A Blessing in Disguise is Rarely a Mistake

There are all types of real estate clients in Sacramento who routinely make a mistake.

Except when I am predisposed, like at a movie theater or on a plane, I answer my phone. It’s rarely a mistake. I missed a call yesterday from a caller who rang twice while I was at Tower Theatre watching Brooklyn, the screenplay by Nick Hornby, about an Irish girl in 1952 (the year I was born) who moved to America. Touching, beautiful, sweet story about loss, love, discovery and strength, watching this young girl mature, blossom, develop confidence. When I got back to my home office, I considered calling back the no-message caller but instead decided to cut back the hydrangeas before it got dark and cover up the cactus garden. We were in for a freeze in Land Park.

Minutes after opening the back door my phone began to ring. Where did I leave it? I frantically searched, dashing from the kitchen into the family room, following the ringing sound and there it was, lying in the cat condo of all places along with my bluetooth. Hmmm. It was the same guy who had called twice earlier. He was very excited about the house he had just toured and expressed gratitude that I had forced him to go see the home without me.

What? Who was this? I let him talk. He obviously had called me by mistake because I had not talked with him earlier. I did not tell him to go see a home, and that’s not the sort of thing I would do anyway. I would never send a buyer over to a home without an agent present, that’s just poor customer service and laziness. He continued rambling that he wanted to sell his home in Fair Oaks. Sure, we can do that, I promised. I’m a top producer in Sacramento who gets top dollar. What’s the address? He gave it to me.

That’s when he said that he wanted me to also represent him to buy the home on Alex along with listing his own home because “it would make things easier.” No, not really, I countered. It’s just as much work to sell your home as it is to help you to buy a new home. Just because you’re the same person doesn’t mean it’s not twice the work. I knew where he was going with this, and just let him blab. He stumbled and seemed at a loss for words. “Well, it’s easier for ME,” he finally says. Why? Because you can call the same agent, is that it? Thinking to myself: he’s already called a different agent thrice and has no clue that I am not that agent. Yeah, yeah, that’s it, he says.

Then he rattled on about the price of the home on Alex. “You said there was some flexibility in that sales price,” he insisted. Well, no, I would not have ever said a thing like that. Because that would violate the Code of Ethics, and a listing agent can’t say such a thing to a potential buyer. This is when the caller probably started to realize that maybe he wasn’t talking to the listing agent. He said, it doesn’t matter because the listing agent is friends with the seller. Some friend to the seller that is, I ventured.

That’s when he hung up.