I wanted to share with you a story about my day to day work habits, and how they have paid off. As a Chicago Realtor I am often asked what I do all day. Since most people know that a Realtor works with clients, who often work steady job themselves, most of my client time is nights and weekends. People often wonder how I spend my days from 9 to 5. The simple answer I give is that I work on the computer most days (I also do other Real Estate activities which I will share in later post). I work on articles for my Blog, checking the MLS for properties, communicating with clients and prospecting for business (working with leads.) This is the short and easy answer. What I wanted to share with you was one of the little things I do that has helped me become a better buyer agent. As a buyer agent, we are expected to know what types of properties, Condo or Single Family Homes, are available. We are also expected to know the price range for any particular Chicago neighborhood. One of the things I wanted to do was to get an inside edge on my competition. I thought about how I could do this and I came up with the idea to put myself in the shoes of the buyer. Our website Chicago Home Estates works very hard on capturing buyers and bringing them to our website. Now, I know that a buyer who is on our website is probably on another Real Estate website as well. So I thought I should do the same. Since we send out updates to our clients about new properties, I thought I might as well receive updates from other websites just like a buyer. How this has paid off for me is that I was registered on another Chicago Real Estate website and received information about a 2 bedroom condo in Lincoln Square that was not yet on the MLS. I immediately contacted a client who was looking for exactly this type of condo, in Lincoln Square, and we were able to view the condo before it even went on the MLS. This little bit was responsible for me securing a client as their buyer agent. My clients were impressed that I was on top of the inventory of 2 bedroom condos in Lincoln Square, and wanted to use me a their buyer agent. I am always looking for new ways to stay up on the inventory of Chicago properties. I do not claim to know about every condo and Single Family Home in Chicago. There are far too many for anyone to keep track off. Since I live in Lincoln Square, I try to be especially updated on the inventory in Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Uptown, Irving Park, Lakeview and Lincoln Park. As I said earlier I will share other activities I do as a Chicago Realtor from 9 to 5 in later post.
