Hi, my name is....

Today we're starting a new segment, called "Tales From The Streets."

The most important part of a real estate business, is finding business.  There are multiple ways someone can try to drum up some business, but for myself, I've taken to DOOR KNOCKING!  DUN Dun dun...

The reactions I get before I ever even knock one door can probably be scary enough to discourage most people from venturing out into the neighborhood.  Other agents in the office, or even friends or family will ask, "what are you doing today?"  When I respond with door knocking, the most common reaction sounds something like this:

"(Quick inhale with painful grimace)Really?!?  Oh man, that's scary! I couldn't do that, how do you do that?!?  Well, good for you, I guess.  Good Luck, I'm sure you'll need it..."

At first, it was these initial reactions from people "experienced" in the area that slightly discouraged me.  But, I went for it anyway.  My plan was to find someone who door knocks regularly and to shadow them to see how it works.  When the waiting was taking too much time, I took it upon myself, and just went out.... probably not the best idea, being unprepared as I was.  But it was still an experience.  And get this, NOBODY attacked me, or yelled at me, or sent their dogs after me... or listed their house with me.  But none of those scenarios are to be expected, even the listing the house part. 

Since that first escapade, I have gotten significantly more comfortable.  I'm better prepared; what I usually bring is a basic Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) for the area I'm in, usually Wolf Creek, in South Temecula.  Most knocks go unanswered (even if I hear people inside), and I leave the CMA on a door hanger with my card, and usually a little note that I write on the CMA while I'm waiting at the door; something personal, unique about my short experience at their doorstep.  The knocks that do bring an owner to the door are usually pretty casual and short.  The range of response is quite broad, and I'll now share a couple of my favorites...

"Sleepy Time"

This one just happened yesterday.  After knocking on the door, I waited quite a while.  While I was writing a "sorry I missed you" note on the CMA, the door opened and a man was standing there, more than half asleep (the time was 4:00 pm), with his eyes barely open; actually they may have been closed, I couldn't tell.  My first reaction was "oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"  He responded with gurgly, "Mmm".  So, I told him what I was doing, and handed him the CMA while telling him what it was.  In almost one breath, he took the CMA, and without even looking at it he said in a low monotone voice, "Cool... here you go," and handed it right back.  Luckily, I was able to hold my laughter in until I was down the driveway, and he was probably back crashed out in his bed.

"Come On In!"

Usually when door knocking, you're happy to have a couple of minutes to speak with the homeowner, and develop a bit of rapport.  So I was pleased enough when speaking to the homeowner of this particular house for a few minutes.  We had discussed his other properties he owned, the vacant house across the street and the similarities between his house and the vacant house.  When he was having trouble describing the different options that were in his house, he invited me in to show me around.  I think he just wanted to show off...  The home, nearly 4,000 sf, was totally "duded" out on the first floor. One open den had a full sized Las Vegas blackjack table, and a legitimate Las Vegas Slot Machine.  On the other side of the wall from that den was the wet bar area, complete with the "booze closet."  The living room had the obligatory big screen TV mounted on the wall.  The backyard had an awesome pool. And the piece that he was most proud of was his RV parking space, "The ONLY one in Wolf Creek."  After about 15 minutes touring his house, including his 4 car garage with one corvette parked diagonally, I went ahead and invited myself to his next party.

That's all for today.  Make sure you check in for our next installment of:
"TALES FROM THE STREETS!"