January 2013 Clearwater Real Estate Market Report
What Are the Most Valuable Traits in a Realtor
One of the things I’ve been paying attention to lately when speaking with my clients and speaking with prospective clients is what they feel is important to them in their relationship with me. It’s not just what they say but what I’ve observed is important. Let me share with you what I’ve found and you can comment on whether you agree or if I’ve left anything out.
The number one most important trait in a Realtor is….
One aspect of communication with a client is listening to them. One of my clients recently commented on this and I have had several other clients bring this up indirectly.
Too often a Realtor can focus more on trying to convince a prospective client to list their property with them or to buy a certain home or condo and forget that they first need to know what this person needs, wants and expects.
I’ve found that one of the most important things I can do is pay attention to what my client says and observe their reactions. This, in addition to asking questions like “What do you want?” or “What is your goal?”, lets me know how to best provide them with what they really want and need. It will vary from person to person and I’ve found that the only way to treat each client as an individual is to know what they need and want as an individual first.
The other aspect of communication that is vital is keeping a client regularly informed of what is happening with the property I am helping them sell or buy. I’ve found that this is one of the most important things that buyers and sellers really want.
To do this correctly, I keep track of everything that is going on during negotiations, inspections, financing (including making sure that the lender is getting their job done), the short sale approval process, etc. When I have information I make sure that my client is kept informed and that anyone else that needs to be updated is given a progress report (such as the other Realtor, or the lender or title company).
The only time I don’t immediately update a client is if I’m presented with a situation that could potentially cause trouble if it isn’t vital that my client knows right away and if there are some potential solutions that I need to check into. In that type of situation I will get as much information as I can to fully understand the situation and whether any possible solutions exist so I can try to present the ‘bad news’ with possible solutions rather than just dumping bad news on them.
This also includes being available as much as possible and returning calls or emails within a reasonable amount of time. I answer my phone whenever possible (unless I’m on another call or out with clients) and return emails quickly unless I’m out with clients.
Think about any of your past experiences with Realtors and see if these factors were important in how you felt about the relationship you had with them.
The next most important aspect that comes up is attention to detail/keeping track of everything.
There are numerous steps that have to be completed to have a successful sale or purchase and even if you were aware of them all it would be a daunting task to make sure everything gets done the right way and with proper timing.
I won’t go into everything that has to be tracked as that would make this article longer than it already is, but I’ve found that most people don’t have the time or patience to keep track of everything that has to be done by all the people involved in a sale or purchase and thus rely on their Realtor to do so.
The final aspect that I’ll cover here (this isn’t the only other one but I don’t want to make this painfully long) is treating clients how I would want to be treated.
This covers a lot – being respectful, being honest and direct even if it I could lose the client, negotiating so as to get the best deal but not so as to lose out on a property a client really wants, etc. If you think I missed certain points, just review the 3 things I covered above and you’ll see that they will probably fall under one or more of them in a certain way.
My job is to exceed my clients’ expectations and give them the best experience possible with whatever factors we have to deal with and to have a successful closing that in some way improves their lives and starts them on a new path that will bring them as many benefits as possible in the future.
So what do you think? Are these the most important factors to you? If not, leave a comment on what are?
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