Ask An Ambassador: Trying On The Clients' Shoes

It's a good thing to have the occasional reminder of what our clients go through during buying & selling a home.

A few minutes tops, and my legs would need air casts!

Dorie, lots of shoe pictures on Pixabay, so went for the best eye candy I could find :)

We've been in our current home for over 30 years.  I still remember some of the lessons we learned from our agents (two sets, one bad, one great!) when we bought our home and before we ever had any thoughts of being agents ourselves. 

My shoes tend to be rather plain, but what would you expect from an engineer? :)

Thanks!

There is always something new to be picked up.  I personally dread the packing/moving part of our change.  There is a lot of our stuff (cats, dogs, bees), that can't be put on a moving van and delivered for us, so there will be a few round trips with a U-haul.

The actual process of moving is hard for people without the cats, bees and dogs, Liz and Bill Spear - I can't imagine how it must be with all your furry and buzzy family members.

Kat Palmiotti , I've been thinking through that process for the critters.  We'll definitely have to have our new house completely set up with our enclosures, dog yard, etc. before we bring any of them out.  The bees probably need a mini-forklift to move and set up :)   A full colony is pretty heavy, so we'll need some help with that part.  We'll get it figured out.

Why live and work our entire lives and then be worried about what the kids will (or won't) inherit after?  Get the countertops with the WOW rather than "that'll do" if you've got the $$$ to comfortably do it.

I know it can be stressful.  My intent every time is to remove as much of that stress as possible.

There can be some less than fun moments in every transaction.  How do I prevent drama to my clients?

Looking forward to the change and being closer to family!

We learn a lot in our business, provide the best advice we can for the current circumstances, and hope that buyers & sellers are receptive to our experiences.

I've been amazed by some of the offerings out there!  But the fact that a slab supplier can't even ballpark a price and we have to go through a fabricator to find out this stone is $3k a slab and this specialty stone is $20k a slab is a bit absurd.  Better to know up front before you have a chance to fall in love with something that is a budget buster.

There's a point at which I know I'm beyond my capabilities and another agent would be a better fit.

I get reminded all the time that some companies have lost perspective on customer service.

Each experience feeds the other.

Every extra experience (and in this case learning a lot about counters and the relationship between slab sellers and fabricators) gives us another opportunity to apply something in our client's behalf.  We know more about what's out there, and depending on what a client wants, maybe taking the standard builder offering (which are usually really limited) might not be best.  Take the bare minimum, then customize it after closing.

If only they were mine to give :)

Ed, this should be the one and only time we build, we're intending for this to be our last home.