Buying or Selling a Home? Surround Yourself with People Who Answer the Damn Phone

Buying or Selling a Home? Surround Yourself with People Who Answer the Damn Phone

I have learned a lot working in the mortgage and real estate business over the years, but one of the more interesting lessons came from networking in different cities. No two real estate markets operateexactly the same way. Every city has its own culture, its own pace, its own way of doing business, and apparently, its own interpretation of whether answering the phone is still part of the job.

I am learning the last one in real time.

You would think that in an industry built almost entirely around communication, answering your phone or returning a call within a reasonable amount of time would be fairly standard.Apparently, that assumption was a little ambitious.

Look, I get it. People are busy. Real estate agents are showing homes. Mortgage lenders are structuring loans. Attorneys are reviewing contracts. Title companies are clearing title. Insurance agents are putting together quotes. Everyone has meetings, families, clients, and about 400 emails sitting in the inbox.

But there is a difference between being busy and being unreachable.

Especially when someone is trusting you with one of the largest financial transactions of their life.

Think about it from the perspective of a homebuyer. You might be purchasing a $500,000, $750,000 or $1 million home. You are putting tens of thousands of dollars into the transaction. You have an earnest money deadline, a home inspection, an appraisal, mortgage underwriting, homeowners insurance, title work, financing contingencies, and a closing date all moving at the same time.

Then something happens…Because something ALWAYS happens.

Maybe the seller sends a counteroffer and wants an answer tonight. Maybe the home inspection uncovers an issue. Maybe the appraisal comes in lower than the purchase price. Maybe your mortgage underwriter needs clarification on a deposit. Maybe the title company discovers something that needs to be addressed before closing.

So you call the person who is supposed to help you. Voicemail. You send a text. Nothing. You send an email. Silence.

Three hours later, you start wondering whether this person is busy or has entered the witness protection program.

Eventually you get the response. “Sorry. Crazy day.” Of course it was. Everyone has crazy days.

But here is the question I think homebuyers and sellers should ask before choosing a real estate agent, mortgage lender, attorney, or anyone else involved in their transaction.

What happens when their crazy day becomes your emergency? That question changes how you evaluate people.

Most homebuyers spend a lot of time searching for the best mortgage rates, comparing mortgage lenders, researching real estate agents, calculating monthly mortgage payments, and trying to determine how much house they can afford. Those things matter. But what happens when you find the lowest mortgage rate and cannot reach your lender when your financing contingency is about to expire?

Was it really the best mortgage lender?

The same applies when choosing a real estate agent. Production matters. Market knowledge matters. Negotiating experience matters. But if your agent sells $50 million of real estate every year and takes nine hours to return your call while you are negotiating a multiple offer situation, how much does that production number help you at that moment?

That does not mean your real estate agent or mortgage lender should be available 24 hours a day. That is unreasonable. People have lives. The question is whether they communicate. There is a massive difference between unavailable and unresponsive.

If I am tied up and cannot speak with someone immediately, it takes about ten seconds to send a message saying, “I am tied up for the next hour. Can I call you at 6:30?”

Problem solved.

The client knows I received the message. They know when they will hear from me. They are not sitting there wondering what is happening. That is not some advanced customer service strategy.

It is communication!

This is also why I have never completely understood when someone tells me they are too busy to answer their phone as though being unreachable is somehow evidence of success.

If your business depends on clients, isn’t communicating with those clients part of the business? And if someone is consistently too busy to respond before you become their client, what do you think happens after they already have your business?

That is probably a more important question than people realize.

When choosing a mortgage lender or real estate agent, most people interview professionals based on what those professionals have accomplished. Maybe there is another way to approach it?

Instead of asking only, “How many homes did you sell last year?” ask, “When something goes wrong during my transaction, what should I expect from you?”

Instead of asking only, “What mortgage rate can you offer me?” ask, “If I have a financing question at 7 pm because we are writing an offer, how does your team handle that?”

Instead of asking only about years of experience, ask, “How often will I hear from you once we are under contract?”

Then listen.

You are not looking for the person who gives you the answer you want to hear. You are trying to understand how they operate when there is pressure. Because buying a home is pretty easy when everything goes according to plan. You learn considerably more about your real estate team when it doesn’t.

Suppose you are buying a $750,000 home in a competitive real estate market. There are multiple offers. The listing agent sends your real estate agent a counteroffer and gives you two hours to respond. Before accepting it, you need to understand how the higher purchase price affects your down payment, closing costs, mortgage payment, and cash needed at closing.

You call your mortgage lender. Voicemail. You text. Nothing. You call again. Nothing.

Congratulations! You are now playing a $750,000 game of Where is My Lender?

Now take the exact same homebuyer in the exact same situation with a responsive real estate team.

The buyer calls the lender. The lender answers or calls back quickly. They run the updated mortgage numbers. The real estate agent speaks with the listing agent. Everyone understands the situation. The buyer gets the information they need and makes an informed decision.

Same property. Same purchase price. Same real estate market. Completely different homebuying experience.

What changed?

The people surrounding the buyer.

That is why I think homebuyers should evaluate responsiveness before they ever write an offer on a house.

Ask your mortgage lender what their communication process looks like during mortgage preapproval and underwriting. Ask your real estate agent how quickly they typically respond when you are negotiating an offer. Ask who covers for them when they are unavailable. Ask how frequently you will receive updates once you are under contract.

You might be surprised by what you learn.

Because when you are choosing the people who will represent you during a home purchase or home sale, you are not simply choosing resumes.

You are choosing how problems will be handled. You are choosing who will communicate when something changes. You are choosing who will tell you the truth when the answer is not what you hoped to hear. You are choosing who will be available when an important decision must be made. And sometimes the person with the biggest social media following, the most transactions, or the flashiest marketing is absolutely the right person.

Sometimes they aren’t.

How would you know without asking? After working in real estate and mortgage lending across different markets, I have become much more interested in the simple things.

Does the person answer? Do they return calls? Do they communicate clearly? Do they follow through when they say they are going to do something? Do they treat your transaction like it matters?

Those things are difficult to put on a billboard. They become very important when your money is on the line.

So if you are buying a home, selling a home, applying for a mortgage, or getting ready to enter the real estate market, spend some time thinking about who you are surroundingyourself with.

The best real estate agent or the best mortgage lender for you might not be the person who tells you everything you want to hear. It might be the person willing to ask better questions, point out something you have not considered, tell you when a deal does not make financial sense, and pick up the phone when you actually need them.

Because problems in real estate rarely schedule themselves between 9 am and 5 pm.

When several hundred thousand dollars of your money is involved, hearing “Your call is very important to us” probably isn’t the relationship you were looking for.

Sometimes the standard really can be this simple.

Answer the damn phone.