Tell Me About You?

By the 4^th hour, my family was not happy and Sam who just turned 26, reverted to age 6.  It all started out well.  I did some light research and found one of the best restaurants. We were all exhausted when we got to the Eden at the Rimrock in Banff.  It was a 7pm reservation after some light hiking and walking downtown. We got up that morning at 4am to drive to Calgary to get new emergency passports from the US Embassy. A few weeks back I detailed how we evacuated Jasper when wildfires came into town. We left the passports in the room and thus the need to get new emergency ones.

Anyhow, there was a cute easy restaurant that was in downtown Banff that everyone thought we should amble to, but I did my best research and insisted we keep our reservation for the Eden at the Rimrock. I assumed the Eden at the Rimrock was in town, but it was a few miles away and then up a long winding drive. The valet took our car and maybe 5 people who all used the word “amazing” for everything helped us and escorted us to the table.

We were clearly not dressed for this and looked like Jake and Elwood from the Blues Brothers at the old Chez Paul in Chicago. They took our windbreakers and escorted us to our seats. The Sommelier looked over and then gave us a glance that said we should be waiting on him. The 7-course experience said “Flora celebrates the elegance of vegetarian cuisine through a seven-course journey that harmonizes flavors and textures. Immerse yourself in a world where plant-based ingredients shine, beautifully choreographed into a culinary symphony that’s as exquisite as it is delectable.”

The food was amazing. The presentation was out of this world. The wait was F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Numerous restaurant bathroom breaks by all over the hours and hours are when things started to break down. We were always escorted to the bathroom and the Sommelier would come to the table and fold the napkin. But do you really want your dirty napkin touched by the Sommelier every time you leave the table?  And does the snooty Sommelier* want to fold our dirty napkins? By the 6^th dish, the clock struck 11 and my crew was giving me more than glares! “Check please and now!” A family mutiny was taking place. Deserts were being rushed to go and worrying about offending the snooty Sommelier went out the window. This was Dad preservation. I screwed up as I didn’t ask the right questions. Going to the expert concierge at the hotel who would have warned us about a 4-hour plus meal would have made it an easy decision not to book there.

All of this is why, when we work with a Buyer, the very first thing we ask, is  “Tell Me About You”?  Tell me about you is the first step I outlined last week in the buying process, in Nobody Reads This.  ECHO’s Buyer agents are like concierges. The reason being that this intake process is critical for learning where to place our clients. We don’t want to have them making a double move. Most of the time, people looking to purchase focus on the house or price range rather than shopping the neighborhood.  Our job during intake is to ask questions.  At first, you really have to know your client.

Tell me about you is an open-ended question and it lets someone just talk.  We listen to what type of lifestyles and hobbies are most important. Beach proximity, boating, cards, equestrian, restaurants/shopping proximity, social, golf/tennis/pickleball.  Then it’s off to schools if applicable, HOA cost, membership clubs and fees.  Do you want luxury, gated, over 55+, pets, acreage, zero lot line, near the beach, amenities? What type of view? Golf, Intracoastal, Ocean, preserve, lake, does it matter? Single Family, condo, townhouse, new? On to price range, bedrooms/baths, pool, size, garage, primary bedroom location, construction type.

You also have to get all parties interested in purchasing on the phone. What is not important to one spouse might be the exact opposite of what is important to the other.

Two of our alternative patent-pending ways of searching are really how a Buyer searches when they call us.  I like it better than a traditional search.

First, our Area Popular Searches search by the region are looking. Northern Palm Beach County, Southern Palm Beach County, Downtown & West Palm Beach, Western Palm Beach County, Martin County, St. Lucie County

From there it outlines subdivision searches by lifestyle. Gated, Non-Gated, Luxury County Club, Value Country Club, Gated SFH with no club membership, Boating Communities, Condos on the Water, Newer Construction neighborhoods, 1-Acre Gated Communities, No HOA Communities, Airbnb Friendly Communities, Airplane Communities, Senior (55+) Communities, Club Pickleball Communities, Non-Club Pickleball Communities, Communities with a Marina or Private Dock, Communities with Executive Golf Courses.

There is also an option to search by using Echo Home Match, which prompts you to take a quiz and spits out which neighborhoods and homes within them work best for you.

We promise it won’t take 4 hours!

**Disclaimer.  ECHO employs 3 agents who also happen to be Sommeliers. They are Fine People and not in any way snooty.

Find your next Florida home:

Search by popular community area

Search by lifestyle

Search by subdivision

Search by price

Search by rental

Search the commercial MLS

Jeff Lichtenstein, originally from Chicago, got his start in the home furnishings textile business where he traveled over 35 weeks a year selling fabrics. After the family business was sold, Jeff moved to Florida and became a real estate agent. Today he is the owner and broker of Echo Fine Properties, a luxury residential brokerage voted best brokerage of the year. Jeff manages a non-traditional model of real estate that mimics a traditional business model. Echo has 80 agents, an average of one million dollars per transaction and over 500 million in annual sales. Between traveling for work and annual family trips to national parks with his wife and 2 now adult children, Jeff has visited 49 states. He is also one of the few Chicago White Sox fans you’ll ever meet.  Some publications he has been quoted in.

Author of business & leadership book How Making a Sandwich Can Change Your World –  The Amazing Success of the PB&J Strategy – Available to Buy Now!

Feel free to ask him a question directly at jeff@EchoFineProperties.com including a complementary  valuation of your home.