Thanks for reading my first blog article on the freshly minted colibri.realty.  Soon I will not be writing “me/my/mine” as I am looking to grow and expand during this 7th year of operations.

I received a call recently from a buyer who  treated me rather haughtily a few days prior on the phone because they “know what goes on in real estate” and that she was an agent back in the day. After a few moments of discussion we decided we were not a good fit and it would be best if she went direct to the listing agent regarding the property she was pursuing.

She found me because, as a new agent, without a website I decided to purchase the zip code for Vieques.  With this setup,  a buyer may get routed to me and NOT the actual listing agent.   By the way, Vieques has a unique and exclusive zip code:  00765.

One reason Colibri Realty thrived despite not having a full blown website for an extended period of time was due to captive sales funnels like this.

24 hours later, my phone rings again.  It’s the same buyer complaining that the listing agent didn’t answer fast enough for her needs and she must have more information.  She assumed there was “something wrong” with the property and also wanted to send her friend to take a look immediately.

During this call I had the chance to discuss with her the importance of  buyer agency and that despite our short and torrid phone history I’m happy to represent her.

We then covered some of the other basics about buying in Puerto Rico, and particularly, Vieques:

• Titled versus Untitled.
  The two distinct rights of ownership here and what this means in terms of financing, insurance, ownership rights
• Financing.
  No, lenders from the states are not down here and you must work through Puerto Rico based funders or mortgage brokers or pull equity from up “north”
• Proof of funds/prequalification letter is a must.
  Most brokers will not show property without it.  We are located in a vacation destination spot and with that comes a lot of looky loos. (not to say that looky loos do not become buyers – I am one of them)
• Most agencies here are mom & pop (or pop & pop) shops and there is a different pace
  You may not get your phone call or email returned the same day because we are our own marketing, administrative, finance, legal, closing and title departments.  Inherently real estate and transactions move slower here, as do its professionals.  A happy buyer is an educated buyer, and that awareness has to be up-front.  If you are not able to accommodate or acclimate to the slower pace, you will not be happy long term on this island.  If you’re having a panic attack because someone didn’t call you back in 4 hours, you will be miserable at the property tax office or basically, any government office.
• Incidentally, we do not have lockboxes
  Both agents attend showings (unless of course the buyer is going to the listing agent direct) so scheduling showings is not as simple as just putting in a code (and most properties are either occupied by owners, short term or long term renters)

In the end, the buyer went direct to the listing agent and that is more than ok.  It gave me the opportunity to float in the sea green Caribbean and ponder this blog post.