For many years we sold properties in Florida to foreign buyers, with them never seeing the property. Some didn't even come to see the properties after their closing, because these were second homes or investment properties.
We also took, managed, marketed, and negotiated listings during the short sale years in South Florida on the phone and through email.
This year was the first time I transacted a high end listing from start to closing all virtually.
I moved to Utah in 2021 after living in South Florida for 26 years and being a Realtor there, for 25 of those years.
When I first moved to Florida in 1995, it was to start my new Tae Kwon Do school near Wellington Florida. Among the first students was this amazing family consisting of 2 sons and their parents. They all achieved their black belts in my school. The parents were professors. The wife was also a hypnotherapist and she helped me uncover passed traumas I had experienced.
Over the years, we stayed in touch. Once LinkedIn became a thing, we connected on LinkedIn. I have a virtual (va) secretary who sends happy birthday and happy anniversary messages to all my followers on social media, including Linkedin.
The husband always replied with a thank you and asked how the family was doing. Their family also moved away. They no longer live in South Florida.
Fast forward to last November in 2022, they reached out to me to list their million dollar property.
One of the blessings that did come out of the pandemic is people learning how to use Zoom to transact business. The husband now was teaching all his classes via zoom to his students. He was used to this way of communicating. It was not strange to him. And he was very comfortable in doing business via zoom.
They use WhatsApp as they go back and forth from South America often. Since many of our va clients are in Europe and HongKong.. using WhatsApp is a daily thing for me.
We met on Zoom for our initial listing interview. I didn't do a listing presentation since they are not the 'dog and pony show' kind of people. They just like to get to the point; pricing and condition...
I hired my "assistant" who was someone I know in Florida to go to the property to do a FaceTime session with me so I could see the condition of the home since neither owners had seen the home either.
Unfortunately, we had to delay listing the property for the price they wanted because their tenant had totally misled the owners and the place was a hoarders' dream. I sent them the photos and they were shocked! So the cleaning and clearing etc started as soon as the tenant vacated the property.
It was several months of work before we felt comfortable putting the property on the market. I was worried since this was a great equestrian property and the equestrian season was nearing its end for 2023.
I ordered my real estate signs for the property and had them shipped to my assistant's home. She put up the signs for me.
I hired a professional drone photographer since the property sits on nearly 4 acres of land. I also hired a professional photographer to do the photos.
My virtual assistants put together our listing story and did the social media marketing for the property. We contacted agents who work with equestrian buyers to alert them of the new property on the market.
We received a great offer, which was accepted. We handled all the negotiations over WhatsApp and I via text and email with the buyers's agent.
The sellers are so happy! "You did a GREAT job helping us! "
The buyers are so happy with their new home. Interesting, they are not investors nor equestrian people. They are a couple who wants to make this their forever home with the tennis court and inground pool for them to enjoy for years to come.
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