How Working with Buyers is like Finding True Love on the Bachelor

I must begin this blog with a confession… one that I am not proud of, nor do I share with many people. I have a guilty pleasure and I am ashamed to openly admit it, but now that I have become a blogger (ok, my second blog ever… you can read my first blog here) I feel that we are friends and I must confess… I watch the ABC show The Bachelor! I shudder as I feel the look of judgement on your face as I write this. I have given that same look to friends and coworkers for less guilty pleasures. So, after much thought and self-diagnosis, I have come to the conclusion that Chris Harrison and I (a real estate agent working with buyers) share a common bond. You see, we just want to bring people together and hope for a lifelong happy ending.

Looking for Suitors

Hear me out — Chris is all about bringing an eligible bachelor together with 25 of the most beautiful, eligible, cat scratching women he can find. I, on the other hand, am all about bringing my qualified bachelor (aka buyer) together with the best girl (aka the most beautiful, eligible, best home on the market). This does take a little work and a few “dates” to the potential home. My hope, in the end, the homes I show bring less drama, few cat fights and less crying from all involved, but end up with an escrow, just as Chris wants to end his season with an engagement.

I find myself glued to the television on Monday nights as I impatiently await what the Bachelor will do next and how many of the girls he will undoubtedly make cry. I must confess that I love the drama. Would it really be fun to watch if all of the girls got along with one another and openly enjoyed sharing the same guy they want to live all of eternity with? Would I be so anxious to watch? (I think you know my answer).

I also enjoy watching all of the wonderful places the Bachelor and his would-be suitors journey to. How hard is it to fall in love when you are traveling to a fabulous location and ABC is paying for a spectacular date? I think even I could manage to make the best of a date with Quasimodo if I were dining on top the Eiffel Tower, skiing in the Alps, or even cruising down the Mediterranean.

Making that Connection

However, we are all hoping for the ultimate love connection, the perfect union between two souls that at the end of the day, can’t bear to go another moment without each other. Is this really much different than working with buyers, looking for that perfect home? Am I any different than Chris Harrison trying to make the perfect connection for his bachelor?

I ask my buyers many of the same questions the bachelor must ponder with each girl… is this the right one for me? Does it need a lot of upkeep? Is it a fixer upper? How is the view? Most importantly — can I really afford this?

Now I do understand that on the Bachelor, they get to travel to fun and exotic locations. If you are looking for a home on the Big Island of Hawaii, those exotic locations are already here on the island. It may be the relaxing pool side at the resorts at Waikoloa, maybe snorkeling with the dolphins in the pristine blue waters at Captain Cook, catching a shooting star at the highest point on the island at Mauna Kea, riding a beautiful horse through Waipio Valley, hiking on a lava field at Volcano National Park, playing a round of golf at the always pristsine Hualalai golf resort, taking a coffee tour at on of the many Kona coffee farms, body boarding at Whites Sands Beach, kayaking at Keauhou, or just strolling along the famous Alii Drive and checking out the local farmers markets in Kona. (I believe there are enough things to do on the island for an entire season of the Bachelor… Chris, call me if you need me to schedule this for your show.)

Finding True Love

My favorite part of the Bachelor is at the end when Chris Harrison walks in during the rose ceremony with only one rose left to hand out and makes the declaration, “This is the final rose.” (How would we ever know if he didn’t announce that??)

I think I need to take a cue from him and treat my house hunt with buyers as a cocktail party. I will let you go and visit the top 3-5 homes, ask questions, dance at the home, if you must, and then as the sun sets over the beautiful Pacific Ocean, I will look you squarely in the eye and say, Buyer, “This is the final rose…. which home will it be?”

In conclusion, I hope you will see that my success rate with my matchmaking ability to find the perfect home for my buyer, is far easier, and much less dramatic, than Chris Harrison helping his bachelor find his true love and sail away into the sunset of happily ever after.