Believe it or not, I feel deeply about giving our best to the people who entrust us with their real estate deals (both buyers and sellers) and believe that every one of you wants to do a fine job too. If I didn’t believe this about you, you would not be licensed to our company. I would say that the first quality I am interested in in an agent isn’t smarts, cleverness, real estate savvy: it’s decency. All of you are good, decent, intelligent people and I am proud to be associated with you.
I want to make your calls for guidance as productive (and brief) as possible. I know that by the time you call me you are concerned, possibly a bit upset, about some aspect of a transaction that seems to be getting ready to implode. OK. However, I’ve been doing this job for quite a while now and I can assure you most of the problems that crop up can and will be smoothed out and handled (eventually).
The one thing you can do for both of us to make your calls for guidance worthwhile is simple: when an issue comes up that you are not sure how to handle, before you call me, take a bit of time to review the facts regarding the deal so that you can coherently and intelligently answer the questions that anyone trying to assist you will have to ask. In almost all cases, this means: Read and review the contract [or Memo to Lease, Lease, Listing…whatever].
A typical unproductive call goes something like this:
Agent: “You know my deal at the So-and-So [insert name of condo here], there are some broken electrical fixtures and now the buyer says he won’t close until they are fixed…what do I do?”
Ruth: “Is this an as-is sale?”
Agent: “Well…the Seller’s agent says he doesn’t have to fix anything but my buyer is insisting…“
Ruth: “Is this an as-is sale?”
Agent: “There was a puddle on the floor and the dog slipped on it and when he did he pulled the light cord out of the wall and…“
Ruth: “Is this an as is sale?”
Well, you get the point. The first thing you need to do in order to get meaningful help is to take a few minutes with the documents relating to the transaction or issue that has you worried. Look over the [contract, listing, lease, memo] and decide:
- Do you have a fully executed contract, in writing? You’d be surprised how often agents don’t really know the answer to this. Obviously it matters very much when something is going wrong, if both parties are legally bound to fulfill the transaction. Review it carefully, do you have all the pages, do you have all the required signatures, do you have all the initials of all parties?
- If answer to #1 is yes, then determine: What is the effective date of the contract? (You can’t answer most questions without knowing this, since almost all of the common calls have to do with the timing of events in some way or other.)
- Then read and review the section of the contract [or Memo, Lease, Listing] that describes the way your issue is to be handled. What does it say? Not “What do they “all” say, what does this particular document say?
Now, with luck, you can probably answer the question yourself. At least, you ought to be able to express a reasoned opinion about how you believe it should be handled and have a sane discussion about it with a third party [like me, the other agent, the Seller, an attorney…whoever]. - If you have done all of these things, then please call me.
Generally speaking, I will need to review the actual document with you to get a correct answer. I often end up asking agents to read me the relevant text on the phone so I know what we’re talking about. Sometimes I will have a copy faxed to me so I can give you an intelligent reply instead of shooting from the hip. I’ve learned the hard way that this is the only approach that makes sense. Here’s why:
- I want you to develop professionally and you will not learn your trade if you think the small handful of documents that we deal with in this business are just so many incomprehensible voodoo totems written in Greek or something. They are agreements between people and are written in plain English. I have not seen any documents we work with that are written in “lawyerese”, no “party of the first part” etc.
- Even if you think you can function in this business without knowing exactly what it is they agreed to do, that’s your problem and time will cure it. However, I am not psychic, I need to know what the document says before I can help you implement it.
- Someone else will have read it and will expect that the covenants in it will be adhered to. He/She will ultimately prevail and I want that person to be you. Knowledge is power.
I want to help you and enjoy answering questions, but I need your help and input in order to assist you in interpreting the situation. If you know your transactions, you will find that I can give you a lot of help. All I ask is that you start by reviewing the actual facts first so that we can talk productively.