Using the Web and social media to sell real estate

Yesterday morning I woke up very early. I had a coaching call scheduled for 8:30 am and I wanted to be fully prepared for it. This was a very special call because I was the one doing the coaching and I wanted it to be exceptionally good also because the person on the other line was himself a coach and a very experienced business man.

There is a lot of preparation that goes into a live call, particularly when it is the start of a whole project and you want to be sure that it will start on the right pace. Alex Mendossian, one of the leading teleseminar marketers, who has made an art out of training other people at a distance, says that you should do a presentation 5 times before delivering it as a paid service. So it does take some preparation.

I was pounding away at my keyboard when I noticed a sudden flash in the back yard. There was a sound similar to a match getting lighted on a piece of sand paper and then a shower of sparkles. I immediately thought a bird or some flying object had touched the electric mains outside the house; but the computer went on working and my light staid on so I forgot about it and went ahead in preparing the call.

It was a success and despite me hearing the constant clicking of the surge protector that feeds the mains my computer, everything went fine. Rain was pouring outside, but I was fully concentrated in delivering the best possible content to the person on the other side of the line, who was almost two thousand miles away: the power of the Internet and the power of decision.

The day was crammed with activities so I left the house to go and meet a Realtor at a house we are about to finish and that we’ll soon put on the market. I got there a bit early and took the chance of taking a video of the work in progress, as I usually do. This time I had to take pictures of the new roof and I was walking around looking up at the complex wooden structure, admiring all the work done and commenting into my camera, when I felt something prickly under my right foot.

As soon as I watched down to my right foot I heard a voice saying “Watch out this is a construction site”. It had a teasing tone and it didn’t sound like Paul, my main contractor, so I looked up after removing the roofing nail that had stuck under my rubber sole and there her was Dan, another investor who has just returned from a pleasure trip to Italy. He was mockingly looking at me from inside the master bedroom and he was amazed by the surprise he had pulled off.

He works just on the block next to this house and he is a very experienced local investor that I sometime call when I need some reality check and advice: he has been doing this job for almost 30 years, and in the major league, and he has given me some very valuable suggestions about the people to hire. He works in commercial real estate, but likes to keep an eye on what I do in the residential area, like a friendly uncle and I don’t mind it at all.

Just before leaving for Italy he told me it was going to take me longer than I expected to this specific rehab project, and he was very right, and he made fun of me telling “I was going to build a mansion”: too much work for his taste.

But I will soon “prove him wrong” on the latter: in todays market buyers have a very wide choice and you need to offer an exceptionally done product in order to sell it fast. I believe the old approach of just changing carpet and paint even if the roof is almost going to fall over your head is old fashion now. And indeed wee have changed everything in this specific house, we made it brand new, including a new roof.

So here was Dan staring at me from the window and I told him I was happy to see him back and asked about his trip and for the first time since I know him, I have seen his look change into a dreamy stare and he replied: “It was so great, the people, the vine, the place. It is something we have simply lost here (in the US). I want to go back!” And there I understood how much the Italian “joy to live with others” culture can do in this amazing new world we call America. The Italian-American connection is the foundation of all my business activities and it proves stronger every day.

But there were more surprises in store for me, so while me and Dan were talking about my ongoing projects, Olivera, my Realtor arrived and low and behold she knew Dan already and they had even talked about me, before we came to know each other. The world is really small when you know the right people. Yet as I was going through all the many details required to prepare a real estate sale, my wife called with a frantic voice from home: the appliances had started turning on and off and little whistles where going off and there was a distinct burning odor in the kitchen. I told her to switch the main breaker off and I was on my way back!

When I arrived, things were already under control. I was amazed at the speed of service by the power company: they were there in about one hour, a speed which is simply impossible in Italy. The ground wire coming into the house from the main line had been severed by a tree branch rubbing into it. When everything was fixed, almost everything was working except for the Internet and telephone connection that had been damaged by the outage.

One hour without power and one day without Internet connection made me and my wife think at how much our life has changed and how dependent we have become on technology. But most importantly I have seen two cultures at play, once again: America with its speed and the desire to compete and offer the best possible level of service, Europe and Italy in particular with the pleasure of living a full life with other people and the creativity and the desire to make something unique and exceptional every time.

When you bring them together you have the determination of going through and delivering what you promised no matter what, with style.

Roberto Mazzoni