Should I Give Him Another Chance?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay, I’m calling on the impeccable collective opinions of dopers to help me decide what to do.

I’m a real estate agent. There is a house for sale in a very exclusive area and this house is in a severe state of disrepair but I have already had some of my clients look at the house and make offers. Offers are to be submitted to the courts since the owner died with no heirs. The house can be gutted and rehabbed, but at a great cost. I suspect someone will pay 700K to upwards of 1mil for this property. Once they rehab it, they could probably sell it for around 3mil. Just gorgeous, huge piece of land, etc. Buyer cannot build new as it has historical status.

So, I was showing the house and a neighbor dropped by and said, “I want to see this house. I want to buy it and rehab it. I’ve been waiting for it to come on the market…” with the burning passion of a thousand suns and so forth. I tried to tell him a few things about the house but he was not listening, kept interrupting and so on…one of those, as my first impression. So I say somthing along the lines of “I’m showing it right now, but I’d be happy to show it to you when I’m done.” I don’t know how long my first showing is going to take, so I say, “Tell me where you live and I’ll come and get you when I’m done.” He gives me his name and address…with this information, I feel comfortable showing the house later.

I’m done with my other client and I go to the person’s house and he tells me he’s on the phone with work and can’t talk to me right now, but leave my information, etc. So I leave my card and lo and behold, he does call me later. Also, in our phone discussion, he continuously interrupts me and tries to dominate the conversation-maybe he’s just enthusiastic.

I call back and we set up an appointment. I show up for the appointment and wait 20 minutes. No show. No call. So, I’m thinking, “OK, I’m done.” I leave.

My phone is ringing about 1-1/2 hours after the appointment and I’m doing something else, so I let them leave a message. I don’t know who it is calling me, but a part of me is hoping it’s him calling to apologize.

Well, he leaves a message, is extremely apologetic and actually says something along the lines of “I beg you to forgive me.” He had an emergency (he didn’t share what the emergency was) and couldn’t even get to the phone until now. This person does have a cell phone.

Initially I was thinking, “I do not want to deal with this person.” and now I’m starting to soften. I try to make it a point to not deal with people who are disrespectful of my time, but I do try to be forgiving of extenuating circumstances. I feel like he blew me off twice (including the time when I went to his house and he was busy with work). He didn’t mention what the “emergency” was (there’s a difference between a “work” emergency and having to take your child to the doctor). Maybe I gave him a clue that he could be disrepectful of me because I agreed to show him the house right away instead of making him wait for an appointment.

So what do you guys think? Should I give up on this person or give him one more chance? The upside is that he could end up being a good client. The downside is that he could end up being a complete drain of my time and energy, not be a profitable client, and refer me to people who are like him.

Sorry for the long post, further questions welcome.

2

He sounds a bit flaky personally, but if he has the bucks to back up his fervor I’d say give him another chance.
Can’t really hurt.
Bring some paperwork or cell phone calls to return just in case.
If he pulls it again, let him know that you’re busy and he may want to consider speaking with a buyer’s agent to set up a showing appointment.

3

My instinct here says that this guy has no concept of other people’s time being as valuable as his own. I would go ahead and make another appointment with him, making sure that you minimize your inconvenience factor - make the appointment for when you’ll already be in the neighbourhood, etc. I’ve had some friends like this - I could still make plans with them, but I had to make sure that we met somewhere where I could read or something while waiting for them, because I always had to wait for them.

If he blows you off again, I say forget him. He’s not serious about buying.

4

The guy is a self-important twit.

For the commission on a 700K house, I would certainly give him another shot.

5

The dopers have spoken. I called back and he asked if I was the listing agent (which I’m not). Apparently, that killed it-he said he had thought I was the listing agent and he’d call me back. Riiiiight. Chalk that one up to experience, I guess!

6

I’m also a real estate agent (commercial). When someone behaves the way you described most female agents would be well advised to have a male agent or acquaintance accompany them the next time you see this person (even if they just sit in the car). Hyper-intense flakey types can be harmless, but sometimes it’s a sign of other problems.

7

Thanks astro…I feel cared for :slight_smile: