Irresponsible Client, part I.

The irresponsible client: I was having coffee in a well-known caffeine den just down the street from my office. I overheard a male-female couple discussing looking for a home. I said, "Excuse me, I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I'm a Realtor. Can I answer any questions for you?" Call them Jim and Judy.

Their eyes lit up and they said, yes I could. They were only in town, up from Virginia, for a couple of days, and could I show them some places. We talked a little about what they were looking for and so forth. I took them to my office, and pulled down some properties.

Over the next couple of days I showed them about eight houses. They liked a really nice one in down South Philly, and said they wanted to make an offer. I contacted the listing agent and asked him if there were any offers on the table. He said they weren't, please submit one. It turned out that he owned the house. He'd recently renovated it and was trying to move it as quickly as possible.

We wrote up the offer the afternoon of the second day. I asked them for a check for the first escrow deposit. Jim said he'd "forgotten" his checkbook. Maybe a bad sign, maybe no big deal. He said he'd be sure to overnight the check the day they got back to VA. I called the listing agent and explained the situation. He said fine, bring in the offer. As long as the check got there within the next couple of days we were good. To be continued.

I'm trying to create savvier real estate customer. Is this working?

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