Good idea to bring kids when meeting with sellers?

Question

I have a friend who works for/with me and his main job is to bring new deals to the table. I feed him leads all day & he negotiates with the seller and makes a deal then presents the deal to me.  I recently learned that he has been bringing his kids (11 & 13) to appointments when meeting with sellers.  I went on one of these appointments recently, and the kids seemed to be well behaved, nice & respectful.  Do you think this is still a good idea, or if not, why.   I would be afraid of telling him to leave the kids at home as I wouldn’t want to offend him or the kids.  What do you think?

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@John  Farino

then in your line of work there are no rules in a knife fight !

Jesse T. · Answer

If you are getting the results you want - I would let him keep doing what he is doing.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Rick H.

Touche'

Andrew Syrios · Answer

I don't think it's a good strategy for the long term (assuming it's a strategy and not done for convenience). For one, even well-behaved kids are going to get tired of this and start misbehaving. Some sellers may be miffed by it and may even find it a bit manipulative (although others might find it to be a good rapport building type thing). I just don't think it's worth bringing your kids into these matters for any other reason than to teach your kids about real estate and business.

Rick H. · Answer

@John  Farino Unless you are somehow morally in conflict with this for your own (odd) reasons, why do you care?

We can only speculate as to the psych dynamics that are created. Seller has a particular response to kids presence, your negotiator has a certain comfort level having his kids with him. Are kids a tool? Probably. Does it harm them? Probably not, unless it warps their minds and scars them permanently like our friend @Jay Hinrichs.

You have a team member who is effective. His methodology seems to work. Why interfere with how he makes money for you?

John Farino · Answer

Thank you all for your responses & the helpful feedback.   He is certainly not trying to give the sellers an impression that he is representing a family that will be an end user..  we are cash buyers with intent to re-sell and we always make that clear.   My concern was that it might appear unprofessional.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Greg Behan

good points but depending on the age could be a good learning experience as well.

example.. show a terrible home and a down trodden owner... have your kids see that.. then explain why an education and such is important..!!

Greg Behan · Answer

@Jay Hinrichs

You are right.  But honestly I don't even look into lower end areas.   It's just a shame that some people have taken a turn for the worse and let it all go even though at one time they were doing well.  Also the drug example was a guy in his 30's or so who inherited his parents house in a nice suburban neighborhood with an elementary school right down the street!  I just feel like it's too unpredictable (at least around my area) to be bringing kids to look at houses

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Greg Behan

good points  I think then we need to categorize this as in.

Would you bring your kids to an appointment when looking at D class  C class B class and A class.. to be fair we only went to A B and maybe a few C's when I went with my dad.

Plus this was the 60's

Greg Behan · Answer

There are two sides to this situation.  Although it may be beneficial for your kids from a learning perspective, I would not want kids in some of the situations I've come across.  Some really messy run down houses could be dangerous just to walk around.  Picture your kid accidentally breaking something while walking through a hoarder house, these people could break down from seeing their "collectable" destroyed.  Also as a real estate investor you don't always know who is answering that door I've been through houses where the owners had no problem leaving all their drugs and paraphernalia out in the open, some people are a bit out there to say the least, I would personally advise against it.

Good idea to bring kids when meeting with sellers?

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