This story is about listing Daytona condo.
It started with a phone call. The guy on the other end has been reading my blogs on my website, and finally called.
We are chatting about life, real estate, Daytona condos. He throws a list of criteria at me (nearly killing me :), I come up with a list of condos, he calls back, we narrow it down even further.
He is 3 hour-drive from Daytona, and wanted to come on Monday and look at some condos. Monday is a good day to show condos, as managers are at work, and this helps getting into the building, as agents often offer only a key from the unit. We are showing 5 condo unit. Making calls, getting codes, making arrangements with agents.
One of the condos is listed by an Orlando brokerage. Calling the agent. She tells me that she would come on Saturday. Looks like we do not have a good chance of showing the condo there. I normally try to keep cool, but here I asked the agent why she even took the listing, which is close to 100 miles away.
She is upset with me. Tells me that this listing is not for my convenience, it is for her convenience. The idea that it is not seller’s convenience does not cross the agent’s mind.
She tells me that if we have a serious buyer, s/he would come on Saturday. She said at the beginning she used to come several times a week, when there were requests, but it is far, so now she is coming one day a week.
The whole thing sounds as if I have to understand her situation. But I don’t. I understand the situation that I have. My customer, like 99% of other condo buyers, does not live in Daytona. And no, they are not going to come on Saturday simply because it is inconvenient for the agent to come any other day.
I understand that this is a heretic thought, but to come on Saturday is inconvenient for my customer. The agent is asking whether I have a problem coming on Saturday.
No, I do not have a problem. The only problem is that I am not buying this condo, so whether I could come or not is irrelevant. The Buyer with a checkbook in his pocket is not coming on Saturday.
Yeah, call him stubborn…
She promised that she would call the CAM (Condo Association Manager), who should be there until 4, to be there at the time we specified.
We the specified time we are at the door of the condo building. There is also another real estate agent with a customer, who came to show the same unit. Manager is not answering the phone; she is not in the building. It is brutally hot, uncomfortable and soon we give up and get into a car and drive to another condo, which is, luckily, listed by a local agent, so we have the key.
I bet you the Seller does not even know what is happening, and since COE protects the Agent, the Seller would never know that.
