In the Realtor association that serves the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, at last report there were more than 14,000 agents. I have no clue what percentage of those agents serve Dallas, however, just shy of 1,000 claim their primary market interest to be Dallas' Park Cities.
The Park Cities is normally considered to be comprised of Highland Park and University Park. Lots of homes, surely the major portion having a market value of in excess of $1 million with a substantial portion being worth more than $10 million.
When times were good and mortgage money flowed freely, people on an Income Stream Tightrope managed to buy there, and builders and mortgage companies with Las Vegas mentalities caused hundreds of lots to be scraped and multi-million dollar spec homes built to replace them.
An interestingly large number of the Park Cities inventory was bought by those in the real estate business -- commercial and residential -- who made a great deal of commission income and were sure it was the result of their sales prowess combined with Divine Right.
Fate waved its magic wand, as it has five times during my many years as a professional real estate person, and the market evaporated --- it evaporated just like that! Many found that the homes they thought they deserved weren't supposed to be theirs afterall. What they had seen as their encouragement to buy was Phantom Divine Right.
You know what followed, the same thing that has followed all five of the past ones that I've waded through since I began in 1964 with a real estate broker's license.
So I held an open house for one of my recent listings. Realtors in that area have long agreed that those in the trade's open houses will be held on Tuesday between 9 and 11:30.
Out of my estimate of the nearly 1,000 who claim to work almost solely in the Park Cities, 1.6% showed up. That's right, 16 all told.
The major portion of the 16 came from two agencies, Allie Beth Allman with the most, and Briggs Freeman a close second.
(Two who also came were Ed Francis, the branch manager of Dallas' private mortgage bank and his new associatea, Stephanie Seeley. I liked both of them very much. I'll be sending them some business.)
There were two relatively new agents from Virginia Cook's agency. Both were not afraid to be entering the business in tough times. Both asked me how I get listings in that area where I have no prior pedigree. I told them.
Another agent came in the door with her cell phone stapled to her ear, and began a fast high-heel-clump-clump over the beautiful wood floors. Without thinking that we had never laid eyes on each other, I yelled at her, "Hang up and look at the home!" She quickly yelled back, "I will!" But within a few moments she had seen what it had taken months and way more than a million bucks to build, and was out of the front door. She had broken her promise, too. The cell was still stuck to her ear.
Later I looked her up. I gather she is newly licensed since there was no biography accompanying her name.
Two men drove up in a zillion year old beat up white convertible with the top down. They parked in the driveway. They were old-timers like me. They meticulously inspected the home then, as they were leaving, stopped to visit. They were seasoned, sell a lot, have survived at least most of the downturns I have, and have no reason to believe the beat up convertible has lesser standing than the new Lexuses and Mercedes that were coming and going from spaces at the curb.
One lady came in, and I'll swear, she was the perfect clone of a young French professor I had lived near and dated a few times when I was in graduate school. Both fabulously pretty. I restrained myself from telling the agent how lovely I thought she was, but I did have to tell her she reminded me of a French professor I'd known in my past life. She said with a smile that it wasn't she.
I wondered if the response came because she wanted me to know, as if I didn't already, that she was young enough to be my daughter, or if it was because her aptitude for learning French was as shallow as mine.
Later I looked her up. I don't know why I did. I hadn't needed to because I could tell by her behavior that she is one of the top sales performers, and has been for a long time.
But my overall impressions of the Open House experience were ones I could have predicted.
Relatively few Realtors are willing to invest the time to learn and know the product that is available for them to show to prospective buyers.
How they select what they will show is beyond me.
And in a market where buyers are not lined up to buy, many are willing to totally blame their lack of production on the Times rather than their lack of formal real estate education and unwillingness to invest the time necessary to build their business.
Sellers and buyers retain them anyway. And agencies hang their licenses, hoping that for their small investment, the agent will sell enough by accident to keep it all afloat.
BILL CHERRY, REALTORS
DALLAS - PARK CITIES
Our 45th Year!
214 503-8563
I find most of my buyers going online and telling me what they want to look at. I don't go to as many open houses as I used to. It is a time that is changing.
Bill, your observations can be applied across many professions in America today. It is sad to see the way we are headed, hopefully things will change.
Very interesting observations! And in response to the first comment...I agree times are changing but doing a job well takes effort! That will never change.
Boy, you sure are good at storytelling!!
Miss Terri, I'm sorry I don't see it as you do. Here's what I think:
If all we're good for is posting our listings on the internet, then sitting back until someone texts us that they'd like to see one, then why don't we just tell them to come by and pick up the key when they get to town.
If they like it, they can let us know when they bring the key back, and we'll write the contract then.
Naw, if you don't know your product, haven't seen and smelled the neighborhood, and carefully walked through the home, you're not doing your job.
Thanks, Miss Joanie and Brian.