Friday, May 29, 2009

this stuff only happens to me

We have a broker who is a family friend, and we used her when we bought our current house. She came over yesterday to do a whole market analysis and give us advice on what to do to the house before we can sell it, and to talk us through whether we should sell it at all. She was incredibly helpful, and I'm 99.9% sure we are going to use her, but I keep hearing that we should get another opinion, another set of eyes on the house.

My neighbor's house sold in less than a week just a few months ago, so I decided to give her broker a try. That broker is someone I've run into numerous times, she lives right in the neighborhood, and she seems to be a high seller and power player in my town. I thought her opinions would be good ones.

I called the brokering firm and asked for her, let's call her Judy Whazhername as a pseudonym. They connect me to her, and I start saying that she sold the house across the street from me, I've met her before, blah blah blah. She doesn't comment on any of those things, but she does say she'd be happy to come by and give me an estimate and talk house selling tips and estimates. I say great, and I clean like a crazy woman for her arrival today at 11am.

I open the door promptly at 11am, and a woman I have never seen before is standing there. I'm a little thrown off when she holds out her hand and introduces herself as Judy, but then I realize there is another woman behind her who looks somewhat like what I remember Judy looking like. She introduces her as Martha, but I am so confused by the whole thing (and sleep deprived, remember), I assume I've misunderstood and Judy is the other woman and this one is Martha. I'm still a little thrown because Judy looks slightly different, but close enough, short blond hair, same build, tall, I figure I'm just mistaken.

Anyway, we start the whole tour of the house and they are a little timid for my tastes. I am looking for some serious opinions/advice since this is my first house sale, and I really want you to tell me what to do. Tell me exactly which books you would move, which chairs and furniture and curtains you would switch around. Tell me my closets are too cluttered and my cabinets need work. Whatever, just guide me and I'll do it, no questions asked.

We would go into the bedrooms and they would just stand there and admire from afar, and that was a little annoying to me also. I want you to ooh and aah over my beautiful closet and tell me my son's room is adorable (which is what our other broker did), or say you hate it. Regardless, we get through the whole tour and settle into the living room for their appraisal.

She hands me a booklet and I read out of the corner of my eye that the name at the top of the listing analysis is Judy Whozhername, NOT Judy Whazhername whom I was originally looking for, and suddenly everything becomes abundantly clear. But what do I do now? We've just finished the whole tour, they've prepared this whole analysis, and it is so AWKWARD! I think she must know she's not the person I was looking for, because I said she sold the house across the street from me and I assume she knows what houses she's sold and she never said anything! Plus, maybe she even looked up the house across the street and knew full well that a fellow agent from her same firm sold the house!

So I did what I do best. I sat there and smiled and nodded through her presentation and tried to get through it as quickly as possible before escorting them out and calling Josh to ask what the heck I am supposed do now! What are the odds that both a Judy Whozhername AND a Judy Whazhername work at the same firm??? We eventually decided to call Judy Whazhername anyway- I explained the whole ridiculous awkward situation, and she's coming over tomorrow. What do I do about the first two agents, though? Do I call and tell them the whole confusing story or do I just say thanks, but no thanks we've decided to go with someone else? HELP!

4 comments:

Stacy said...

Personally I would just let it go and not call the other agents. They have alot of people call them to do this and then they never hear from them again because they picked someone else.
If the correct Judy thinks they should know, she will tell them since they work at the same firm.
Chalk it up to being the receptionst fault for not giving you the correct Judy to start with!
:)

Rev Dr Mom said...

And why didn't she tell you she wasn't the one who sold the house across the street?

I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you end up liking her proposal best.

Montreal Mama said...

That's the type of thing that would happen to me too.

Hope it works out with the 2nd Judy. Can't wait to hear how it goes.

Maribeth said...

For me I would have given the tour and ended up finding out they were Jehovah Witnesses or Amway Distributors.
Don't worry about it and go with whomever makes you feel comfortable!