Referral Regrets

Have you ever been given a referral and been disappointed? Had any regrets that you had even asked for one? I visited with a friend who had bought a house outside of town, who had a couple of sore points from a real estate purchasing experience. One was of a poor referral experience and the other was due to poor communication. They were given a few referrals from their real estate agent of a particular professional service to choose from and from that list they selected what they thought was a trusted list of reliable, intelligent, and hardworking professionals who would protect their interest towards the purchase of their new home. Unfortunately the referral was soured by poor performance and a lack communication which appeared as a lack of due diligence. Whose fault was it?

Communication can become a problem when there is no trace of it, it becomes a "he said/she said" scenario, out of sight out of mind. If it isn't written it never existed. Our lives and our minds can become so encumbered with worries and tiredness, our brains bombarded with mass traffic of information, and our memory storage near empty, and in such circumstances it is best and sometimes necessary to have a system to help keep things clear, for us as well as for others, whose choices may affect ours. In a court of law, written communications are more reliable than verbal. Keep a communication log via email when you are purchasing real estate, verbalize it through email, confirm it through email, re-state verbal discussions and agreements through email, and consider keeping a journal. Get the idea?

Why take the chance for anything less than our very best effort. Be self reliant, avoid assumption by interviewing and researching those who have been referred to us and take upon ourselves the responsibility and consequences of our choices. Is your hard earned money important to you? If it is a resounding YES!, take the time to research and interview the professional services you plan to hire even if they are a list of referrals from trusted professionals, associates, the alluring advertisements, families, or friends; anything less than your best is left to chance, random outcomes, random quality.

Research it, document it.

Is your real esate agent driving you nuts?

An older lady came to me the other day asking about an ongoing sale contract with another firm. She, like many of us, is not familiar with legal contracts because they aren't an every day thing unless you work with them. The obvious question was why she wasn't going to her agent for such matters. Her response was that there was no communication between them as he seemed always in a hurry and curt in their brief interactions. She needed help but felt she was imposing when she wanted or needed help. Now that there was a viable offer she wanted to know what her options are. At present, there wasn't much that I could do to help her as it was an ongoing contract.

What do you do when your real estate agent isn't performing up to your expectations? First and foremost, you give them the-benefit-of-the-doubt, in other words you give them the opportunity to do better or tell them what you want/need done better. I believe most us when given the opportunity will raise to the occasion and do better. In any relationship, an open and healthy communication dispels a lot of fears. And second, if after all your efforts to communicate fails, discuss with your agent's broker - their "boss". Repeat good communication etiquette. If that fails, go higher up, the owner of the company or the franchise owner of the company, etc. And last, you have the option to release or fire your agent and/or broker.

When interviewing for your real estate agents, know and discuss your expectations and know your options. Do ask questions. It helps to protect your investment by asking questions, having knowledge will help keep you safe.

Visit my website at http://www.nwabode.com/ for real estate tips and news.