Clients First: The Two Word Miracle

Chapter 8

The Second Key

When JoAnn and I started out in real estate we were as green as grass. We took the classes and passed the state test, but we had no clue about what to do. At a garage sale, I had picked up a book written by a former real estate agent. It was all about picking 500 homes and going door to door with a business card. So I picked a thousand homes and went door to door and came away with little more than juicy gossip.

We took new-agent classes at our broker’s office, and the instructor mentioned calling on expireds, people whose listing contracts had run their course. I never got past the first one. The gentleman, a former agent as well as the home owner, laughed at me. He said, “I didn’t know agents still did this.” I went back to my car and drove straight home, where JoAnn was taking a nap. She was always smarter than me.

Yolanda, another agent at our broker’s office, told us she worked only with buyers but that she had listed her neighbor’s home and that we were welcome to hold the house open on the weekends. The property backed up to the busiest street in Paradise Valley. The backyard was small and the noise deafening. We worked there every weekend, and JoAnn met a few people, but she waited a week to follow up. She thought it improper to call too soon. Most had already found a house. That’s when we learned about urgency. When clients want a house, they want it right now.