Early this month I closed 2 condo deals back to back in two fridays. It was great to start a month like this one. Actually I wasn’t really expecting these deals to happen. Meaning, I wasn’t working with the client or something for months. It just came to me to start with from nowhere a month ago. On the day when we got our new van delivered, I got a call from a person who told me that he found me over the internet. He asked to help him out listing his property at Clearlake. I was so occupied with our new Honda Odyssey delivered by the delearship, I decided to call him back later so I can talk to him more in detail.

I called him after few hours and talk to him about his willingness to work with me. He said, he came across my name and profile when he was searching for a smart, honest realtor who can take this right on and roll with it. His google criteria somehow pulled my website and he get to learn about me and my background. He was so impressed, he decided to call me up and ask to list his property. He mentioned that he actually approached few realtors earlier in that area from reputed companies but nobody bothered to take it since it is condo property. In this current economy, selling a condo is not easy one when single families are selling for cheap. But they didn’t realize it all depends on the location. Clearlake is a vibrant community with college grads going to UH of Clearlake.

At first I never thought I would work with him but finally ended up listing his property. Within few weeks, we got our first offer and sold for that buyer within a month and half. From this transaction, I took away couple of strong messages/lessons. Let me phrase them from the perspective of both realtor and consumer.

For Realtors
During the conversation, he also mentioned he wanted to buy a new home near Spring area. So its kinda of a two deal from one customer but I still hesitated to take the listing. Because it is going to be a long drive from my Northwest Houston, around 70 miles two way. I know many realtors drive to very far to get their client but I set my mind not to do it and wanted to specialize in my area. I also didn’t want to take just for the sake of getting a my first listing and worried whether I will be able to give proper service. I discussed with him about my limitations and he didn’t have any issues. He is a very educated consumer and he already prepared the condo for showing. He was all ready to work together to make this deal happen. Still I didn’t say YES immediately, I took my time to make my decision. It was my first listing ever and also someone came out of their way from nowhere finding me over the internet and giving business. That rarely happens in this economy and especially in realtor business. For those reasons, I decided to take it on and plan to deliver my service as best I could within the set expectation.

After I took on the listing, I immediately remembered my coworker who lives in that area who was looking for investment property. I called him and talked about it. I sent him the listing info after I listed it. He didn’t buy it but I ended up being a buyer agent for him for another condo in the next subdivision. Because I contacted him for my condo, he ended buying a condo and used me as buyers agent. That’s why I got 2 condo deals closed back to back.

1. I learned that any listing is worth your time whether it is small or big. Even if you don’t get to sell it after trying, you will really learn lot from it.
2. You will surely get some leads out of the listing which you can take on and get more clients.
3. Don’t say NO just because you are not specialized in that area. If the client is willing to help you and you are promised to put your effort, go for it and try it out.
4. Spend valuable time building your online reputation by blogging and interacting with clients and co-realtors in facebook or linked-in. It helps when client searches for a good realtor.
5. Finally, Don’t underestimate a client. In this internet era, every customer knows something about the market and they are sometimes more educated than us. Don’t try to be over smart, just do your part and help them out.

For Buyer/Sellers
As a consumer, I really appauled my client who found me over the internet and gave me a chance to work with me. He trusted me and my hard working capacity. He trusted me over experiened vetern realtors and I was able to deliver almost upto his expectation and got 4 out of 5 rating. Thank you Jonathan. For buyers/sellers out there, here is what I got to say,

1. Don’t just go for experiened realtors, just look for Smart realtors who know what they do and try out newbies. They can bring fresh ideas to you and help you find what you wanted.
2. Don’t look for realtor only in your area. If you are in Clearlake, you can try realtors in Northwest Houston. In this age, anybody can do anything sitting from anywhere. I know it helps to find someone within your area but at the same time out of area realtors can do magic as well.
3. Always search on the internet about realtors whom you are planning to work with. Online reputation can really help filter out and find good, trustworthy, smart and honest realtor to work for you.

I always like to share my lessons which I learnt from my experience so others can learn from it. If you got something out of it, I am happy and do share them to others.

About Vijaianand Thirnageswaram

I am a Proud Realtor of Texas, trying to guide and help clients to find their dream home and educate them to buy them for right price. I am also a Candidate for CFP who has more financial knowledge which allows me share and educate clients in any financial decision making process.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•