday, a seller called me to complain that the real estate sign was crooked in her yard. True story.
