Autumn Morning in Tsukahara

Autumn Morning in Tsukahara
Autumn morning in Tsukahara

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Something Wrong

It’s stressful to choose a good property manager especially when we have to trust him or her with our home. Usually, George and I interview several people and end up disagreeing on who to choose. This case was different. We interviewed 5 people and we agreed without hesitation on the same person.

A couple weeks before the signing of the contract, I asked our newly chosen property manager to send me a quick reminder of the signing date. She said that she would be too busy since the day falls after her vacation. I asked, “Okay, then could you please give me a quick phone call or email on the day we sign the contract… maybe 30 minutes ahead of time?” She said, “Okay.”

On the contract signing day, she did not contact me ahead of time as she had promised. As a matter of fact, she was 15 minutes late to the meeting! When she came in, she was in a good mood and kept talking. I was waiting for her to settle down and apologize for being late, but she never did. So, I finally asked her, “Are you always late?” She became very upset at my simple question. She said that she felt “attacked” by my question. The “Drama Queen” continued to rant on about how she felt uncomfortable about our “relationship” and that she had never been treated in such a manner. I remained calm as she continued to self-destruct. She said, “I told you that I would be extremely busy after my vacation!” I wish I could have said, “I don’t care about what kind of vacation you had and how busy you are. We are conducting business here.” Shoot! I missed the golden opportunity because George entered the room and interrupted us. He told us to calm down since she had said she apologized (I was calm anyway.). “No, she didn’t!” I responded. When I asked her why she didn’t keep our promise about sending me a reminder, she apologized, but not before. I was okay to move forward, but she said she needed a “time out.” She slammed the front door. When she came back, I said, “I will clean up any clutter as you take your pictures.” My goodness, her face was still red and upset. George jumped in and said, “Well, I think we saw enough. We’re choosing someone else. Bye!”

At first, I felt sorry for George because I might have caused more trouble. We did spend a lot of time interviewing. My friend said, “If she cannot handle the tiny stress with me in person, how could she possibly handle the stress in emails.” She was right. My previous company conducted several training classes on how to handle a stressful situation. Obviously, I didn’t learn anything.

Property managers and realtors are always on time and promise a million things until we choose them. It’s like night and day after we say the magical words, “We chose you.” Why do they act like they are doing us a favor soon after we tell them we are going with them? They should realize that they earn money from our property. How many times have I heard them say, “I have been working so hard for YOU. I have been doing a great job for you.” How come they don’t say, “I am doing a good job for myself so that I can build my reputation. Thank you for offering me this great opportunity”?  

Erika

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