Reputation: Your Most Important Asset
By JD Esajian on October 30, 2013
Every decision you make in the real estate industry is viewed with relentless criticism. You may not realize it yet; but buyers, sellers, realtors, attorneys and fellow investors notice everything you do over the course of a transaction. They may not say anything to you at the time, but things you say or do will certainly be stored away in their mind for future reference. At some point, if you wonder why you didn’t get a deal, you can look back to the dealings in the past. Everything you do matters and your reputation is the most important asset you have in your business.
If you are constantly fighting over small items or relatively small amounts of money, a realtor will surely remember the difficulty it requires to work with you. It is more important to look at the big picture. Maybe you could get a credit after the inspection or get the deal for a lower price, but at what cost? If you continue to make this a habit with your offers, you can be sure your relationships will sustain irreparable damage.
The same principal applies to the relationship you share with your attorney. Yes, your attorney works for you and only gets paid when you close, but that does not mean you have a monopoly on their time. If you make every question an urgent request, sooner or later the impact wears off and they will start to get turned off by your requests. Unless the request is for a transaction currently in process, there is no need to call or email multiple times throughout the day. Of course they don’t have to ignore you, but as long as you feel they are working accordingly, let them do they job they were trained to do. If you continue to damage the relationship you share with your attorney, they may neglect working with you in the future.
Conduct yourself in an ethical manner that places your priorities at the same level of your partners will go a long way in this business. This is what you should do and what others will proceed to judge you on. If you make it a point to attract attention to yourself for not taking advantage of a situation, you plant the seeds of doubt in the people you work with. Savvy individuals in the business will know if you did the right thing without announcing it. The people involved in your transaction know the deal and will appreciate your ethic. Most likely, you will not hear a word if you do the right thing.
People want to work with other people they are confident in. If you are unpleasant to be around and have questionable morals, your admiration may be in jeopardy. You may not even know it until you start to see a slide in your business. All it takes is one bad deal or one blow up for you to earn a reputation. A majority of the deals in this industry are a direct result of quality relationships. Your reputation will go a long way in deciding if people want to work with you or not.