For the last week I have been driving past an apartment building on my way to the office with a For Rent sign in front. An older gentleman in a cowboy hat is sitting on a folding chair next to the sign. I’ve seen him there in past years but this time I had to stop and talk to him. I wanted to find out more about him and his way of doing business.
I introduced myself and as I expected, he is the owner and builder of this building with six apartments. He’s retired and likes to meet the people who will eventually rent from him. He showed me the apartment and we had a great talk about real estate.
Very refreshing! This is the way real estate used to be done – face to face. When I received my real estate license 15 years ago, real estate agents would “present” offers to the Sellers in person. Of course there were no cell phones and email was just becoming popular. Now days offers are emailed, scanned or faxed back and forth with buyers, sellers and agents never meeting. Ok, I admit the world works faster now but sometimes I wish I could present my offer to the Seller so that my Buyer would have their offer looked at in a better light. Investors are snapping up properties that in my opinion should be going to first time buyers. The investors have cash and “cash is King” so they say. My buyers want a piece of the action!
