Don't tell!

This blog today is directed towards my fellow Realtors® and to their and future clients....

I've been getting alot of calls lately, that go like this "Hi, I'm [mumble] with [mumble] Realty, and I'm calling on that house you have on {fill in the blank}....Is it vacant?  What's the story?  Are the owners usually home?"

Stop, look and listen!  I had a sneaky feeling a few times that these weren't really brokers, they were someone wanting something other than good things for that house and my clients.  What confirmed my feeling is when I would just simply tell them - "well, thanks so much for wanting to get more info, everything you need to know is in the MLS..."  The long pause that followed was the giveaway.  A few times the response was easily proven to be that of a legitimate broker with legitimate questions....the others were quite obviously not.

Yes, there are people out there who want bad things for your properties.  In our Albuquerque market there are over 2700 members of the MLS.  I can't keep up with every new licensee, so it's very often that when they give a name and company name, I have no idea who they are...and they might be for real, absolutely!  They also might not be...and have gotten clever about how to case a house by pretending to be 'one of us.'

And for those of you who have your home for sale, remind your broker not to tell anyone if the property is vacant if they get the casual question...don't tell them what your circumstances are, why you are selling, or how often you are home...these are all questions that can be used in a bad way.

Let's be careful out there!

Happy selling...