The unique style of small town living, and “dealing”
What is it about small towns? Iconic, historic, dreamed of, moved to, fled from. For many busy big-city folks, it's the long-looked-for reward after years of hustling, commuting, striving and saving. How many couples have said, "One day we'll get that ranch in the country just on the outskirts of Fredericksburg." For others, it has been home since the day of their birth, the horizon covered in scrub oaks and bluffs are known almost to the tree, the faces on the street familiar, the rhythms of tourist season coming and going like the tick of the old grandfather clock in the hallway. It means different things to everyone who lives here, but to everybody here, living in Fredericksburg means something, something significant.
A place where you can be known
At its heart, the appeal of small-town living is the promise of being known . . . we should actually say, the requirement of being known. In Houston or Dallas, you can be known, yes, but you pick who knows you. Here you're known because you can't really avoid being known. Our lives just have to intersect with each other in multiple places and, in many of them, you don't have a choice. You put your kid on a baseball team and you can bet there'll be another parent from work there, or from the bank, or the grocery store. Really, it's that kind of interconnection that brings people here, away from the anonymous living. Yeah, it's beautiful and idyllic but people are looking for something more profound, deeper connections at more points of life.
Now those deeper connections are real, inescapable, and they shape every part of life. And doing anything in a small town is going to touch the lives of a lot of folks. When we started up Select Title FBG we're sure it ruffled some feathers. Any newcomer to a market this small will do that, especially in the real estate market. We're dealing with a finite supply of deals every year here, so another title firm in the mix wasn't necessarily welcome news for our peers. We get it. But we heard from a lot of real estate agents that something else was really needed, a different way of doing title work, and this seemed right up our alley so we went for it. Now in the big city, business is a dog-eat-dog world but in a small town, you can't eat your neighbor, you'll be bumping into him on the soccer field or at HEB after all! You have to go about things in a more relational way here because these are the people you're going to be living and working with for good, you've gotta make things work. Work can never be only about the transaction. With this in mind, at Select Title FBG, we took the approach of setting up shop, not aggressively client hunting, but just making ourselves available to conduct title services. "We're here, this is how we work, bringing calm to the title process, & making time for people. If you need us, give us a call."
Real Estate is Hospitality
Now we just hinted at some of the harder parts of living in a small town. "Things are the way they are here the 'burg, and we like it that way." So change and newcomers are not necessarily always welcome. Not that anyone wants to be inhospitable, but it's a relationally intense way to live that takes time to grow into. Building trust takes time. It's good for those of us in the real estate industry to remember this because new people are a central part of our business. When someone is moving to a new town, who is their first call? The real estate agent. For many, your phone number is likely to be one of the first with the (830) area code in their contact list. You're really the gateway to a new area for a newcomer. You're going to introduce them to their first local lawyer, home inspector, contractor, interior designer, and landscaper. You'll orient them to schools and churches, shopping, and dining. Real estate agents, and brokers, listen to this: Your job is a really important form of hospitality.
We mention this because Fredericksburg can be a tough town to make a home in precisely because it is such a special "small town." Some folks find it tough to break in, to make connections, to put down roots. We've even heard of some giving up after a few years and moving back to where they came from. So it's good to remind ourselves that not only are we their first entry point, we might be the only door opener to those deeper relationships and the more integrated life that our small town might offer. After all, when the deal is done and they're settled in their new home, you're going to run into them over and over, because you live here too!
A Bit of Calm You Can Pass On
We know, there's a lot on your plate as an agent, lots of needs, more things to do and calls to make in a day than you have time for. How can you find time to go this extra mile? Well, at least from our side, we can offer an efficient title services process, a consistent quality turnaround of your title searches, a relaxed office where you can sit down for a minute and chat, and a bit of hospitality and calm. We do try and practice what we preach here after all. Maybe we can provide you with a bit of extra capacity to pass on to your clients.
As we like to say, “Keep Calm, Select Title On!”