(post by BT) I got a lead from a client of mine who said the lady next door wanted me to call her - she’s ready to sell. Great! I call her to talk property and business, she starts gossiping right away like a local news reporter. Who? What? Why? When? Where? Soon enough, she begins gossiping about my client’s tenants. “They fight all the time. He beats her late at night. (poor lady, I know for fact from the owner tenants are doing the nasty, very loud, until the wee hours!) I don’t want to make her wrong the first time I talk to her, so I agree with her. Immediately, she tells me “I don’t blame him. If I were him I would beat her at least twice a day. She is a whore.” In my head I say ‘I thought you wanted to sell. What are talking about here?’ As if reading my mind, she says we can talk about selling in two weeks. ??? So we continue with the gossip…

Which brings me to this point… That’s what’s required to get a listing. Sometimes I spend 5-10% of the time talking about the business, and they take 90% yapping about nothing. I am so used to it by now, that when I get a client who is all business and doesn’t talk about his/her family, neighbors and neighborhood, I get confused. With those people I really have to sell myself and my services. Realtor’s job is to listen and nod, it appears.

She then tells me she is going to report my client for working on his building with no permits, and calls him names for “renting to such lowlifes”. How nice a neighbor are you talking about him this way, I ask, but she doesn’t even hear me… I squeeze in a few questions about her property, but somehow she finds a way to blah, blah again. Oh man, this call is hurting my head. Finally, I get her to commit a bit and she says “How about you come by this weekend.” 90% nonsense, 10% business. Weird formula for results.