The Real Estate Agent Who Called Back

No, this is not an imaginary story, dream, or fantasy post. We actually had a real estate agent who called us back today! If you are wondering why this is a big deal, you obviously haven't dealt with real estate agents recently. We barely hear from our own agent in Pine City who has listed and - finally - sold our house. Trying to find someone in Florida to return a call - because they never answer their phones! - was difficult. I even tried contacting an old friend I grew up with who manages properties and even he never called back.

So how did we find a real estate agent who would call us? We went through Dave Ramsey's web site, clicked on his real estate Endorsed Local Provider (ELP) link, and found one in Florida near where we will be moving. In a few minutes we had a name (Steve DuToit) and contact info for our agent and in less than 24 hours we got a call from the agency with a very helpful agent who is assisting us in searching for a rental in the area. Dave comes through for us again! I know they are careful to endorse only great agents which makes me feel good about who we are working with.

It's pretty sad, in a sense, that something as simple as returning a phone call/email/etc. can make such a huge impact but so few do it. I can't tell you the number of churches I've contacted whom I've never heard from again. Several years ago this happened with a large well-known church in the Madison area. We had spent the entire day meeting on site with the search team and the senior pastor (who also gave us a tour of the city). We left with a great impression and were never contacted again - no email or anything to indicate that we had ever been there or been under consideration! Seriously, for churches that are supposed to be caring for people, the way they treat potential candidates is abysmal. I suppose it does give you a clue to the church leadership and culture, though.

In any event, we now have a realtor in the area we can work with and you can bet we'll be in touch in a few years when we're ready to buy another house. How hard would it have been for one of the other agents we tried to contact to reply? They could have had a faithful customer (and a cool write-up on our blog!)