First Open House - Became first Executed Deal

First Open House - Became first Executed Deal

Several years ago, I was a brand new agent and I was given the opportunity to hold an open house for the senior agent I was working under at that point in time. It was his listing and the home was located in Old or Historic Katy. Of course even though I was certainly not a business newbie, I was pretty nervous.  

This home was built in the early 1970’s and included a second lot which was immediately next  to the lot containing the home. The home had been updated but still had its own unique charm. This home was very clean and well cared for by the owners. These folks loved this home and of course very proud of it. If I remember correctly, I believe they were moving to the Texas Hill Country as they had retired from working.

I drove the surrounding neighborhood to see the other homes and look for any other homes which were for sale. The MLS data showed no other homes were for sale in this area but I wanted to make sure I could tell folks there were no other available homes as competition to this home.

I spent a lot of time planning where I put open house signs as finding this area could be challenge if you were not familiar with this part of the City of Katy. In addition, I did not want to place a sign in someone’s side yard as folks in Old Katy do not like anyone messing with their property.

I also spent time on preparing myself to speak to the open house attendees. I wanted to be sure I could rattle off all the home’s features. I had not yet developed my own style of presenting a home to potential buyers. I found a example of a sign in sheet and modified it to suit my own taste.

I arranged to arrive at the home early so I could see everything and take the time to know exactly my way around this home. The sellers were very easy to work with and were nice people. As I said above they loved this home and it showed immediately when they gave me a tour. The backyard was in excellent condition and this fact back in those days set this home apart from most homes especially in Old Katy.  Did I mention the front of home provided excellent curb appeal.

The open house was held on Sunday and we started at 1 PM allowing folks to attend who went to church in the morning. As soon as I unlocked the door I had at least 3 couples arrive at the same time. One of these couples asked a ton of questions and finally said that I needed to spend time with now had become a large crowd viewing the home. These folks told me they would be back later close to the 4 PM closing time. I was totally amazed at how many folks showed up. I finally figured out I needed to make sure I got as many folks who came to fill out the sign in sheet.

We were scheduled to end the open house at 4 PM but due to the large number of folks in the home we extended the closing time. The owners arrived and were very savvy as they went on their own into the back yard to wait. They smiled at me and waved as I speaking to the folks who had said they would be back later. After asking numerous additional questions they asked me what did we need to do as they wanted to make an offer.

That evening I spent time on my cell phone going through the offer these wanted to make. These folks had two young children and this home with a large backyard and additional huge play area in the adjacent lot was a perfect fit for their needs and wants.

This home had only been on the market for a few days when I held the open house. The list price was in the proper range for a home of this size, age and location. I suggested to my now buyer clients that they should make almost a full price offer as I did have few other calls on Monday asking if the home was still available. The list price in my opinion was a bargain but I was a brand new agent.

My boss and I had to build an artificial wall over the data concerning my clients offer and what the sellers were looking for. The negotiations went very smoothly and the deal was done. My clients were already pre-approved for a mortgage and I spoke to their loan officer who saw no issues with a loan closing other than they needed to sell their existing home. They owned a home in another part of old Katy and needed to sell this home so they could qualify for a new loan.  

Next it was time to get this home inspected. Due to its age I was concerned about the inspection.

Inspection found the electric panel had been recalled several years ago and from a safety and age standpoint needed to be replaced. The estimate to replace the panel provided by the inspector I had suggested using was fairly high. I was nervous the sellers would not want to spend the cash to replace this panel and my buyers had flat out said they wanted this done and did not want a price reduction to cover the cost.

Lucky for me the back and forth negotiating on this panel issue went smoothly and quickly. I breathed a sigh of relief.  

My buyer client’s existing home was in excellent condition and my boss got the home listed very quickly and efficiently. Obviously he was extremely happy he had a new listing to handle. My clients decided they would paint a few rooms before we put the home in the MLS system even though the existing paint job was not issue. Painting these rooms turned out to be a very fortuitous event.

A lady who was moving to the Katy area to accept a new job just happened to drive by my clients home and saw the home was being painted. She stopped and asked by chance is this home gonna be for sale? My client’s were ecstatic and responded that it would be listed as soon as they finished the painting project. This potential buyer had a realtor and my clients and this potential buyer exchanged Realtor information.  My client’s home had an executed contract on the day after it was listed. Talk about luck. Timing of the closing was coordinated without any issues. I was certainly living large to coin phrase and my head was spinning.

The closing of both homes went as smooth as silk. I was warned don’t expect every deal to go this smoothly! My buyer clients and the home sellers hit it off at the closing and exchanged phone numbers.

No question I got lucky on so many fronts on this transaction. I learned numerous aspects of the Real estate business from this whole deal. I won’t list all these items as this post is already too long. Thinking about how things transpired back then still surprises me to this day.

Above picture courtesy of Bing free to modify, share and use pictures.

First Open House - Became first Executed Deal