This past Sunday was Fathers day, and my two daughters Margot and Jenna and my wife took us all out to lunch to celebrate.
We had a nice lunch and great time and got back home about 2:00. The plan was to spend the day lounging around the pool having a relaxing afternoon. No work, no open house, just a day to goof off and be with my family. It was really nice.
Just as I was getting into the relaxation groove I got a call from a woman, someone I'd never met, who wanted to know if I could show her a house that was for sale here in the Tucson Foothills, and do it that afternoon. During the week she worked and wouldn't be able to go until about 6 o'clock. It's not really what I wanted to do at that moment.
So I wanted to know more. She was moving here from Dallas, and had already started work here, and her husband and kids would follow as soon as she found a house for them.
She briefly explained the kind of house she was looking for and that she was interested in this particular house because on a $/sq ft basis it was very inexpensive. I agreed that it was, but also wondered why it had been on the market for five months when it was priced about 20% under market. Seemed to good to be true.
I speculated that there might be some flaw, the kind of flaw that you can't fix or change, that was not apparent in the listing, but I didn't know for sure because I'd never seen the house in person.
I asked how she happened to call me for this showing and she said that she'd spent a lot time reading about the Foothills on my web site and blog, and found it all very informative and helpful and she really liked it too.
Well, compliments will get you everywhere, and before I knew it I was making arrangements to meet her and show her the house.
It was a very nice house, but sure enough, there was a flaw that couldn't be fixed or changed, let's call it a location flaw.
So that was that. But we seemed to be getting along very well, and she asked if I could show her a few areas of the Foothills that she'd read about on my blog.
We cruised around and talked specifics about what she and her family needed in a house, and the fact that she needed to find a house relatively soon so the kids could get registered for school.
We talked about the Foothills, different areas, different types of homes, the current state of the market, etc.
All good stuff and a nice easy going conversation. And now and then we stopped to look at a few homes that were vacant, where we could just pop in.
When I brought her back to her car we sat and talked for quite a while and we seemed to easily and mutually get to the point where we agreed to work together and that I'd help her find the house.
We talked about how we'd proceed from there and made some loose arrangements to look at houses during the week after she was done with work.
OK, that was a very productive three hours, I learned what they need and she learned some stuff about the Foothills. We're off to a good start and I've got a new client that I like and that I know I can really help. But I had to get moving on this because they needed to find a home soon.
So Monday morning I went through the MLS and pulled some listings that fit the criteria. Then I went out and previewed the ones I hadn't seen before.
Later that day when I got back, I called her and left a voicemail to remind her to send me an email so I'd have her address to email her these listings. Tuesday I left another voicemail.
She never returned my calls, I can't reach her, and now I have no desire to. That's rude, really rude.
And not because she's apparently decided to not work with me, she doesn't have to work with me, no matter how swimmingly we got on.
But a simple phone call to say so would be common courtesy.
Next Fathers day I'm staying put.