Recently I had the pleasure of spending some time with a homeowner who is planning to put his property on the market. I had done my homework, and even had a listing agreement filled in except for a few key items. I was ready to take the listing on the spot, and begin looking for a buyer. However, the homeowner was on a different schedule, and not ready to sign. He still needed to "think about it." (How many times have we heard that?)

    Since then he has shown me the courtesy of phoning me to let me know he is still going to list his property -- but not necessarily with me. He has also interviewed another broker and agent, and they gave him some reasons why he would be smart to list with them, and he was highly impressed. But I am still on his short list.

    I told him there's nothing wrong with shopping around for a broker -- what else could I say? -- and I reminded him of things I do for my clients that my competitors don't, and the advantages of listing with me. Finally, I told him to follow his intuition, go with his gut, and he probably would make the right choice.

    In his frame of mind he probably would be turned off by being told he is going to make a mistake by not listing with me. It would come across as a sort of cheap shot at my competitors. Instead I assured him that they are very capable REALTORS, like myself, and I will respect whatever decision he makes.

    What I did not tell him, but what I was thinking, is: He's placing too much weight on the personalities of REALTORS and, possibly, making a decision by indecision. If he had signed the listing agreement when I visited him in his home, we would have kick-started the marketing process and, probably, by now would have shown the property at least once, maybe more times. He has lost marketing time which might have been profitable to him.

    What I know, that he may not know, is that we brokers and agents in our small MLS here in rural southern Georgia have similar marketing plans and strategies to a large extent. I offer my clients some advantages my competitors don't offer, but let's be fair about it: they can make the same claim. When you distill the comparisons down to their essence, we all do pretty much the same things for our clients and achieve pretty much the same results.

    Three things that set me apart are: 1) My listings get more Internet exposure by far than my competitors' do, 2) I give my buyers who are pre-approved for financing a one-year home warranty, which serves as an incentive for them to buy my client's house, and 3) when I procure the buyer myself, and there's no commission split, my client gets a nice break on the commission. As I told the gentleman, I'm the only broker who does those things for him, and I do them voluntarily. My laid-back demeanor, or another broker's more animated style, won't make or break a deal.

    What I'm looking for is a motivated seller who has his property priced right and ready to market, and a motivated buyer who likes what my seller is offering. When I bring the two together, good things happen.