Seattle Residential: I Do That

Today I met with Mike Carpenter for coffee and I think we each had a concept in mind. A few years ago Mike showed up on my radar and very successfully preformed his role as loan officer in a transaction that was causing me some small logistical issues. I've learned since that Mike is the kind oflaon officer that is not working some kind of a numbers game, but is totally willing to give each client hours and hours of his time, and reams (kilobytes these days) of information to help them make the proper decision when moving forward with purchasing a home or not.

Once I had Mike in my radar, of course I was in range of his. His presentation is interesting and unique. His delivery is remarkable and reliable. If you live in the Puget Sound area, this is one place to go for competent and excellent personal home loan service.

But all of that is another story. For various reasons really unknown to either of us, we hadn't chatted for a while. A question came up on Facebook that triggered a somewhat related question from me, and so I asked Mike to educate me on a loan officer's perspective of the new federal regulations regarding loan officer compensation. We exchanged a short dialogue...no one else jumped in to this public social media exchange.., and that was it. Then I received an email from Mike and he proposed a coffee get together. We agreed to meet in the Roosevelt Square Starbucks this morning.

Our conversation took its own course. We are both somewhat concerned about the way communication is headed and information is passed in this modern world of email, texting, twitter, and the cloud. Simple confession, no surprise to anyone...we are both over fifty, and yet, both consider ourselves computer literate (or we know the means to affect that).

The upshot of our hour and a half conversation is this:

In the good old days, (10+ years ago) you could engage a contact, schedule an appointment (face to face) and in the course of 1-3 hours establish a relationship which allowed for proceeding with doing what we know well for the benefit of the client we had only recently met. In today's marketplace, with this generation of buyers and sellers we don't get 1-3 hours to establish a relationship that the client feels comfortable relying on.

Why?

1. Too much information is available on line, so everyone seems to think they are an expert on everything.
   
2. Everyone gets too much information constantly on their smart phones from Facebook, Twitter, Mom, Their mechanic, The library, A politician, The dentist, etal. There is no focus.
3. Whatever it is that anyone wants, they are used to getting it right now. For example a) I need a pre-approval letter this afternoon. b) Can you show me this house today? c)What is my home worth? I have a buyer.

The current generation of those active, or those who want to be active in the real estate arena don't seem to be willing to take time to discuss their peculiar set of circumstances with a professional in order to make the right forward thinking moves. We don't know why. Not enough time in the day? Not enough ability or desire to focus on one particular issue at a time?

So I'm asking my Active Rain contacts, are you finding it difficult to sit and spend time with new clients in order to explain all of the nuances of the real estate transaction or loan process these days? And I'm asking the public, why is it difficult for you to interview agents or loan officers so that a complete understanding can be reached as to the best way to help you achieve your real estate ambitions?

It's time we all moved toward a better understanding of how to assist non-owners into an ownership position, and how to help sellers realize a true market value for their major investment.