Clients First: The Two Word Miracle

Our First Contract

Yolanda told us she was going on vacation and asked if we would handle her buyers while she was gone. It was for only a week, and we appreciated the opportunity. We said yes, and about halfway through the week, this buyer of hers said he wanted to make an offer on a house he had seen before. We met him at our broker’s office and wrote our first contract. It was a disaster.

We didn’t know what we were doing, and wherever the contract gave an option for the buyer versus the seller to pay for something, our buyer said to check seller. We sent the contract to the seller’s agent and got this awful phone call from the agent telling us that her seller was insulted and so was she. She said, “Don’t you even know it’s customary for the buyers to pay for their own loan costs?”

About that time, Yolanda returned from vacation and blew up. JoAnn told her that we did exactly what the buyer told us to do, but now the buyer was saying that he only followed our lead. Yolanda told JoAnn that she didn’t know who to believe, and that was the end of our relationship.

We were distraught that we had let down our fellow agent’s client. We were appalled at our treatment by the seller’s agent. But it was our fault. We were not competent.

Our first listing came from a neighbor. Her name was Toni and she owned a house on Sweetwater. This was shortly after the contract fiasco, and when Toni came to our door, JoAnn said, “Oh, you don’t want us, we don’t know what we’re doing.” However, Toni ...