When you’re in a rush, waiting is excruciating.  Even if you’re not in a particular hurry, the time spent waiting is still time you could spend on something else.  When we say that time is money, that’s actually an understatement, as you can always earn more money, but our time is finite.

A survey by research company Forrester found that 77% of consumers feel the most important thing a company can do is value their time.  Slightly below that at 75% was consumers feeling like the most important thing a company can do is not ask research companies to ask them what is most important to them.

In real estate, time is often of the essence and there are a number of ways in which we help our clients make the most of the time they spend buying or selling real estate.  Here’s a few:

  • Getting your mortgage approval set up before you find the home you love.
  • Preparing your home to look its best before you put it up for sale.
  • Buying or selling before the market shifts and you pay more or get less.
  • Seeing a potential property to buy before it sells.
  • Showing a home for sale to buyers before they buy something else.
  • Signing or reviewing offers before an irrevocable period expires.
  • Fulfilling a financing or home inspection condition before the allotted time expires.

With all of these time pressures, it’s pretty common to find buyers, sellers and their agents rushing into motion.  It’s also common to encounter missteps and wasted effort.

In the years that we’ve been working in real estate, we’ve come up a way to make sure to value our clients’ time by following three simple rules.

Rule #1 – Go deep.

In order to avoid wasting our clients’ time, we need to understand them.  Knowing someone wants to buy a house isn’t helpful.  Knowing they need a house that has a minimum of three bedrooms, with a backyard large enough for their annual family pig roast, two full washrooms (one with a bathtub for bathing the baby), within walking distance to a well-rated primary school, no more than two transfers from a subway stop and with a garage large enough for a 2021 Ford Expedition – that’s helpful.

Rule #2 – Watch carefully.

The majority of our clients start with some thoughts or expectations on what they are looking for in the purchase or sale of a home.  They may initially think they value certain attributes or feel a certain sale price is the most important aspect of an offer.  As we work towards the purchase or sale, it is very common for their thinking to evolve.  What was crucial becomes a “nice to have” and something they hadn’t initially considered at all becomes the prime reason to say “this is the one”.  We value our clients’ time by carefully watching what matters to them as shown by their reactions and actions, not just what they say matters to them.

Rule #3 – Come prepared.

The final rule is to both work with our clients as well as work for our clients.  We will spend a fair bit of time together, doing things we need to do together.  There will be significant work, however, that our clients do not need to be present for and they shouldn’t have to wait while we do it.  We come prepared for meetings, for showings, for all aspects of the sale or purchase of a property.  When questions come up that need some work to be answered properly, we set a time for the response and let our clients focus on their lives while we focus on doing that work.

The above rules seem pretty simple but just because something is simple doesn’t mean it necessarily will get done.  We follow the above rules so that our clients have their time valued and get the results they deserve.

If you are thinking of buying or selling real estate, know that it’s a considerable investment of your time.  You should absolutely choose an agent who values your time and does the work before, during and after their time spent directly with you, to get you what you want.

If that sounds appealing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.  We won’t waste your time, we promise.