The Perfect Storm - Hurricane Opal
Back a few years, we had so many hurricanes in one season it was known as the Hurricane Train. It was October and my buyers were flying in for 3 days only and had to find a house. No problem, I scheduled 27 homes for 3 days leaving room on Sunday for writing an offer.
And then, Hurricane Opal decided to head to the west coast of Florida a little earlier than planned.
We did okay the first day, but on the second day, Opal descended with a vengeance. Traffic was unbelievable because schools and businesses were closing, and the rain was pouring down. I kept envisioning a wall of water from a tidal surge coming our way. My intrepid buyers said, “Let’s keep going, we have to find a house”.
Then: We were on the last leg when my windshield started leaking, the rain coming faster and faster through it. My buyers and I were soaked. But, we were laughing and having such a good time together.
I had two more homes to see; I called them to make sure they still wanted us. One said no, the weather was too bad. The other one said, of course, I’ll have towels and hot chocolate ready for you. (What a great lady).
They finally made a choice: Of course, it was the first house we looked at. I took them back to the office - no electricity, no phones, no fax; wrote the offer; they went back to their hotel and then I drove the offer (in the storm) to the other agent’s office 10 miles away--that was the longest 10 miles ever with debris flying everywhere.
Why did I do that? Because we needed an answer or we were going to have to go looking again on their third day. Thank goodness for all of us, we got an acceptance that night.
So Hurricane Opal ended with a contract and two friends for life. We are good friends and see each other for dinner often. And, they send me lots of referrals.
It was the Perfect Storm.
Hurricane Opal cost $3.5 billion in damages in 1995. 63 people died as a result of Opal.
Photo and stats courtesy of Wikipedia.
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