Sometimes I wonder if home buyers realize how much they really don't know.
A home buyer without a real estate agent was interested in a home that had an offer being negotiated but was still showing as active on the MLS. As part of my marketing program, contact information for all calls on my St. Paul listings are kept in case something changes on the listing. If a change occurs each of the interested buyers or their agents receive a call to notify them of the change. This woman's response to my request for her information so I could make such a call was, "Why would I do that?" The professional me explained the reason above. The sarcastic me thought, "Well, duh. Are you interested in the house if the sale falls though? Do you want to know if it goes back on the market? Or would you rather I call the dozen other interested parties and get an offer and you never know about it?"
This "do it yourself" home buyer didn't know what she didn't know. She misunderstood what a REALTOR'S® job is. Her fear of using the services of a professional real estate agent was so great that she chose to possibly lose out on a very good house rather than let me know her contact info. Her number was on my caller ID. Did I write it down? No. It was obvious she thought she knew more about my job than I do and didn't want to deal with an agent. She told me she would keep an eye on the house. Now what good did that do her when there was no communication to the general public when the first buyer backed out and I called my list of contacts procuring a second buyer? She watched the house all right, but she didn't really see what happened. She lost the chance to be a contender for the house in the second go round probably because she mistrusted the real estate profession and didn't really understand what a REALTOR® does.
Comments