(no subject)
I've discovered the only thing more difficult to deal with than the average mobile home buyer... the average mobile home salesman.
Yesterday started out great. I got myself all prepared to meet with Miss Molly, my first buying appointment. I left the house early and got the car cleaned. Got to her house and instantly had a report with her, her son, and her son's dog. When I took them to Magnolia Estates, they loved it just because her son (a 41-year-old mentally disabled but very sweet man) saw so many dogs running around the neighborhood. By 1:00pm I had a signed purchase agreement sent over to the other agency. By 1:30pm the other agent had called to say that they would accept the offer as long as I could provide an approval letter.
Now's where things go wrong. I headed over to Palm Harbor Homes, who sent Miss Molly to me in the first place. All along David has told me that she had a good bit of money available for land. At first he'd said $30,000, then changed it to $22,500. But at the $14,000 purchase price, either of those numbers would be fine even after including all the money for improvements. But no. He lied. His approval was at $7500. Completely impossible!
Worse yet, when I asked him about monthly payment, he told me that even at $7500 worth of land, she was at $660 a month. Molly thought she was at $515 with $33,000 in land (yep, another number)!! When I figured her debt-to-income ratio, I immediately recognized that Miss Molly's number was the max the banks would ALLOW her to pay. David's number was a complete pipe dream. Therefore even if I found her land that the owner would gratiously give to her out of the kindness of his heart, she still couldn't afford the home David has sold her.
Now, those who know me know that I am diplomatic to a fault. Even so, I came as close to blowing my top as I ever do. I began to threaten David that I would advise Molly to go to another company. He, of course, countered that he would never send me another customer. He, not being the diplomat that I am, told me how stupid I would be to burn him as a contact, blah, blah, blah. However, this gave me the delay I needed to realize that I needed to think more on the issue before speaking. To anyone who's read Stranger in a Strange Land: Waiting is. I needed the time to grok it. So I stuck a band-aid on the situation and soothed his ego, promising him that I had not meant my words to be a threat and that I realized the deal he'd offered her was a good one (In actually it, is. However, she still can't afford it.)
So I took the time to grok. And here's what I realized. David thinks he holds the cards and won't look up to realize that I'm the dealer. Should I burn the bridge with David, I lose nothing. There are no other real estate agents in the area who want to deal with land on a regular basis. And even if he finds a hungry new agent, I'd lay odds that they know NOTHING about mobile home sales and will throw more monkey wrenches into his deal than he can imagine. So what happens to a customer when he can't find them land? They go two blocks down the road to the next dealership, who promptly says, "Of course! I have a current list here of available land sent to me by Robin Evans, a real estate agent. Once you're preapproved, Robin will take you out to find the best peice within your price range. It's a program we have worked out." Which dealership do you think the customer will return to?
This situation did teach me a valuable lesson, though. When I set up the actual program (David found out by accident that I was in the business. I haven't approached the dealerships officially yet.), I will set the guidelines that I would be glad to advise the customers on generalities before they are preapproved. But before I get into my car and take them out to the potential pieces of land (or give them the addresses to do so themselves), I expect them to be preapproved with a solid number given to me for maximum price. I expect the salesman to communicate with me on debt-to-income, intrest rate, and payment. And should I discover that a salesman is directly lying either to me or the customer, I reserve the right to refuse to work for him.
Yesterday started out great. I got myself all prepared to meet with Miss Molly, my first buying appointment. I left the house early and got the car cleaned. Got to her house and instantly had a report with her, her son, and her son's dog. When I took them to Magnolia Estates, they loved it just because her son (a 41-year-old mentally disabled but very sweet man) saw so many dogs running around the neighborhood. By 1:00pm I had a signed purchase agreement sent over to the other agency. By 1:30pm the other agent had called to say that they would accept the offer as long as I could provide an approval letter.
Now's where things go wrong. I headed over to Palm Harbor Homes, who sent Miss Molly to me in the first place. All along David has told me that she had a good bit of money available for land. At first he'd said $30,000, then changed it to $22,500. But at the $14,000 purchase price, either of those numbers would be fine even after including all the money for improvements. But no. He lied. His approval was at $7500. Completely impossible!
Worse yet, when I asked him about monthly payment, he told me that even at $7500 worth of land, she was at $660 a month. Molly thought she was at $515 with $33,000 in land (yep, another number)!! When I figured her debt-to-income ratio, I immediately recognized that Miss Molly's number was the max the banks would ALLOW her to pay. David's number was a complete pipe dream. Therefore even if I found her land that the owner would gratiously give to her out of the kindness of his heart, she still couldn't afford the home David has sold her.
Now, those who know me know that I am diplomatic to a fault. Even so, I came as close to blowing my top as I ever do. I began to threaten David that I would advise Molly to go to another company. He, of course, countered that he would never send me another customer. He, not being the diplomat that I am, told me how stupid I would be to burn him as a contact, blah, blah, blah. However, this gave me the delay I needed to realize that I needed to think more on the issue before speaking. To anyone who's read Stranger in a Strange Land: Waiting is. I needed the time to grok it. So I stuck a band-aid on the situation and soothed his ego, promising him that I had not meant my words to be a threat and that I realized the deal he'd offered her was a good one (In actually it, is. However, she still can't afford it.)
So I took the time to grok. And here's what I realized. David thinks he holds the cards and won't look up to realize that I'm the dealer. Should I burn the bridge with David, I lose nothing. There are no other real estate agents in the area who want to deal with land on a regular basis. And even if he finds a hungry new agent, I'd lay odds that they know NOTHING about mobile home sales and will throw more monkey wrenches into his deal than he can imagine. So what happens to a customer when he can't find them land? They go two blocks down the road to the next dealership, who promptly says, "Of course! I have a current list here of available land sent to me by Robin Evans, a real estate agent. Once you're preapproved, Robin will take you out to find the best peice within your price range. It's a program we have worked out." Which dealership do you think the customer will return to?
This situation did teach me a valuable lesson, though. When I set up the actual program (David found out by accident that I was in the business. I haven't approached the dealerships officially yet.), I will set the guidelines that I would be glad to advise the customers on generalities before they are preapproved. But before I get into my car and take them out to the potential pieces of land (or give them the addresses to do so themselves), I expect them to be preapproved with a solid number given to me for maximum price. I expect the salesman to communicate with me on debt-to-income, intrest rate, and payment. And should I discover that a salesman is directly lying either to me or the customer, I reserve the right to refuse to work for him.