Time is not of the essence

In real estate, agents rush. But patience and a personal investment of time are beneficial attributes of both agents and sellers. 

As they say on the roads, speed kills. 

To the frustration of many agents who have come with me to an appraisal, you have to forgo schedules. Leave the phone. Don’t look at your watch. Don’t have an appointment booked in to rush to. You don’t need to tick boxes in the appraisal. You need to be fully, truly present and just go with the flow. Many agents think you’ve got to get in and get out, say some key phrases, list your CV. But if you spend the time, even if you don’t get the gig, they do eventually become clients. The time spent has to be fluid, not rigid. 

Build the bridges. 

Yesterday I spent nearly an hour on the phone with a lady for whom I have just sold a house. It was her home: huge, beautiful and now sold. Today, she’s very frustrated because she can’t find the right property to buy and stock is tight. 

I had recommended downsizing from her sizable home to something off-the-plan, something modern and functional, but she was adamant she wanted a freestanding home which is hard to secure in this market. So, in the midst of her frustration, I told her to grab some butcher’s paper and write down all the ‘fors’ and ‘againsts’ for apartment-living versus house-living with the non-variable being her current lifestyle.

Doing this exercise over the phone together, she started to see a different picture. And then I told her to do the same exercise from scratch with her husband when he got home. “See where that takes you”. You should have heard her palpable relief on the phone: to know that there were several great options available to her. 

I explained some of my ‘for’ and ‘against’ points. 

1. The reality is, I said, that if they buy off the plan when the apartment is built they might decide they want to sell it for a profit or use it as an investment property, or (as I suspect) they might fall in love with the convenience and simplicity of luxury apartment living. 
2. “You are travelling for roughly three out of every six weeks,” I said, “When are you really at home?” They have grandkids across the globe, you see. “You need to look at the logic of this. There’s emotion attached to the large space that was your home, but you don’t truly need a house. Instead, if you look into a great apartment where you want to be based, you’ll find new lifestyle benefits. You’ll go down the street and have coffee with friends, you’ll play bridge, you’ll run, you’ll eat out all the time. You think a house needs an expansive kitchen, but your lifestyle doesn’t warrant it. Then at the end of the week you’ll get on a plane and fly out. It’ll be so easy.”
3. She had wanted a freestanding house with a pool. “The maintenance! When you’re overseas and something breaks, who looks after it for you?” I asked. 

Yes, to have this level of lifestyle-centric, personal conversation you have to have a real curiosity and interest in your client’s life to have the insight to make these comments, to be so forthright.

And to have the approval to speak so liberally, you have to have invested time.  I spent the time to understand what she was thinking, where her head was at. You can’t do that without giving people time, and being totally present. I didn’t have to help these people choose a new home, I’d already sold their house. But I know they’ll love this new lifestyle. I care. They could absolutely go and buy another big freestanding house, and they might, but I can help them see alternatives and remove some of the stress.. 

Patience pays. 

When I was starting out, like many agents, I was super hungry. Aggressive even. You have different expectations as a new agent. Chasing, chasing, chasing. It’s quite thrilling. That’s not to say I’m not hungry today but it’s more passive, and it’s more comfortable for me and I assume for my clients too. 

Dealing with desperate people creates problems, whether it’s the agent or the vendor. For agents, that chase creates desperation and desperation is a real flow-disruptor. The minute you find yourself dealing with a desperate person, I can guarantee that even the simple stuff goes wrong. Desperate vendors, for instance, will want to start really drilling you on commission, debating the advertising. They’re trying to save money on the short end instead of earning money on the long end. These days I push back on some of those clients, which pays dividends for me. I feel good about being in a position to do that, if they don’t want to follow the process and can’t demonstrate patience, they’re not the client for me. Then, inevitably they sell and you often watch them sell for a lot less than they had wanted. But if they could be more patient, it may have paid off. I appreciate that sometimes their personal finances don’t allow the luxury of patience. 

When vendors are in that scenario, a great agent will go to the nth degree to help find them a remedy: finance support, wealth advice. It helps to have life experience, so that you can share with them what you’ve learned on their side of the table, as a seller. People don’t always want to listen, either.  And that’s fine, you won’t always get the perfect storm. 

At your next vendor meeting, I challenge you to wipe any other appointments booked after, leave your phone in the car and listen for as long as it takes. Like I said, patience pays, speed kills.