Real Estate Round-Up: Do you have an automatic mindset?

Our lives have become so automatic. We can order almost anything online from food, to clothing, business and household supplies to furniture and electronics. The list is inexhaustible.

Most items ship for free and arrive in a day or two. It's like magic. Amazon even has an app that will allow the item to be left inside your home.

One major component that is missing in the automatic age we live in is personal customer service. It's not essential when you're purchasing a product online because if the item you purchase doesn't work for any reason, you can return it, no questions asked and immediately purchase a different version of the item you just returned and have it delivered for free, the very next day.

We recently purchased a new refrigerator for our office. It shipped for free, and we received it in three days. When it arrived, it was not the dimensions advertised. The cost and time required to make it fit into the cabinetry that already existed, didn't make sense to us.

We contacted the company via the express return button, to get the authorization form so we could return the refrigerator. All we had to do was package it up and call for a pickup. The company offered us $50 to keep the refrigerator, rather than have us send it back. We thanked them but told them that it really didn't fit, and we still wanted to return it.

All of this communication was done through emails from the Amazon site. The company decided all of this discussion wasn't worth the effort and gave us a full refund and told us to keep the refrigerator.

So, what does this have to do with real estate? It's all about the mindset that we are incorporating into our thinking. This easy "order it, return it, no questions asked, no answers expected," mentality does not work in real estate. Every time a seller hires an out-of-area Realtor to list and sell their home, they are unwittingly falling into a pattern of selling like what I just described, and it simply doesn't work. Customer service is and has always been an essential part of the real estate transaction.

I'm not sure if the reason sellers choose an out-of-area Realtor is because they found them easily online, or they cost less, or perhaps they were the Realtor that sold them their home.

In the final analysis, it will all lead to the same result: an outcome that is less than expected, frustration at the lack of communication and personal stress that should not be the sellers to carry.

Selling a home is not about hiring someone to put the property on the multiple listing service and hoping a buyer finds it and decides to keep it. If you want to get the most equity for your property, selling a home is about so much more.

Sellers that list with out-of-area Realtors generally end up showing their own homes, doing their own open houses and wondering why no one is viewing their home and no one is buying their home.

Sellers are put in the awkward position of answering buyers' questions or validating the amenities or lack of amenities for the property. They are expected to unemotionally "sell" their home, a home that undoubtedly has many emotions wrapped up in it.

Selling a home in Fallbrook requires your Realtor to sell not only the home but to sell the community. Fallbrook has many diverse neighborhoods, with microclimates throughout Fallbrook, Rainbow and De Luz. Buying a home in Fallbrook is rarely about buying a home. It's about buying a lifestyle, a view, a setting or a dream for retirement.

People come here to escape traffic and congestion. They come here to slow down and have the time to breathe and enjoy life. Do you really think an out-of-area Realtor can even begin to share any of this with potential buyers, especially if they're never around to represent you and your home?

This message is to everyone who is contemplating selling their home. It is not like online shopping. Don't leave it in the hands of a stranger. You wouldn't trust your dog, your children, your health, your finances or most any aspect of your life, to someone who didn't know you and know what you truly need. Why do it when you sell your home?

Kim Murphy can be reached at [email protected] or (760) 415-9292 or at 130 N. Main Ave., in Fallbrook. Her broker license is #01229921, and she is on the board of directors for the California Association of Realtors.