Old School

So, last week I showed my clients homes. I arrived 20 minutes early, watched an agent and her clients leave. Then I watched another agent and his clients go into the house. When my clients arrived, we chatted for a few minutes outside. Mrs. Client was thrilled the place was still available. I broke the news to her: there were three offers on the table. All were full price. I'd spoken to the selling agent hours earlier. She was waiting to hear if my clients wanted throw in an offer before she submitted everything to the seller.

Anyway, our appointment was for precisely 6 p.m. And at exactly that time, I knocked on the door, introduced myself to the buyer's agent who was in the house with his clients and told them it was our turn and kicked them out.  As he and his buyers were leaving the house, I started talking to my folks about general termite issues, implying how bad termites could be if they were left untreated. I didn't say the house in question had termites (it doesn't) but let that conversation land where it might for anyone who might be accidentally listening.

As my clients walked through the front door, they turned to each other and their eyes met. "It's the one!" they gushed. Of course it is. There are already three other offers on the place. Plus, I took a peek outside, the buyers I just kicked out were standing there in the driveway talking to their agent.

Stealthfully, I walked into the garage and quietly eavesdropped on the other buyers' conversation with their agent. They loved the house too. And they wanted to write an offer. Did their agent think the seller would go for a less than full price offer with the seller paying the buyer's closing costs? The agent said something along the lines of, "It doesn't hurt to ask!" and a few other platitudes, which told me: 1) he hadn't talked to the listing agent and 2) he hadn't been selling in 2004.

At that point, I went to work. I took the keys out of the front door and locked my clients in the house. Nobody would be interrupting our showing. I also called the selling agent. "We are putting in an offer. What do your sellers really want?" I asked. I mean, I know they wanted the price for the house, but come on. Everyone who wants to win a property in this market knows that.

"You sound like you are 'old school," was the agent's response. "Old School" is a special code these days between agents. It is referred to someone who was selling homes in 2004 when the market first went crazy--just like it is now. I am hearing that term more and more from seasoned agents.

As they looked around, I wrote the offer in the kitchen, and then scanned it with my phone and sent it to the selling agent. Before I finished locking up, the agent had texted me, "received"

It turns out, my clients won the contract. We beat out three other offers. Our offer was better because I asked what the sellers really wanted. Quite simply, they didn't want to pay another mortgage payment. That was easy. My buyers were willing to make part of their Earnest Money non-refundable by the first of March so the sellers could use it for their mortgage. We also didn't quibble about the title company. Nor did we give some weirdly impossible closing date. There were no contingencies and the contract was super clean.

That's how a buyer's contract was written 2004 if the buyer truly wanted the house. And that's what needs to happen now as well. As agents we work in our clients' best interests. Sometimes that means we fight for the best price. Sometimes it means we fight to get them the house. Sometimes old school is the best school.