Michelle Rizzo-Re/Max Welcome Home

I know I’m doing my job right in a very simple way.

People come back.

And they send me other people.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

This business is built on trust.

You’re guiding someone through one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make.

If you don’t take that seriously, it shows.

I’ve worked with clients who bought from me 30 years ago.

We may not have spoken in years, but when they’re ready again, they call.

And we pick up right where we left off.

That tells me something.

It tells me the experience stayed with them.

Not just the transaction, but how they felt going through it.

I get to know my clients. I care about them. I invest in the relationship.

Even the difficult ones.

Sometimes especially the difficult ones.

Because once you earn their trust, that relationship becomes very strong.

This is not about closing deals.

It’s about doing right by people in a way that lasts long after the closing table.

If I do that consistently, everything else takes care of itself.

There are too many agents in this business who treat it casually.

And this is not a casual job.

You are walking through someone’s home when they are not there.

You are opening closets, bedrooms, personal spaces.

That is a privilege.

And it should be treated that way every single time.

I see things that concern me.

Doors left unlocked.
Homes not respected.
A lack of professionalism that sellers would never accept if they knew it was happening.

Part of it is training.

Part of it is that some agents are not doing this full time.

And this is not something you can do halfway.

There are too many moving parts. Inspections, negotiations, timelines, coordination with attorneys and towns.

You need someone who is fully present in the process.

And beyond that, you need someone who treats your home the way they would want theirs treated.

I’ve been on the other side of this.

I chose not to list my own home publicly because I didn’t want people walking through it.

That’s how personal this is.

So when I represent a seller, I take that responsibility seriously.

This is not just a transaction.

It’s someone’s home.

And that should never be taken lightly.

I actually like lowball offers.

Most sellers don’t. They feel insulted.

I understand that reaction. But I look at it differently.

An offer is an offer.

And once I have an offer, I can use it.

I can go back to other buyers and say we have activity. That changes the conversation.

Now we’re not just listed. Now we’re in motion.

Sometimes that first low offer is what brings in stronger ones.

And you’d be surprised how often those lowball buyers come back.

They start low because they want a deal. But when they realize they can’t get it, they adjust.

I’ve seen them go from very low to very competitive.

Now, I always pay attention to behavior like that.

Because how someone negotiates at the beginning can tell you how they’ll behave later.

But I never dismiss an offer.

I use it.

Because my job is not to react emotionally.

My job is to create leverage for my seller.