My long time friend and Realtor brethren Rik Liddell of Berkshire Hathaway is fond of saying, “We play in a small sandbox.” It’s true, both of us have been in the business more than 20 years, and we know most of the Realtors in Marin. If we don’t know someone, there’s literally only one degree of separation. Rik and I worked at Bradley Real Estate back in the day, before I left for Coldwell Banker in 2018 and Rik transitioned to Berkshire. I keep in touch with Rik because he’s a good man, and quite the real estate sage.
We’ve sold so many homes and worked with so many other Realtors over the years, we know the people who have been around like us. 1 in 5 Realtors don’t last more than 2 years. Only 1 in 10 last more than 5 years. You make it past those first five, and you pretty much become a lifer, a fixture in the real estate community. Those of us who stick around, we share a commonality of living the real estate life, for better and worse. There are a couple of bad apples in our bunch, but we all know who they are. It’s such a small sandbox, if you are a bad apple, word spreads quickly. We all have reputations, and there is nothing more important than maintaining a good reputation.
Earlier this week I made an offer for a buyer on a property in San Rafael. My buyer didn’t get it. They were outbid in a blind process administered by the County. Later in the week I called a Realtor I have sold several homes to because I have a unique new listing and I was confident she would have a buyer. Not only did she have a buyer for my property, when we got to talking about the market it turned out she had the buyer who had outbid my buyer earlier in the week! It’s a small sandbox.
When we interview with sellers to represent them, most often we know the Realtors we are competing against. We know their strengths and weaknesses. Any good Realtor knows how to effectively differentiate themselves and communicate their competitive advantages. Just today I was at a listing appointment and the seller mentioned three other Realtors who they would be interviewing. I knew them all of course. They are all good Realtors, which I let the sellers know. It’s important not to talk poorly about other Realtors and even acknowledge their strengths.
If someone else gets to represent those sellers, I’ll be happy for their success. I’m always excited to see Realtors get homes to sell, even if those homes are in my neighborhood. Even if I interviewed for the job and didn’t get it. It’s important to celebrate each other’s success. If I miss out on something, that’s on me. 90% of listing appointments I go on I end up getting, but when I don’t, I use those experiences to try to figure out how to improve for the next time. That’s really the only way I know how to play in our small sandbox.