Sacramento Home Journal

Purva Brown
June 26th, 2007
All the Rest
4 Comments

I had lunch with two of my best business associates today at a Mexican Restaurant I wish I could remember the name of (and swore to myself I would) and thought, “Well, this is really what the real estate business should be like.” And then realized, this IS what the business is. It’s about getting the best people together and then making sure everyone gets what they want.

As Realtors, we’re sometimes sidetracked by the all the glamor, the pictures on the Open House Signs, the paperwork, the (shudder!) scripts. Sure, we’re salespeople. But what else is sales but getting people to like you? And if you can help them get what they want, why won’t they like you?

Last year, I promised my clients to provide only the best people - lenders, property inspectors, contractors, and of course, their Realtor, me! Today’s business lunch was in keeping with that promise. One of those people was my new broker-friend-fellowwriter John Lockwood (whom you know enough about now) and the other was my mortgage consultant Huck Ferrill.

The story behind how I met Huck is pretty interesting. I was working in Prudential at the time and was pretty brand new as an agent. I had no contacts, no one I knew except for the company recommended vendors. You know, the kind that hover around the front door and send you cookies and bagels and turn you into lambs for slaughter! Around that time, I also had some clients with challenged credit and some other shady lenders not worth mentioning here because of whom buying a house for myself turned into an absolute nightmare.

That was when I decided & promised my clients I would only have the best people for them to work with. Too many deals go sour at the signing table and make me as a realtor look bad. So the search began. I sent out form letters to about 25 local mortgage professionals. About three answered personally. Two with a phone call and Huck with an email and a reference. Of the two that called, one has quit the business (nice, honest guy, though - maybe too nice?) and the other was just cold when I came to see him. I mean, here I am, trying to set up a busines relationship and he isn’t even friendly!

Huck was completely different and I knew it the moment I met him. He wanted to explain interest rates, the people involved behind the curtains, not just what the loan meant to me. What’s more, he is a real estate investor himself - an acquirer of real estate - much like me and believes in personal service just like I do.

If you want to be successful, you must surround yourself with successful people. John and Huck are definitely it! You can reach Huck Ferrill at 916-788-9802

4 Responses to “Real Estate Business Lunch”

• John Lockwood 26June2007

  Thanks — and I enjoyed version one as well. Thanks for the compliment.

• Huck Ferrill 27June2007

  Thanks for the kind words, Purva. I too, believe in working with the best. As a lender, I try to remember what it was like the first time I ever bought a house ($14,250 for a condo in San Jose), and address what were my concerns then, as I counsel first time buyers. I think it removes some of the dread associated with the whole process. I think if I can do that, AND deliver what the buyer expects, everyone involved will count the transaction as successful.
  Oh yeah, the restaurant was Cocina de Oro and it’s gotta be one of El Dorado County’s best kept secrets. Best chili verde I’ve had outside New Mexico!

• John Lockwood 27June2007

  Huck: Colina de Oro. (”Hills of Gold”) Cocina de Oro is “Kitchen of Gold”.
  It’s amazing what you can remember and how you can quickly learn Spanish words if you use Google to back you up.

• Sacramento Home Journal » Sacramento real estate market - how will the slump end? 29June2007

  […] That sentence got too long, so let me begin again. While talking about our potential buyers, Huck my preferred mortgage consultant and I got into an email commentary of the Sacramento real estate market and how it will end […]

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