\Priest"craft`\, n. ...an ill sense, fraud or imposition in
religious concerns; ...to gain wealth and power by working upon the religious motives or
credulity of others.
(courtesy of Dictionary.com).Personal experience:
Before I got my license I met an agent regarding an REO property up on Capitol Hill. We
met at her office and were talking about the property. Now, this property was listed with
her broker. So the broker is handling the listing and the agent that works for the broker
is handling my offer to buy the property right? She goes over the REPC with me and
everything was pretty normal, but it was wierd when she was going over the section that
included some of the "as-is" stuff that includes the furnace. She read it like 2X and
specifically mentioned "so if the furnace didn't work, for example, it wouldn't be
covered". So... I ask her "Do you have any knowledge that the furnace isn't working?"
What does she do? She's like... let me go check and see if we know anything about that.
She comes back later and tells me "Well, my broker, she has this board that has all
of the listings up on it, and it says something about the furnace being bad or
something."
Ok. You need to read between the lines. This agent works very
closely with the broker. She knew about this property before showing it to me. She didn't
say anything about the furnace being bad until I asked. Now, if you're a seller and you're
going to sell a house, if you know the furnace is bad, don't you have an obligation to
inform the buyer? Even if you're selling it as-is, you can't conceal material defects in
the house. She KNEW about the furnace problem before we started the REPC, and she thought
she'd be protecting either herself or her conscience by being so adamant about that section
of the REPC, and then she got nervous when I asked her point blank. Anyways, she realized
at that point that this wasn't a good thing.
So I want to paint you a picture:
I'm leaving her office, and she feels the deal hasn't gone very good. So, her keys were
on some counter with some documents she was gathering for me to take, and there is an LDS
keyring vial on the keyring right? So she looks at them, and then looks at me and smiles
and asks "Are you LDS?". "Yeah, I am." She picks up her keyring and shows me the keyring
vial and says "I just keep this around in case it's needed and the priesthood holders need
oil."
Ok - so this is plausible - but seriously, it was just strange. I can
count on one finger the # of women I've ever seen carrying around a keyring vial - before
OR since. Sure, maybe she does carry it around for the reasons she said. But maybe she
carries it around because she feels it's a symbol she can show potential clients that says
"I'm one of you." Maybe it was very innocent on her part, but to me it was in extremely
poor taste and was my first taste of priestcraft in real estate.
My second
experience, I'm meeting a real estate investor who found me online. I've really done a lot
of preparation for this meeting, and I've got lots of material to go over with her.
Speaking with her on the phone, I was able to learn what her goals were, and, like a lot of
people nowadays, she wanted to "flip" houses (after her manner of understanding
"flipping"). There are many successful people that do this in the area, not all of which
are technically "flipping" the properties, but many do purchase and sell through agents
within 60 days. So I showed her about 15 properties that had sold within 45 days of our
meeting where the seller had purchased at a substantially lower price within 60 days of the
sell. For each property, I was able to show what the investor purchased the home for, what
it was sold for, the history of the property, and what was done to the property in the
meantime.
We met, and we discussed at greater length what her goals were, what
I'd be able to help her with, and why I'd be able to help her. One of my biggest strengths
was in the preparation I'd put into helping her see that what she's trying to do, it's
being done all over the valley. I was also able to speak to her as a fellow investor,
having purchased a foreclosed property just a couple years previous which had since been
valued at double the purchase price (although I've chosen to rent this particular property
and don't wish to sell). I also had
Paul
Cramer, with me, and the value that he brings to investors is irreplaceable. With
investors in this valley tending to compete for houses in the <$170 range, it's not easy to
find deals on the Wasatch Front MLS for sale for less than 25% below market. That's why
many people that want to find margin go direct to the seller using the Ugly Yellow Signs,
or ads in the paper, or their rei groups, etc. So if you take a modest 25%, less any
purchase costs incurred by the buyer, less the refurb costs, less the 6% to sell the house,
you can see that you're not making as much money as you thought - especially when you're
taxed on short term capital gains. Paul educates investors on how to sell their homes
quickly, generally within one week. This benefits the investor by A) shortening the time
to sell, and B) reducing sales commission by selling himself.
My benefit would be to
help find the investor deals and make my money on the buy, then the investor would sell
using the One Week Home Sale techniques.
My potential investor client was
impressed with the presentation, and said "I really like what you've shown me, and I
believe that you will do me a great job. I'm very thorough, however, and I have scheduled
an appointment with one other Realtor I met online in the same way I met with you. I'd
like to keep my appointment, but I'm sure we'll be working together."
It felt
great that the preparation had helped her understand the possibilities that are out there,
and also the realities of the numbers - that it did involve time, it did involve work, and
it did involve money out of pocket. She walked away better educated, not having heard a
dog and pony show, but a real taste of how I'd help identify good potentials for
purchase.
So I get an email.
"I met with XXXXX XXXXXXXX, we met for a
time and I think I'm going to use him. He seems to be more spiritually in tune with what
my goals are. He had actually "googled" my name and brought with him an article that was
about me in the BYU alumni magazine. I'm sorry, maybe we can end up doing business
together in the future."
I never responded, because what am I going to say?
Here my wife and I were praying together every night that my real estate career would
succeed, but I don't seem spiritually in tune with her goals? Do I have to try to tie real
estate in with some mission stories? Should I have told her about how my wife and I had
just gotten back from the Palmyra Pageant on the then third anniversary of our marriage
there in the Palmyra temple?
This other agent didn't prepare the information I
did, instead, he astutely brought an article about her travelling from Russia to study at
BYU. This article would have given him the opportunity to talk about A) His attendance at
BYU B) His mission to Russia or someplace else or C) Ask about how the church is in Russia,
etc. etc.
Touche' my friend, Touche'. But I'm learning quickly... My last
listing described the house as such:
"The land from one end to the other
measures 24 cubits by 20 cubits. The roof is of fine worksmanship and is tight like unto a
dish. The pantry has room for a year's food storage. I know who Mohonri Moriancumr is,
buy this house."
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