The 24 Hour House

It has been a wild week.
Ive written 7 offers, had an unhappy customer for one of the first times in my 6 year career, been in 2 multiple offer situations (which caused the unhappy customer who didnt want competition) accepted two counters and almost sold a house in 24 hours.

The couple were a referral from an agent in Alaska who saw my active rain profile. They were planning on renting but came to Clovis and were unhappy with the wait for base housing and the lack of decent rentals in the area.

They gave me a call and we met at the office and looked over the 50 homes in their price range. A quick call to one of my favorite lenders showed that the payment they were thinking of making would allow them to buy something under $150,000 with today's rates. We eliminated about 3/4 of the homes in Clovis just by their pictures and left the office with about 10 we wanted to see. In the office I found out that cabinets were a big thing for the wife and they both liked clean, neat homes that weren't going to require alot of care or fix-up. Paint was fine but the husband was going to be deployed now and then and didn't want to leave his family with any huge remodel projects.

We started in the Northeast part of town in the newer subdivisions and they really liked the first home they saw. The next home needed some work, then we went into the older neighborhoods and looked at a really nice clean home on cactus that was almost too perfect (could they maintain the beautiful landscaping) and a less expensive home that had a small kitchen.

We looked at a nice home on Morse that unfortunately felt "dark" and left us remembering the pretty open floorplan we first looked at. Then we saw one more with a purple kitchen, red living room and cave like atmosphere that felt like Vegas but underground. It even smelled damp and cool.

So then we met the lender, clarified some things, and went to write the offer on that first home we saw. The seller countered quickly the next morning and they wanted to counter, counter , but something made me take a breath and wonder if this was just too fast.

There were a couple of ups and downs in the day but rarely do you decide to buy a house, find out you sold your house in Alaska, find a house, get approved, write an offer get countered and counter, counter all in 24 hours.

I didn't say anything but I didn't rush into the office to write it either. A couple of hours passed and the couple called and decided instead of counter countering they wanted to take a breath and make sure this was really what they wanted to do.

And I am glad....

Real estate professionals have this reputation for being high pressure sales people, focused on the commission instead of just simple people who love people, love houses and really enjoy helping people make the best decisions that change their lives. I never want to be that agent who pushed someone into a house they didn't really want or shouldn't afford. I want my customers to thank me a year from now instead of wish they had never met me because then they wouldn't be in this fix.

The week continues as I will find out if my other customers win the bid on the fixer upper in a nice area in town.... I find out how the inspection went on the cash sale of one of my listings (inspection is the only contingency).... I accept the counter for the home the sellers of my listing want to buy once it is in writing.....I line up leases to look at for a new contractor's satellite office who is coming into town...and I wish my active rain referral customers well - whatever they decide to do this weekend. The moral of the story is listen to that still small voice inside you, do what you know is right and remember that "sometimes your very best deals are the ones you miss". - Thanks to Brett for that quote.

Hope you have a great week.