Only One House? Clients only looked at one house? Home Buyers Look Offer Purchase in Dunwoody Atlanta GA -
An ActiveRain Success Story
Punchline first - SOLD! Results followed two Broker steps - weeks spent reading blogs on ActiveRain and weeks of free ARU classes taught by Steven Graham.
NOW - the story ...
In the ActiveRain University webinars, Steven teaches lots of things - technology, marketing, networking - but always repeats "give something for nothing when you see the chance".
Well, Atlanta GA FMLS offered us either unpaid access to Listingbook.com for a year or one could pay to "upgrade" for more benefits. Following Steven's suggestion, I began offering "FREE" Listingbook.com personal searches to those I saw each day.
As a client visiting the dealership for a car issue, I mentioned the benefits of Listingbook.com to my Service Advisor, Wally. I've been his customer for over 5 years. He listened carefully, asked a few questions and then stated he'd use LB to check out his current neighborhood. "We really want to move," he said. "My wife and I want to be closer to our jobs but only if we can get the right schools for our children."
DING! Several years ago, I acted as the Leasing Agent for a house that I thought would be EXACTLY right for them. The Tenants I had placed at the house moved out three months earlier. Why? The owner had let the house go to Foreclosure. Earlier that day, I had seen a lockbox - the small contractor type on the door. BIG CLUE! The repairs had begun - soon the house would be on the market but for now - no FOR SALE sign. Photo: Attorney Beth Cruikshank and Client
"Wally," I suggested after describing the house to him, "Can you look around this house after work? If you like it,maybe you could take your wife to look at it over the weekend." He agreed to check out the house and I agreed to research the current ownership data. Turned out to be a HomePath.com REO. And, not only had I never done a HomePath sale, I didn't even know how to do one.
THANK YOU ACTIVERAIN !!! I jumped into the search box on AR and read every post that even mentioned Fannie Mae. I devoured everything I could to get my eyes on to read. AR = Grad School!
Meanwhile, Wally liked the house. When he took his wife there, she loved it and the two children loved it! They didn't want to look at anything else. No sales information available then other than seeing the house show up on FannieMae as "coming" but still no price mentioned.
I went out on a limb and said the house would be priced between "x" and "y" so we could start the loan process.The appraisal would be higher than that estimate - I was confident. Knowing the neighborhood and the schools near-by, it seemed certain. The home is located less than 0.2 mile from Vanderlyn Elementary - things looked good. The new Peachtree Charter Middle School and Dunwoody High School were very close also. I was confident of the selection of this particular house and its future value . The Clients only looked at one house - I did offer to show other houses but they were so happy with the first one - they said, "Not now".
I called the Mortgage Broker Rick Darlington. I told him to expect a phone call from the Buyers. They called him, gathered information and he qualified them. We were so lucky that we had the extra days to get ready! Buyers lined up hazard insurance and checked out utilities. All this time, the best they could do to see the house was look into windows! We were contract ready and loan ready without the Clients even having been inside the house! (Client w/Rick Darlington.)
FINALLY the house went on the market: just a little lower price than the range I predicted. We were poised to deliver the contract to the Sellers' agent after the FannieMae first three days ended. Contract in on February 14th.
Unarguably, the most expensive St. Valentine's Day gift they will EVER give each other !!! Sellers accepted offer on 16 February. We set the Closing for 29 March to meet the "60 day" FannieMae Owner Occupant move-in deadline and still let the children finish their school year where they are attending now.
I am proud to say that the appraisal came in a full 25% more than the family paid for their wonderful new home at Closing!!
Daughter with her "Closing Gift" - a "walkie talkie". Son with his - a tool box for use at his new home!
Without ACTIVERAIN - THE ENTIRE PROCESS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!
We are discussing marketing strategies for their current home. Lots more little stories along the way - maybe another post one day.
Great Buyers - soon to be Great Sellers!
Only One House? Clients only looked at one house?
Home Buyers Look Offer Purchase in Dunwoody Atlanta GA.
Thanks for stopping by to share our excitement!
Have a happy day -
Lynn.
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