You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
After sixteen-plus years, I’ve finally figured out why people hire a REALTOR. I knew it, intellectually, but just today I felt it. I know why now in a way I never knew before. I found out because we had a water leak at our home – almost three months ago. I’ve never had a water leak like this. I’ve never filed an insurance claim. So here I am, in uncharted territory for me, looking for help. My insurance company referred me to a local contractor, who assured me that they’d handled all kinds of jobs like this, worked with many insurance companies, and they could handle it all very well. Fast forward three months, and today the contractor said they can’t help me with the restoration – even though that is exactly what we’ve been talking about with them this whole time. Basically, they are throwing their hands up because they feel the insurance company (who referred me to them) has been too difficult to work with. So now I’m hosed. Look: I’m busy. This kind of thing is something I’ve never done before. I don’t want to get too involved; I don’t want to make this an obsession of mine. I just want to get it taken care of. I want to find a qualified, competent professional who will handle everything – just tell me what needs to be done, when it can be done, how much it will cost, etc. – maybe give me some options, sure, that would be nice, but essentially I just want someone to help me make this happen, because I’m busy, and this really isn’t that interest a problem to me where I want to dedicate dozens of hours or more to fixing it. And THAT is why people hire a Realtor. They have a problem they want to solve, and they don’t want to have to become an expert themselves in it, so they hire a professional to take care of it for them. Ta-da! Genius. But you know what? If you hire ME, I’m never going to throw in the towel and say “Sorry, I can’t help you.” I might say that BEFORE I agree to help you, but once I say I’m there for you, I am THERE until the deal is done or until you fire me. Of course, if you follow my advice, we’ll probably get the deal done quickly and easily but that’s up to you. The thing is, you don’t know what you don’t know. And when it comes to a leak, there’s plenty I don’t know, and don’t care to know. I just want it fixed. Now. Thank you. 🙂