A Week in Realty Reality

For a real estate agent, the weekly routine can be anything but. Here’s a sampling of the many tasks I undertook for my business and my clients in a recent week:

Held Open Houses on my current listings for Coldwell Banker’s 10 Day Sale.

The 10 Day Sale was created by Coldwell Banker to demonstrate how serious we are about home ownership as the keystone to personal wealth. For ten days, selected listings were offered at a discount from their listing price. It’s an awesome window of opportunity for people who might have thought they might have missed their chance to own a home.

Experienced good traffic, i.e., 10 buying groups for my property in Potomac

Even with today’s uncertain climate, good listings attract lots of attention. Ten different groups toured my property in Potomac, and two of them expressed interest. So that’s a full 20% of the individuals who visited.

Arranged for the local paper, the Potomac Gazette, to run a featured listing article for next week

Every week, I’m in the market for another venue where I can profile the homes I have to offer and the services I provide. This week, it’s the [NAME OF PUBLICATION], a [WEEKLY?] home buyers often use to suss out the market.

Received an offer on one of my listings

Receiving an offer doesn’t always mean the finish line is in sight! In this case, the price was less than what the sellers were looking for; but all other terms were very solid. Managing expectations and delivering a deal that both sides can agree to is critical at this stage. The sellers are thinking it over, and will respond within 48 hours.

Looking for Sellers to add to my listings, as well as Buyers for my current listings

I want to be as selective as possible in the listings I actively represent. This means taking steps well beyond maintaining information in the Multiple Listing Service. Meeting Sellers, talking to them about their expectations, and yes, actually visiting a property before showing it, are literally all in a day’s work.

Presented a Letter of Intent for a Buyer to a Seller

Another offer. Unfortunately, the Buyer has an unrealistic view of the decline in prices, and only offers $600,000 on a $1.9 million dollar home. While the market is down about 10% in the last year. Buyers need to remain realistic about the price they to offer.

The economic forecast and the daily news are not a help to my clients or my prospects

No matter what the economic news is, people need homes, and so my job also includes finding ways to make that purchase realistic. I have strong relationships with lenders and brokers, and together we work to put my Buyers in homes that they can afford as well as cherish. I focus my efforts on positive thinking and positive actions. I cannot personally change the news, but I can affect how I react to it, and thereby how people around me react to it, too.

Heard a great saying: “Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. Life is about learning how to dance in the rain.”

I’m excited, because since I was a child, I have been trained how to dance: ballet, tap and toe. Bring on the rain!