I know, I know, too subtle, yes? I love saying this ‘cuz it’s true — some of my best friends are agents specializing in the listing and selling of single family homes, condos, and the like. The first seven years of my career were spent learning the ropes doing just that. After doing something for that long one gets the feeling they pretty much have figured out where the bodies are buried. Though I was pretty good after a few years, it became painfully obvious that those with far more experience did indeed have more knowledge, more and better skill sets, and were categorically better agents.
More simply put, they produced higher quality results, most of the time more quickly than I did. As I put more years behind me, I began to understand what Dad and many of his silver haired agents told me. They said after enough time I’d ‘get it’. Who knows when that really happened, but after about five years, my confidence level seemed to be much higher.
I compare it to umpiring at the Division I level of college baseball. You clearly don’t get to that point without having proven yourself. Watch umpires at any level of baseball and observe their body language. You can tell the grizzled vets, right? They’re always where they’re supposed to be at the right time. I used to help train youth umpires while working for the NCAA, and the rookies were an easy spot. Tentative was their middle name. They were never really sure of where to be, the rules, or sometimes even whose call it was.
It gets worse.
As a direct result of their shaky grasp of the job at hand, when their calls came into, um, question, they tended to either morph into DarthBlue, immediately reverse themselves, or ask for help from their partners who were often literally 70-100 feet away with poor to impossible angles. Not good no matter how ya slice it.
BawldGuy Takeaway: There are too many answers to too many questions house agents simply will not know to ask. As we’ve discussed her often, it’s the answers to those questions that will run your train off the tracks every time.
I remember one Little League All-Star tournament back in the ’90′s. A couple fellow NCAA umps and I had donated our time to their second round. I drew the plate for the first game of the day. The first pitch was taken for a called strike. They’d never seen nor heard anything but the usual Little League volunteers before that game. After I finished barkin’ out ‘HUH!’ for that first strike, the catcher, as he was throwin’ the ball back to his pitcher said, “That was so cool.” 
We had the usual close calls, but the coaches behaved very differently than we’d be told to expect.
Know why? They knew they were dealin’ with seasoned pros, not volunteers. Disputes were handled almost under the radar. Afterward we were inundated with requests to stay and do the night game. Two of those petitioning us were part of the crew assigned to that game. They knew the kids were in better hands, and wanted them to experience what it was like to play under those conditions. We acquiesced.
Our reward? They brought us Double-Doubles from In ‘N Out instead of makin’ us eat out of the snack bar. Perks is perks — we gladly accepted.
Think of how important your investment Plan is and how doing the Right things at the Right time in the Right way makes all the difference in the world to your results. Oh, and it’s not a game either. It’s real life, and when you find out what you shouldn’t have done, what you did wrong, or that you should’ve just stood pat awhile longer, there’re no do-overs.
Point made.
Hire your house agent to sell your personal residence, and a real estate investment expert for the rest. The real estate investment ‘rule book’ is nearly orders of magnitude more complex than those governing the sales of primary residences.
Call me — let’s talk. 619 889-7100 will put us together. Have a good one.
Related posts:
- When Selling/Exchanging Investment Property Keep Your Eye On The RIGHT Ball
- Finding Good Investment Property Partners in Boise
- Part II — Projecting Operating Expenses On Real Estate Investment Property
- How Does Your Broker/Agent Answer Your Questions?
- A Test For Real Estate Investment Property Owners — Especially Those In San Diego
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