Realtors® and Client Relationships - How is your Relationship with your Client?
Early on in my career when first being employed in sales back in Germany, I always was told by my supervisor: “Der Kunde ist Koenig”, which translates to “The client is king”. To this day, it is stated as my motto on my Active Rain profile.
After reading Gary Woltal’s blog, “Why being a little pregnant doesn’t work with serious Realtors®” , I commented on his blog that, “this should be rule number 1, but, yes there is a but, there is always exception to a rule. My exception is with a client that I have known for three years and worked with for the last two years.”
Actually it goes back three years ago when the family was looking for a home in Lakeland. With Lakeland being centrally located between Tampa and Orlando and the wife taking on a new position in Tampa, husband employed in Orlando; unsure of whether or not Lakeland would be their new city, I recommended leasing a single family home until they made a decision on when they want to purchase their next home. During this time, I kept in contact with them send listings of homes within their price range. In their first year of leasing, every once and a while we have viewed a few homes, however, of the few homes that they liked, most of them were grossly overpriced. It became then apparent that they wanted to look outside of Lakeland because at the same time the husband was looking into another employment opportunity in the Tampa area which did not develop. With the uncertainty in the employment sector for both husband and wife and a baby on the way, it became more of a fear to purchase for a while. The job market had changed again for the wife and for the last six months we have been actively looking and bidding on properties. Patience, persistence and communication pays off, they are now under contract to purchase a beautiful home in the Orlando area, which is scheduled to close within the next month.
The reality here is, had my clients purchased a house last year or the year before, they would have had to resell the home resulting in a financial loss that may not be recovered for years to come.
There are more experiences or stories similar to this one I could tell. When reflecting back to the years of experience in real estate, relying on my instinct, understanding my clients’ needs and expectations, these are the key components of recognizing the true value of Realtor® and client relationships. When I’m being hired by my clients as their Realtor®, whether as their buyer’s agent or their selling agent, I continue to stay true to my motto, “The client is king”.
Authored by Petra Norris
Managing Broker - CDV TransAtlantic, Inc.
(863) 619-6918
