Hi Mike:

Does that include taking chicken soup to a client who is down with the flu?  

I'm with you.  Sometimes that little extra makes all the difference.  And guess who they'll remember because you made time and stood out above all the others?

Way to go!!!

Hmmm....where do I begin on the things we have done to keep a deal together.  

The biggest one I remember was myself and my broker having to pay for a $5,000 survey to keep the deal together.  It was a million dollar vacant land deal and they HAD to have the survey in order to close, but were refusing to pay for it and were ready to let the deal die over it!  We were sitting at the closing table, and they were refusing to pay for it!  Hell NO this deal isn't going to fall apart at the closing table!  LOL!  We sucked it up and paid for it to make the deal go through!  We also had to take a reduced commission on the deal to make it fly for everyone.  We ended up losing about $10,000 on that deal in possible commissions we could of had, but the other $12,000 we did get was better than nothing!

My broker has had to pay for appliances, I have personally hand delivered papers to get last minute signatures on things and then drove them to wherever they needed to go.  I have given up part of my commission to make a deal work for a seller if the bottom line wasn't quite there and they were willing to blow a deal over $1,000.  

On the last deal I did, I ended up having to pay for the apprasial, termite inspection, home inspection and a home warranty to keep that deal together because the lender screwed up on how much the buyers closing costs were really going to be and she didn't have the other $1,000 to cover all the expenses, so we did.

Today, as a matter of fact I am headed out to go pay $110 to a stinkin' condo association for them to expedite an association approval for another family member they want added onto the Title so we can get this deal closed on Friday because my buyers live out of state and they need to get this application with the fee today!

We will do whetever it takes (as long as it's legal) to make a deal go through.

There have been plenty of deals where I don't give up anything and one deal that I refused to cut my commission because I knew she was trying to call my bluff.  I didn't give in and the deal still closed.

Sometimes you have to give up part of your paycheck in order to get things done and sometimes you don't!

Last fall we had a deal where our client was widowed and moved to another state. She left her son and sister to pack and clean up the property. Guess what, they left behind a bunch of JUNK. When we found a buyer, of course, the junk had to go. Our client had no $$ and things are tight for us as well. We spent two days and four dump runs cleaning out the storage shed and back yard. I feel very good about making that decision. (even though my bones ached for a week afterward) Our client was a bit grumpy through the listing process, but, under the circumstances, I may have been grumpy too. It was more than the paycheck for me. I wanted to be sure she had one less worry from a couple thousand miles away.

It's called service. We go about our business with the attitude that we are here to help people acheive goals and change their lives. The money comes.

Buyers and sellers will push for to much sometimes. They are catching on that good agents go above and beyond if needed to keep a deal. just watch for being taken advantage of. My teeam and i had to start aying no because our market was getting unrealistic. One seller wanted us to pay for a septic upgrade!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO $15,000???

I was only making $18,000 as it was!!

I will go as far as I need to go within the scope of my expertise. It is not appreciated when one goes beyond the scope of the realestate limits and sometimes it can backfire and bite you in the rear.I find myself  fighting to stop myself from voulenteering help outside the scope .Such as arranging and getting repairs done ect. The problem is if they tradesman messes up the job the client looks to you for mediation a remediation. Not a good positionto be in and it bothers me because I like to help others,its in my nature. I learned the hard way just to do the best job you can at the job your doing always give a choice of more than one contractor or professional when you recommend anyone. Chicken soup can be a problem .What happens if they get sicker? food poisoning? Couldbe from something not related but you supplied the chicken soup. Now Jody what happens when you catch the flu and pass it on to your other clients ? Mike what would have happened if someone tripped and broke a hip on that bad carpet installation? And Chris what would have happened if the elderly person claimed you threw away and stole valuable antique junk ? Grumpy I would say you were lucky. I would have offered to lay out the money and recover it at closing allowing the grumpy client to get a person to remove the clutter.Or even better have your client offer the buyer a concession for the junk removal. To many times we mean well  ,but it only has to become a problem once and it can cause  harm to us. Call me paraniod but it is just too easy to get in trouble without inviting it. I always think of the phrase,The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I can understand what you're saying Thomas, and I do think we need to be cautious and stay within our realm of expertise.  I also agree with Clorice, that clients sometimes ask for WAY too much.

There are a lot of "WHAT IF's" in the world?

What if I show my client, who is severely allergic to cats, a home that but we had no idea had cats?

Should we stop chaueffering clients around to homes in our cars because the unthinkable might occur?

What about taking care of getting the garage remote ordered for the new buyer?  Is that a potential lawsuit waiting to happen if I got the wrong one, it got delayed in the mail, etc.?

What about those annual client events we have? Does this mean each person that attends must now sign a disclosure form waiving any and all liability should a mishap occur at the event?

As I said, lots of "What If's".  Bottom line...be professional and cover your butt, but it's ok to be human too.