When I briefly explain my Buyer 50-Point Presentation during an initial counseling session with buyers, I touch on what happens after escrow closes. What happens is I never go away. I don't disappear after closing. If buyers have a question months or years down the road, even if it's "My cat got loose; how do I find him?" they can call me. I make that promise and stay in touch with my clients.
Last night I submitted an offer and signed a buyer broker agreement with a new client. She is a bright, articulate and charming young woman who grew up in Sacramento before moving to the Bay area and is back again. She asked if, for some reason, the offer didn't pan out -- she is trying to buy a short sale, after all -- would she work with me if she built a home or decided instead to buy a new home in Sacramento. Interesting questions, and we spent time addressing those concerns.
Then she asked if there was a term to the contract. Well, yes, there is a term. Although all contracts are negotiable, I agree to work with buyers for a term of one year. I explained that if she decided one day: "Hey, I don't want to work with you anymore because you won't play with me on Twitter," I would find her an agent who does Twitter. "Tweet," she corrected me, laughing. Apart from sending a RSS feed to Twitter, I'm not one of those agents who has a lot of time to spend on Twitter, so I guess that makes me a Twitter Twit.
I also did not have a lot of time to continually check up on a previous client who bought a South Curtis Park home last December to flip. He called me regularly, and I did my best to refer contractors, spent hours discussing what types of improvements buyers want in a home and offered a ton of advice. I stopped by his construction site a couple weeks ago, after I sold another home in that neighborhood, and he promised to list with me when he was ready to go to market.
Last week his remodeled home popped up in MLS listed by someone else. I received no phone call nor correspondence from him until he sent an email last night. He said he chose a different agent because "she was always hanging around." So much for loyalty. He also mentioned that he bought another home through this agent. Out of curiosity, I looked in his file at his buyer broker agreement that he signed last year.
I had agreed to work with him for 3 months. Why 3 months? I searched my memory banks. I never sign a buyer broker contract for 3 months. Then the light dawned. Obviously, I didn't ask for a year commitment because, at the time, I didn't actually want to be legally contracted to him for a year. That's unusual for me. But I do trust my gut instincts, even if I can't always remember why.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming in June 2009.
Photo: Home in Land Park, by Elizabeth Weintraub
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
Lyon Real Estate is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender. Even if you accept this offer and use our service, your lender may not agree to change your loan.
Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.
The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
Disclaimer: If this post contains a listing, information is deemed reliable as of the date it was written. After that date, the listing may be sold, listed by another brokerage, canceled, pending or taken temporarily off the market, and the price could change without notice. It could blow up, explode or vanish. To find out the present status of any listing, please go to elizabethweintraub.com.
