A SOURCE TO THE SOURCE-- Or, "I Am Not Sure, But…" © 2013 by Wayne D. Lewis, Sr.

Other Posts by Wayne D. Lewis, Sr. at

http://makeyourbestoffer.blogspot.com/

As a Real Estate professional, people ask us a lot of questions.  And, as a Real Estate professional, we feel the need to answer the question, right, correctly, or as perfectly as possible.  But, there can be consequences, and for many of us, we need to be careful.  Why?  Sometimes the questions are tricky, misleading, ridiculous, hard, and if nothing else: important.

http://realestate.aol.com/real-estate-information/

 

While we are Real Estate professionals, we may appear to be all knowing about every aspect of the market, and we should be, in theory.  But, we don’t know everything about the market.  And, it is not reasonable to give that impression, especially to those who depend upon us for honesty, and the most reliable information available to make very important decisions.

http://www.forbes.com/real-estate/

 

Many of the decisions that people make, as relates our industry, will have to do with:

1. Relocating their families
2. What schools their children may be attending
3. How close is the nearest hospital
4. Did anyone die in that house?
5. How old is the roof
6. What is crime like in the area?  Is it safe?
7. What is the racial make-up of the neighborhood

These are just some of the issues that may come up when someone learns that one of us is a Real Estate professional.  How we answer many of these questions will determine, for the inquirer, where to live, what the general makeup of the neighborhood or area is; when to move; what to spend and/or whom to trust.

http://www.realtor.com/

 

The answers to the type of questions above may not have as much value as the person who is answering the questions.  The person who is being asked is, theoretically, and for all practical purposes, a professional.  They have learned knowledge, about real estate-in theory.  But do people really want just the answers?  Do they really want “Just the facts!” as Detective Friday would say from the hit TV show, Dragnet?  “Yes” and “no”, “maybe”.

 

“Yes”, people want the facts.  They want honest and reliable information to questions regarding how to insure their homes.  “No”, People don’t want to be overwhelmed with vast knowledge of the history of every neighborhood, who lived there, how many children were in each house, or the time Miss Maime’s cow ran through the Carter’s home and wrecked the place.  People, who are not necessarily buyers or sellers, but who are our customers and who maybe curious about the profession. And “maybe” curious, about the professional, want to hear our answers as the professionals that we are.

So, when a customer asks us that particular question, that could be sometimes tricky, misleading, ridiculous, hard, and if nothing else: important, our answers are themselves must be, if nothing else: important.  Our answers must reflect out insight, and knowledge at the time.  Our answers, as Real Estate professionals, cannot be tricky, even if the question is.  Our answers cannot be misleading, even if the question is.  But, our answers must be important. 

http://real-info.com/index.asp?RISID=39bcfb6dbe200c6818a224e174c10ddf

Among the most important things that we can say to any questions, regardless of how tricky, or ridiculous it may appear to be, is one that many customers may not be ready for: “I don’t know that answer”, or something to that effect.  There are several reactions that a customer may experience as this response:

1. Shock, gasp and fainting!  (Get the smelling salts);
2. Shock, disorientation, and dismay (lost a customer and hope for all humanity);
3. Momentary shock, a smile of appreciation, and then fainting
4. None of the above

To be honest with you, I don’t know how someone will react when a Real Estate Agent responds with I don’t know.  The real key for us in not knowing an answer to the tricky, misleading, seemingly ridiculous, or hard question, is to still raise that question to a level of importance.  Whether the question is important to us, is immaterial.   The question must always seem important enough when it comes to answers regarding our profession.  Raising any and all questions to a level of importance, especially when we don’t know the answer, means:

1. acknowledging the question (That’s a good question!)
2. restating the question for clarity: (Have any meteors ever landing on this neighborhood?)
3. Ponder the right response:  (Hmmm)
4. Response:  (I don’t know but, you can refer to NASA’s website, or you can perhaps Google that information.)
5. Wait for sign of acceptance (Oh, thank you! You are brilliant!  You are astute in all things Real Estate)
6. Take a bow

The bow is optional, but I think it’s reasonable to suggest that an answer that starts with “I don’t know but…” and ends with another source to obtain the information,  gives the customer the option to pursue the information in another arena.  But on a more serious note, customers do ask questions about areas that we should know the answer, and, suffice it to say, we may not know.  Then what?  “I don’t know, you can Google it”?  Not recommended.  Here is what we should be sharing with our customers.

If for example, a customer inquires about the median income of the neighborhood that one of our listings is located, and we don’t know, again: 

            “I don’t know but, we have that information available on our website. I would be glad to             email it to you.  While I am sending that to you, can I email any other pertinent information to your attention?”

Real Estate professionals are required to know a lot of information, but in all fairness, the information should be current and relative.  What many of our customers maybe aware of is that the information is changing everyday.  And as times, the information can be conflicting.  But it is just as important for today’s Real Estate professional to know where that information can be found. It is also important for that agent to decipher any conflicting information and give the customer their best perspective on issue in question.

Many customers aren’t necessarily happy, or satisfied with what we share with them, so in many cases, they would like to verify the information that we do provide, and that is fine.  Our jobs, in totality, should be, as one of my former colleagues and broker, Patrice Serino (Serino Realty Group) once said:  we want to be a source to the source (paraphrasing). 

 

Yes, we should know a lot about our profession, but we should also be careful in providing information that could be taken as gospel, when it may only apply to one or two situations, or circumstances.  As Real Estate professionals, sayin “I don’t know” shouldn’t necessarily be a death nil for us with a particular customer.  But if it is, perhaps that customer needed an opportunity to walk away anyway. 

 
I am convinced that the average customer, who asks questions of Real Estate professionals, is willing to accept “I don’t know”.  But I think too that they would appreciate “I don’t know, but…

            1.  let me look that up for you;

            2.  here is what I know, but you should feel free to check this out with someone  in                that particular area, or

            3.  that question may constitute legal advice, or advice outside the scope of my                                     profession, let me direct you to someone whom I believe may provide  more                        
                 helpful information.

 

If I am right, customers will be more endearing to us as Real Estate professionals because we admitted we did not actually know something, and in turn gave them an option to seek other sources.  Or, perhaps the customer took the option of having you get back to them with that desired information, because after “I don’t know”, we can only be the most informed agent, because we took the time to not only look up the information, but got that information to them as well.    

 

Customers are important to us at every step of our business.  Our business is information.  Providing customers with information is what we do well.  Sometimes, we don’t know.  But it is better to state that we don’t know than to give a customer misinformation, or try to pull the wool over the eyes.  Customers will find us out, and the consequences for misinformation are far greater than saying that we don’t know. Any questions?

 

Disclaimer-No part of this blog post should be considered as legal or professional advice outside the scope of real estate for the State of Louisiana.  This is not an intent to solicit the clients or agents of any broker. Licensed in the State of Louisiana only.  Your results may vary. Links are not endorsements.