Moving Is An Emotional Experience

Guest contributor Jose Perez of PCMS Consulting says:

Some of you may know that I just moved from Atlanta to Miami. My wife and I are recent empty nesters, and decided to downsize from our big suburban house in Atlanta for condo life in Miami. Although we have bought and sold many homes over the years, for some reason this move was the most emotional, complicated, and stressful of our lives.

Because it was the first move since I started PCMS — a company dedicated to the innovation and reinvention of the brokerage industry — it was also the most enlightening as it relates to the real estate professionals and brokerages we have come into contact with since we decided to move. So far, our experiences have confirmed the fears we all have: Our industry just does not deliver a consistent consumer experience.

Let's go back about 20 months when we went to Miami to see our families for the Christmas holidays. My wife and I met in Miami and our parents live here, so we have very deep roots in the Miami area. Our plan was always to move back when the kids were grown. As we sat on the balcony having coffee one morning in South Beach, we looked and each other and said, "What are we waiting for?" At the time our youngest was a senior in high school so we figured we could make a move within nine to 12 months. Our real estate search began that morning in December 2011!

Lesson #1

Put lead management systems in place to capture the consumer months (or years!) before they are ready to list or buy.

Since I know so many people in the industry, when I got back to Atlanta I called a couple of folks to let them know I was interested in potentially selling my home, and called another couple of folks in Miami to let them know I was planning on relocating in the next year or so. Bear in mind, we lived in a relatively high-end area of Atlanta and were looking in a relatively high-end area of Miami. In other words, we were not selling or shopping for $150,000 condos — we represented significant commissions for the agents representing us.

Sure enough, I got names and numbers on both ends. Here's the tale of the sell side first:

• I spoke to one of the agents referred to me. He was nice enough but we were having a hard time getting together for him to come see my home. Enough tries and either he gave up or I did. Don't remember, don't care — but I got the impression he was not that interested. In any case, on to the next agent.

• She was nice enough, professional, etc. Told us our home probably was not worth what we needed to sell it for so we decided to wait a few months and promised we would use her when we were ready. She never kept in touch, which surprised me given how nice and professional she seemed, but I was busy, so I didn't worry about it much.

• Several months went by and I thought I should reach out to her (why wasn't she reaching out to me?) to see how things were progressing in the market. It took me several phone calls and emails to get her to contact me. When she finally did sometime late in 2012, she convinced me I should wait until the spring when I could probably get a better price and the market was bound to be more active.

Again, she disappeared, which got me thinking that if she is acting this way before the listing, what is she going to do after? She may have had legitimate reasons or was really busy, but what was it saying about her and her real estate firm?

Next time I'll discuss what we ended up deciding regarding our Atlanta home, and what was going on in Miami in the meantime. I wonder if you would have done the same if you were in my shoes...

To view the original article, visit the PCMS Consulting blog.