Jim and Ellen Crawford, of RE/MAX Greater Atlanta, contacted me a few months ago about a prospective listing in Bowie, Maryland.  We kept in touch, as weeks went by, since the seller wasn't quite ready to make the commitment to sell her home of 40 years.

Finally, the "okay" came, and I contacted the seller and her daughter, a friend of Jim and Ellen's who was helping her mother prepare for relocation to North Carolina.  My husband and I went by a few days before the scheduled listing appointment so I could take some exterior photos and we were pleasantly surprised - the home had a lot of curb appeal, and it appeared to be well-maintained.  Hallelujah! 

The listing appointment didn't go as well as I hoped, however, because they did not want to hear a word about me, my company, or my plan for selling the home, so I never got to show off my brief but brilliant new animated Power Point listing presentation.  They just wanted to know about price and what they had to do to prepare the home for sale, and they dismissed me without signing a listing. 

That's never a good thing...  did this mean I might not get the listing?  Of course, I second-guessed myself about my brutal honesty regarding pricing, but I knew I was right - I had just settled a "perfect" comp days earlier.  Jim and Ellen, the referring agents, would expect no less from me than complete candor.

A few days later, an Army officer transferring into The Pentagon who had come to me through my blogs (ActiveRain and Focus On Crofton) arrived in town to look at homes.  I had previously shown her Crofton townhomes that she picked out online, and now she wanted to see a detached home near Andrews AFB.  My prospective listing was in the same county, closer to her family, lower priced (if they followed my advice), and in better condition, so I contacted the seller that Jim and Ellen had referred to me and asked if I could show it to my client as a Buyer's agent.  Even though I might not get the listing, I could still sell it! 

My buyer fell in love with the home, but her mother did not, so the buyer went back to Fort Bragg and initiated her loan application.  The seller loved the buyer as much as the buyer loved the house - after all, who wouldn't love a beautiful young army officer who had served in Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq during the 8 years since she graduated from college with an Army ROTC scholarship.  When the buyer decided to make an offer by email and fax, the seller was eager to have her as their buyer - truly, a match made in heaven! 

The contract writing, presentation, and counter-offer consumed the entire day before I left for Texas, and it could not have happened without my broker-owner Ed White stepping in to show waterfront property to another blog client with whom I already had an appointment that day.  And Ed took over this case, too, when I left for a month-long vacation, meeting the home inspector and appraiser, sending his assistant to the walk-through and yesterday's settlement.

I am so fortunate to have such great support within my office (RE/MAX Vision), the seller and buyer are still amazed at the "luck" which brought them together, and Jim and Ellen earned a referral fee even though their referral never listed with me.   

The bottom line:  One ActiveRain referral (happy seller, happy referring agents) + one ActiveRain buyer (happy buyer, happy selling agent).   I'd say that's a LOT of happy people... and one very smooth military relocation!

Thank you, ActiveRain!

PHOTO:  Mwoda