The Golden Rule Lives On: The Key to Success in Real Estate and in Life
Yep, it’s that time of year again.
The end of the year, time to reflect on the past year and set goals for the next one. No matter how much I analyze my real estate career: “Did I keep in touch with clients enough? Did I blog enough? How can I increase my online traffic? How many hits are my listings getting? How many leads am I converting,” etc. etc., I constantly am brought back to a loud voice in my spirit calling out “Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you.”
I started wondering: “Well, isn’t this overly religious? What does The Golden Rule really have to do with real estate?”
I did a little research and discovered that the meaning of “The Golden Rule” permeates nearly every culture and/or religion. http://www.diamondhelpers.com/loveandlife/famousquotes/goldenrule.shtml
So then I stepped back to REALLY chew on these words.
For those of you who haven’t read any of my articles previously, here are words you will hear me repeat often:
I’m a MOM FIRST.
So – I teach The Golden Rule repeatedly, almost on a daily basis to my two young sons.
But as a Realtor looking back on this year, and the 5 years before that too, it just KEEPS ringing true.
Here are some real estate examples:
1) When the animals need to be kenneled prior to a showing and your sellers are unavailable, do you zip right over to care for the animals, open windows, and prep the house to make it show better? Wouldn’t you love it if someone did that for you, if your house was on the market?
2) Your senior sellers in their 80′s have mobility and illness issues. Also, their home is listed with you but still smells like cigarette smoke, despite the fact that they had it professionally cleaned. Will you go over to their home daily and open windows, then shut them at night, for several days in a row in order to improve the home’s desirability
to buyers? Don’t you wish someone would do this for your elderly parents trying
to sell their home, if you lived hundreds of miles away?
3) When your first time homebuyers have been waiting nearly 6 months on a short sale, and they are in the thick of wedding planning and going on their honeymoon, suddenly the home goes off the market, headed for foreclosure. They are afraid it will go back on the market cheaper, as a foreclosure, while they are away, which adds additional stress to
all their other wedding planning. Do you call other brokers in your area,
especially the ones you know that handle the most foreclosures, until you find
the one with that address on their docket for upcoming listings? Will you hand
deliver to that agent a new contract, including preapproval letter and copy of
earnest money check, prior to your clients leaving the area, in order to give
them ultimate peace-of-mind that they are the buyers first in line on the dream
home they’ve been waiting for? Wouldn’t you want to fly off on your honeymoon
knowing, “Our Realtor has our back” ?
4) When you are going through an ugly divorce and short sale, it is often tough to want to get together to sign papers over and over again. One of you has internet, one of you doesn’t. You both have completely different work schedules. However you understand that time is of the essence in returning short sale paperwork to the bank and trying to
expedite the transaction so the buyer doesn’t lose interest and go away. Wouldn’t
you like a Realtor who’s committed to bringing you the paperwork, when scanning
and faxing just isn’t an option? Wouldn’t you like it, too, if your Realtor had
compassion for the emotions involved and would agree to meet each one of you
separately, and sign separately, and answer our questions separately sometimes? I
know I would like it if someone did that for me in that situation.
A genuine sense of connection with home buyers and home sellers is critical. For me, it’s not only necessary for my business, but for my conscience and spirit as well.
You may be a Realtor or you may not. However, as you head into 2012 and feverishly map out your own ”latest and greatest” business plan, trust the Golden Rule to help you succeed.
edrooms to the right and the large, private Master Suite to the left.
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