My coach ended up leaving KW entirely after several offices told his students they were no longer obligated to pay him for services rendered, bc he was not the official office coach. First off, he is an independent contractor, like all agents. They don’t pay him a salary. Second, what kind of management encourages their agents to evade payment for services rendered? He helped multiple agents on their deals, sometimes even writing, negotiating, presenting, AND winning the transaction, and they thought it was ok not to pay him anything just bc the office said he was no longer with the brokerage? Total bullshit and utterly lacking in honesty and integrity.

Needless to say, my coach was distracted one day during our biweekly session and all this drama finally came out. He was concerned that my office would treat him the same way. I mean, my office is def run by people who have their shit together. They are organized and files are reviewed with a fine-toothed comb. I’m telling you, this place is not Mickey Mouse at. all. Still, I wanted to make sure. So I flat out called up the office CEO. I said I didn’t know the details of what was happening at the other offices, but my understanding was that he rendered services and he got cut out of his split. I told her this was very important to me that no matter where he was, I wanted him paid. We are in a professional business, and if our culture is as transparent and as caring as we claim, then our actions must show that we value honesty, fairness, and integrity. I have learned so much from him and it’s not right that he NOT be compensated. So she gave me her word and said if there was any problem, I could call her.

So this month I get into contract on TWO deals. When I’m reviewing the disbursement breakdown, I see my coach listed with his former KW office. The administrator tells me she contacted that office and they said there was no obligation to pay since he was no longer employed there. Oh hell no! I said that I specifically talked to our CEO about this, and I didn’t care who decided there was or was not an “obligation”. I absolutely used his services. I got value from his coaching, and I’m insisting that he get paid. Jesus Christ. People will try to get away with what they can get away with, you know? I got all his W9 info updated and he’s set to get paid next week. But it just goes to show, you have to push back. You have to resist and make shit right.

So yeah, the big news is that yes, I’m on track to close two deals this month! Woohoo. I am beyond over the moon. It’s an interesting story though, bc remember last month how I was telling you I was feeling something coming? Well at the time, I thought that my one family (to whom I’d shown 33 homes since Memorial Day) was going to get into a house. Boy was I wrong. After they saw an amazing, beautiful home right in the neighborhood they wanted and at a price point BELOW their max (and BELOW list price), I reached out to the list agent and spent all this time getting the deets. We arrived at a fair number. I tell them, they seem keen, I send the docs for e-sign to submit an offer the next morning. What happens? The next morning, they are ready to proceed but ask me to knock the offer down $50k. What?!?! I go into a whole spiel: the comps don’t support that number, and this is not appropriate. They refuse to listen and I stupidly submit the lowball offer. The agent basically ignores me all day and then when we talk, he says the offer was extremely disappointing. I try to explain that there may be cultural elements at play bc my buyers are from a negotiating culture. He says, well now they need 1.325 to win. Yep, a day ago, the number was 1.3. Now, the seller is insulted and doesn’t want to sell to you so you have to work harder to win. See how that works? They come up right away to 1.3. The guy says don’t bother. We want the $25k more. So just like that, over a 2% difference, another one slips away. And the pattern I started to realize is that, every time I negotiate a good price, they take off 50k the last minute to make sure they get a deal. Well, good luck with that strategy. Needless to say, I have not worked with that family since.

And incidentally, one home for which I’m currently under contract was a different house they rejected for some other reason. It was a freaking nice and spacious house for a really good price point. After they gave the thumbs down, I was determined to find a buyer for it. So I pinged my database. Yup, texted about 25 people one by one. A Chinese couple (I met the hubby at an open house a year ago and kept him on my drip campaign) replied to my text, I showed it to them that night, we submitted an offer the next day and we got it accepted. Wham, Bam, Done.

One of the biggest things I’m learning is that client fit matters. With the family, there were other factors too. And I just overlooked them, bc I figured beggars can’t be choosers. And I wanted to make it work so badly. I was convinced that surely, they would be ready to buy after having been on the market for over a year (during which prices went up 25-30%) and after having seen more than 30 properties in the last two months. In the end, I had invested all this time working with the wife, but the husband was ultimately the decision maker. He was always the one asking for the last minute price cut.

I do have to give them some credit though: bc I saw so many homes in Santa Clara, I really learned the inventory, pricing, and market… and that allowed me to identify unique opportunities for my other buyers. That right, I’m working all the angles now.