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as realtors in the San Fransisco Bay Area in California.
In 1981, my mother had done business with a realtor in the SF Bay Area named Joe Mandolfo. He was a handsome 45-year-old gentleman in a suit, tie and drove a clean 1976 Cadillac Seville to show his clients homes.
In 1999, I had a guy from John L. Scott Realty in Boise, ID show me homes. The real-estate company had a classy-sounding name but this man was not very classy in presentation. He had some crude rough-riding Jeep-like vehicle. He was not clean-shaven and dressed rather "blue collar". He spoke like a simpleton too. He was bald and sported a mustache and glasses. He was dressed like he was fit to operate a Caterpilllar tractor (sans hard hat) and not at all like a city-slicker like the Italian realtor in San Francisco, Mr. Mandolfo. I was not taken to a white-table cloth restaurant for lunch but rather a McDonald's in Nampa, ID. Having been spoiled rotten on the Left Coast most my life, it was a real culture shocker going into Boise. In the SF Bay Area, I also knew an insurance broker who drove a nice Mercedes Benz. Always well-dressed and clean-shaven.
Incidentally, slick-dressed Joe Mandolfo in the fancy automobile had told my mother he was once a truck driver earlier on in life. Is being a truck driver or a realtor a better prospect in life?
The moral of the story: Don't ever take your Bay Area mentality into any RED state.
Well, halfway through the story I was afraid for you, and how well you were going to settle in to Idaho, but maybe by the end you got your mind right.
We dress for where we're going, out here. We look at a lot of farms, so I don't wear heels. Usually tennis shoes or boots. Hubby has two levels of flannel shirts... dress and casual. We drive a Chevy pickup. Crew cab, but most clients follow along in their own cars these days. They like that better if they're a couple, they can talk between properties.
I do think I've done McDonalds at least once with clients, and Starbucks many times, but we do try for local diners or taverns if at all possible.
I guess one dresses for business in their particular location. I don't generally like for new car salesmen to be dressed like cowboys either. One big exception: I'd rather buy a new or second-hand TOYOTA product from somebody in a cowboy hat (or sandals) than buy any Big Three product from somebody in an Italian suit any day.
I've always come to expect to see suits and ties and clean roomy comfortable cars in businesses involving serious money. It's a culture thing.
The moral of the story is also to buy where you fit in. It doesn’t sound as though you’d like Idaho, although lots of Californians are calling it home. It would definitely be a rougher lifestyle than the SF Bay Area. My spouse has taken dozens of business trips to Silicon Valley and has never felt comfortable in a place where many know how to drive tractors. Some people want change, but most people are happiest where they feel familiar and comfortable. You’re right, it’s a culture thing.
Hmm. "Civilized" is subjective. Somehow I suspect potential homebuyers tend to be less trusting of someone who dresses and is "outfitted" very differently from what's customary and accepted in the local area. I've bought several homes in pretty rural areas. None of the realtors showed up dressed to the nines like a NYC city slicker. If one did I might think they either don't have a clue about the area, what features folks hoping to live might want, don't appreciate the same values I do, or are looking down their nose at them.
I don't expect to be wined and dined by a realtor in a fancy suit. Organized, welcoming, locally knowledgeable, responsive and easy to keep in touch with, and showing up in a vehicle suited to the locale matters more. There may not be any place to eat other than a mom-pop coffee shop/fast food place. It can give the realtor an opportunity to introduce the newcomer to locals who frequent one. A nice way to break the ice. A realtor who's comfortable with the locals is more likely to be trusted too. Could pay off in terms of finding just the right property.
If rural sensibilities insult you, maybe you shouldn't live there.
Last edited by Parnassia; 10-23-2021 at 06:19 PM..
Hmm. "Civilized" is subjective. Somehow I suspect potential homebuyers tend to be less trusting of someone who dresses and is "outfitted" very differently from what's customary and accepted in the local area. I've bought several homes in pretty rural areas. None of the realtors showed up dressed to the nines like a NYC city slicker. If one did I might think they either don't have a clue about the area, what features folks hoping to live might want, don't appreciate the same values I do, or are looking down their nose at them.
I don't expect to be wined and dined by a realtor in a fancy suit. Organized, welcoming, locally knowledgeable, responsive and easy to keep in touch with, and showing up in a vehicle suited to the locale matters more. There may not be any place to eat other than a mom-pop coffee shop/fast food place. It can give the realtor an opportunity to introduce the newcomer to locals who frequent one. A nice way to break the ice. A realtor who's comfortable with the locals is more likely to be trusted too. Could pay off in terms of finding just the right property.
If rural sensibilities insult you, maybe you shouldn't live there.
Boise, ID is the largest city in that state. Still, it's hillbilly in culture as compared with even some smaller California coastal towns. It's all about what we know and how we are raised. Some people simply can no longer AFFORD to live where they were raised and that's particularly true with California other states near an OCEAN. Everybody in the human species wants to live near an ocean beach but few have the necessary wampum to do so. The cheaper places in America tend to be the $hitkicker ones. Californians and Californian-raised Americans like me have been displaced culturally, politically, socially and economically. I'm now too culturally polished and educated for my own bank account.
Last edited by JohnPBailey; 10-23-2021 at 07:37 PM..
Reason: raised people
I work in marketing for a RE company one of our family teams who wears jeans and flannel did over $220 million last year. They are smart, know their market, have amazing negotiating skills and work hard for their people, they drive trucks and SUVs and can find you a luxury property that isn't even listed because they have contacts and knowledge. If someone showed up in a suit and Cadillac where I live they would be laughed out of town. Don't judge a book....
as realtors in the San Fransisco Bay Area in California.
In 1981, my mother had done business with a realtor in the SF Bay Area named Joe Mandolfo. He was a handsome 45-year-old gentleman in a suit, tie and drove a clean 1976 Cadillac Seville to show his clients homes.
In 1999, I had a guy from John L. Scott Realty in Boise, ID
Some short story, huh?
You're drawing this conclusion by comparing a realtor doing business in the Bay Area nearly 40 years ago with one in Idaho 20+ years ago?
Things may have changed in both places.
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We drive a Chevy pickup. Crew cab, but most clients follow along in their own cars these days. They like that better if they're a couple, they can talk between properties.
