What Do A House Fire, 35-years, And A Century 21 Team Have In Common? Just Sold.
35 years ago, I started my adventure in Real Estate, and 35-years ago, my most recent client was moving into his South Tampa Home. It was a cool bungalow built in 1928. It was a great size at 2,849sf, and my client enjoyed the home for, well, 35 years.
The truth is… he wasn’t planning on moving, but a house fire rearranged his priorities.
So, in mid-June, I got the call. My friend was in a panic. He wasn’t sure if he should rent, buy, rebuild, sell the land, or what to do. He wanted to get things back to normal and wanted to make some decisions quickly. My response was… let’s look. We can look at rentals, the market and weigh the option of rebuilding.
I explained, the goal is not to narrow your options. Instead, you want to put as many feelers as you can and let things fall into place.
So, we got started looking at some rentals and some properties, but it wasn’t working out. It’s a tough market, and we needed the right fit. But my client was feeling a lot from losing his home of 35-years and really wanted to settle.
Then it happened.
The right home hit the market at the perfect time. The home was a few blocks from his other property. It was smaller than his old home, but that was perfect. After 35-years, you tend to want a little less to take care of. Everything was falling into place, except.
Except the home hit the market on a Thursday, the homeowner wouldn’t allow showings until Saturday, and it was a mad rush on the house. On top of that, I already had a planned trip out of town. But, it is not about me. It’s about getting the client into the perfect home. And the added pressure of this client’s story made sense of urgency even greater!
Luckily, I work for Century 21, and I have a great team to help support me. I called up my wonderful friend Elaine and asked for some help. Fortunately, everything started to fall into place. Elaine already knew my client. There was already a working relationship, so she could step in seamlessly and show the home.
The home was perfect, and the bidding war started. Again, we have such a great team at Century 21. We used our relationships to connect with the listing agent, explain that our client was in temporary housing, had cash to pay, and was going through a stressful situation because of the house fire.
Well, three weeks later, we closed on the house. Our client is grateful to be moving into his new home, and I have another great real estate story to share.
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And, of course, as realtors, we have lots of different experiences. So, if you’re looking for a realtor with 35 years of experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly–Contact me today, (727) 410-8599