REALTOR Safety

I received a phone call this week from someone asking for more information about a house we have listed.  After chatting for a few minutes, I found that he was looking at houses with a bunch of different agents, was not approved for a mortgage and would not give me his contact information.  Instead, he told me “I just want to see the house.  When can you meet me?”

On the heels of the murder of a real estate agent in Ohio and all of the reminders about Realtor Safety Month, my radar for crazy was dinging so loudly that I about jumped out of my chair.  Needless to say, I wasn’t about to just drop everything to run out and meet this guy.

He was not happy and hung up in a huff.  Since no one else has called to schedule a showing of that particular property, I assume that he couldn’t find another agent who was willing to do it either.

Here’s the thing…I have a duty to the seller to get their home in front of as many buyers as possible.  I also have a duty to my client to accommodate reasonable requests for appointments and to try to sell their home in the quickest amount of time with the least amount of stress to them – including verifying that people we are showing their home to are actually qualified to buy.  Crazy policy, huh?

I do not, however, have a duty to jump up like a pop-tart and run out to vacant homes to meet strangers who may or may not be qualified to buy a house and are, in some cases, just plain old creepy or scary.

Heck, even if you’ve been referred to me by someone I already know, I’m going to spend some time discussing financing, your budget, your wants and your needs – before we ever set a time to view a property.

If you are serious about buying a home, please give us a call.  We have a fun and fantastic team that has helped people buy and sell hundreds of properties in the New Orleans area.  We just want to get to know each other before we go on that first date.