Bob's Journey

This morning I received a call from a past client who received my Reconnect Letter asking if I'd be interested in listing her home, her daughter's home and her daughter's neighbor's home.  Her hope being, as a package deal, she could negotiate a significant discount on their commissions.  The thought of having 3 listings materialize out of thin-air was pretty exciting!

After running some comps, I found that each of these homes has an average value of around $500K.  I took an hour or so to carefully consider both the time that would be required to service three clients as well as the time it would take to sell each home in the current market.  I was prepared to reduce my commission to 2% on each home or about $10K each before splits and taxes.

Before I had a chance to present my offer, the client called back.  Apparently her son-in-law had a friend in the business who was willing to sell each home for a flat-rate fee of $6K per home and she wanted to know if I could meet or beat it.  It was quite obvious, all she was concerned about at that moment was paying the least amount of commission possible.

While chatting, I quickly ran the numbers in my head.  $6,000 works out to about 1.25%, significantly less than the 2% I was prepared to offer.  After thinking it over, I declined to compete on price and wished the client the best. 

In the end, I realized that this was not a 5-star deal. 

From a financial perspective, $18K after splitting the commission with my broker would have given me about $10K before taxes and about $6K after. I could do one deal and make the same amount of money, with 1/3 the headaches.

In terms of time, I realized that trying to take on three clients at once would not have allowed me to be the best Real Estate Consultant I could be, not to mention maintaining commitments at my current employer. 

For now, I'll stick to my plan of working with one or two clients at a time, giving them the time and attention they deserve, while developing solid relationships for the future. 

Until next time, Bob :)