In the later winter this year I was contacted by Joanne and her daughter Sue. They had a smalll house to 
sell on the east side of Des Moines. It wasn't the first time they had tried to sell the home and I wasn't the first agent. The interesting thing about it was that for the first meeting they wanted to come to my office and meet with me first. That almost never happens! They were really sweet and nice and we had a good chat. I learned that this was an investment property that Joanne had owned for a number of years and felt like she couldn't take care of anymore after her husbands passing. We talked for about 20 minutes and parted on good company. Apparently I said the right things as they had enough confidence in my abilities to meet with me again the next week at the property to sign the listing papers.
I remember thinking to myself that maybe the reason they met me at my office was not so much as to interview me but because they didn't want me to say no to the listing! The home was built in 1890 and like many homes of the era had a partial basement and crawl space under the front half. Often homes from the 1800's have one or two add ons and this one was no exception. The tough part of it was that the cellar was entered through the outside, there was no inside access. Yes, it was a cellar, not a basement or lower level. There was a dirt floor in parts, but despite that fact there was a working sump pump. Even so, it still got water down there when it rained. Despite the home's extreme age and small size there were some updates, they were including all appliances and there were 1.5 baths. No sweat I thought.
Over the next several months I and other agents showed the home many times. No takers. I had a number of interested prospects, but none of them could get financing. Winter turned to spring. We retook the photos and had more showings. Jonanne and her daughter Sue were out telling everyone they knew about it and sent a few prospects my way, but again either they couldn't qualify or they weren't interested. Spring turned into summer. The house did not have air and was very hot for showings. We lowered the price twice. No takers.
Summer turned to fall and we came up on listing expiration. Although we hadn't sold it Joanne and Sue and I had gotten along well and they were happy that we were doing what we should be to get the home sold, so they re-listed. Again, we lowered the price. Finally, bang, we got some hits, two interested parties in one week. One from a showing I did and another from an outside broker. The outside broker's client was quicker on the draw than my client though and soon we had an accepted offer with a quick close, less than three weeks. We all panicked when the termite inspection came back showing evidence of termites, which I expected from what I'd seen of the cellar. No problem though, client was ok with treatment plus a year of service, and we proceeded. Soon, Joanne had a check in her hand.
It took about eight months but we got it sold in the face of stiff competition from a big crop of foreclosed homes in the close proximity. During that time I visited Joanne several times at her immaculately maintained home. She always offered sweets or cookies and refreshments. Twice I had my children with me. It's not a common practice of mine per se, but when you have young kids there's inevitably going to be a time or two when they're doing a ride along. It adds a wild card element that can be both fun and exasperating. Joanne seemed to enjoy having them over. She was one of those clients who didn't mind if you had a child with you when you stopped over and in fact encouraged me to bring them. Turns out she and I had attended the same high school and that she was a lfelong Des Moines resident. Just a few of the many detail of her life she shared with me.
It was a great experience working with Joanne and Sue and a real challenge to get the home sold. Final price was $30,500. Not much compensation for the amount of work involved, but if you're not talking dollars I made out in spades. Despite it all, if I had it to do over, I'd do it. Meeting Joanne and Sue was great and they were very appreciative of all the work I did for them, and I in turn was appreciative of their patronage and condfiedence. In the end Joanne rewarded me with a few comments of appreciation that I could use in future:
Matt worked persistently to get my property sold. He was easy to work with and easy to get in touch with. I'd recommend Matt to anyone who needs a good agent to help them get their home sold."
Joanne C. 11/01/10
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