What Type of Real Estate Experience Do You Want? Part 1 – Nordstrom

This holiday shopping season, I challenge you to think about real estate while deciding where you are going to do your shopping.  What type of real estate experience do you want when buying or selling a house – the Walmart kind or the Nordstrom kind?

You’ve been to both Nordstrom and Walmart (or, you’ve at least heard about them).  There is a difference, right?  It’s not only the products you buy and the prices you pay but you FEEL different shopping at Nordstrom than you do at Walmart.

At Walmart, you pay lower prices and buy lower quality items in exchange for little or no personal service, an annoying smiley face on every rack (look into the face - it lulls you into a mindless oblivion so you shut out the screaming children)and the feeling that you are cattle, rushed through small aisles to a quick checkout where a girl with nails too long to type on the register doesn’t even acknowledge you exist.  It’s not pleasant, especially at this time of year. 

See Black Friday footage from Walmart.

At Nordstrom, you pay more for higher quality items in exchange for superb customer service and an elegant shopping environment leaves you feeling that you are special – the guy in a tux playing the piano, helpful salespeople, a covered parking garage (at least in West Hartford).  Shopping at Nordstrom is a pleasurable, unhurried experience.

Allow me to share this personal experience at Nordstrom…

Two years ago, I dragged my husband to Nordstrom to buy him clothes for a new job.  Not in touch with his metrosexual side, he doesn’t enjoy shopping.  I trusted the salespeople at Nordstrom to treat him well.

The salesman did not disappoint, spending over an hour with my husband, matching shirts to suits and ties.  At the counter, the salesman wrung up our purchases and announced the final bill.  My husband’s face turned red and he started to sweat – no kidding.  I pushed him away from the counter and told him to go look around.  The bill was over $1,000, even though everything we purchased was on sale.

I kept telling my husband that the purchase was worth it.  He was doubtful, probably imagining all the power tools he could have purchased instead.

Six months later, the pants to one of the suits began to tear in the back pocket.  I went with my husband back to Nordstrom.  The salesman offered us two options: do you want another pair of pants or do you want us to repair these?  We decided to go with another pair of pants. 

I thought he was going to order another pair of pants to go with the jacket.  Nope –  the salesman walked us over to the rack and picked out several suits in a similar color.  None of those suits were on sale, though.  They were at least 3x the price we paid originally. 

Sensing my panic, the salesman told me, “we’ll do an exchange.”  He didn’t run over to his manager to ask if he could give us the suit; he just handed us a ticket to pick up the suit after tailoring and wished us a good day.

Wow.  Even my cynical husband is impressed, to this very day.

Now back to real estate…

You have a choice in retail - pay less and get less or pay more and get more.  There are some options in between but let’s not muddy the waters. 

In real estate, you also have options.  You have the Nordstrom experience – full service representation.  And then, you have the Walmart experience – discount service or unrepresented.  Which do you want?  Over the next few weeks, I’ll explore the differences so you can choose for yourself.