Sometimes life brings you unexpected surprises. A few months ago, I wasn’t in the office, but our Director of First Impressions was and greeted this gentleman who was here on vacation with his wife, who had lived here before. They were from Vegas and started thinking about a “quiet life” and said “why not Bartlesville.” Mandy gave him my card and said to give me a call, and he did! We talked on the phone for a few minutes before settling on a time for them to come into my office the next day.

Meeting, we’ll call them Jerry and Kim, in person was a delightful experience, filled with plenty of anecdotes and laughter. We very quickly would lose track of time by gabbing, but we eventually had a list of houses they were interested in seeing. 

During our showings, they repeatedly told me, if they didn’t find a house in the two weeks they were here, they weren’t going to move, which is completely understandable! We didn’t have that issue, because they fell in love with a house with a courtyard the first day. Signed, sealed, delivered, as they might say. They were under contract within 24 hours.

Because they had a house to sell in Vegas, they needed to make a contingent offer on this property, and because they weren’t going to be returning to Vegas for a couple of weeks, we extended the time period to have their house listed. No problem! I found them a wonderful agent in Vegas to work with listing their property in time, and it happened. Sometimes it’s surprising when everything works out.

A few weeks go by, and they finally get an offer on their house, which means they can finally start their inspection period on their purchase, because I always set that to start after their house is under contract. It protects my buyers, which I’m all about. However, the inspections turned up a slew of repairs that were concerning to my buyers. So they backed out.

I’m always concerned when my buyers don’t live locally, because they’re 100% relying on me to give them enough details and information about the house to make an informed decision. There was a time buyers were having to make offers sight unseen, just because that’s how the market was, so I developed a recording method I’ve found to be extremely effective for video tours. I knew that’s what we were going to have to rely on, but technology is difficult, especially when you have an iPhone vs. an Android. We pressed through, and they found a house they absolutely love!

Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours! That’s what the house would say, anyway. We did our inspections right away and negotiated repairs and actually closed a few days early because of how everything needed to line up. When I met them at the house for their walkthrough, they commented about how it looked exactly like the video and were so impressed by it. 

That’s always the goal, especially with my out of town people. Sometimes it’s about partnering with the right people to achieve a higher standard of care.