I just have to share a recent story with you about a transaction I had last year. My 6-year old daughter befriended the granddaughter of a neighbor and invited her over to play at our house one day. When her mother (I'll use the name "Ann") came by to pick her up, it was the first time she and my wife had met. Ann seemed a bit stressed and my wife asked if anything was wrong. She said she's been trying to look at a house AND make an offer on it but her agent told her not to waste her time. Her agent told her she doesn't deal with short sales.
You can probably see where I'm going with this...
My wife immediately told her that I was an agent and would be absolutely interested in helping her make an offer on the home. When my wife called to give me her number, I was excited. I had a great conversation with Ann and she was committed to working with me. I have to admit, I was thinking, I'm going to save hours and hours showing her homes on weekends. All I need to do is just help her write an offer. Sweet! Well when I called the listing agent on the home, sure enough they had already accepted an offer. I should have foreseen that it wasn't going to be just that easy.
Regardless, I had just picked up a new client. Ann was a single mom with two little girls. (When all goes as planned, I get great job satisfaction working with first-time buyers such as Ann.) Based on her pre-approval and preferred neighborhoods, there was a high likelihood that we would be making an offer on another short sale property. I prepared her for the short sale "roller-coaster ride" and with the possibility of waiting months to close. Fortunately, after only a handful of evening showings we found her a great home that was NOT a short sale. She and I were both so happy that we found her a home that would close within 30 days or so. It did.
Thinking long-term (not immediate benefit) as most agents should, this was absolutely awesome for me. It wasn't a huge transaction itself but I had helped this single mom and her daughters secure their first home, received a great testimonial from Ann and I've created yet another raving fan for my business! Thank you lazy agent, whoever you were (I didn't want to ask). I hope there are many more of you out there.
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