I know, this sounds like an Al Pacino movie but NO! It's length of my "so-far" fastest transaction ever! In one day, we looked at nearly every two-story, 100 year old home on the market, found one acceptable to the buyer and wrote a contract. Seven days and 20 hours later, she was a home owner!
A whirlwind adventure, but like most 'overnight' successes, this one was a while in the making and took the help of a lot of hard working people.
It started several months ago with a phone call from Deva, our office lead giver-outer offering me a new client from the West Coast. "She's not planning to move for about a year. She wants a bubbly, outgoing, diligent agent, would you like to work with her?" She asked.
"Absolutely!" I replied enthusiasically, wiping the bubbles from my chin while diligently writing down the information.
I called the buyer. Susan and I hit it off immediately. The fact that we liked the same genre of movie made it easy for me to understand exactly the type of home she was looking for. Her plan was to move here when she graduated. She wanted to start checking out the market so I ran a search on our MLS and emailed her a list of homes matching her desires. We planned to stay in contact, with me sending her new listings as they came available. I figured we'd get more serious as her graduation date drew closer.
It got serious quicker than I imagined when a month later she sends me an email stating that she had found "THE ONE".
"I LOVE the pink house, I can't wait. I'm flying in Thursday, I want to reserve you for the whole day. I want to look at every thing that is available and I will make a purchase before I go back."
Ok.... Really?
Yes really! And that's exactly what we did. There were 16 homes, including the pink one, matching her criteria on the market. I picked her up from her hotel @ 9 AM. She worried that we couldn't get to all the homes in one day but we did! We even had time for lunch. We only missed three and the only reason we missed those is because after seeing her little pink dream house, we both knew she didn't need to see anything else.
A transaction like this takes the willing cooperation and diligence of a lot of people.
I'd like to thank them if I may:
First of course, Deva, for sending her my way.
Then to the great folks at Showing Solutions who made the process of scheduling 16 showings as easy as one phone call.
The list agent, Joe Swartz made the negotiation process quick and painless with his fun personality and professional skills. Thank you! That is one thing I have learned about this business. The other agents are all so dang nice and uber cooperative.
Thanks also to Joe's assistant, Stacey who was on the ball, ordering and organizing inpections and title work while recovering from major surgery.
The inspectors were quick and accommodating in getting the reports back in time and explaining to the buyer what kind of repairs were needed and what she could expect to spend.
Erin at Lawyers Title made sure Sandy our Transaction Coordinator got all the necessary paper work who in turn made sure I got all my necessary paper work done.
The star of the show, Susan the buyer, juggled it all with grace and courage while flying back and forth across the country, going to school full time and doing her Practicum.
A mere 188 hours later and Voila!!! Transaction complete.
So, how about you? Care to share your fastest transaction story?
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