By Living Room Realty, October 7, 2022
You know what’s really hard to do as an adult? Make new friends!
This was certainly not the case when Alison + Peter came into my world.
These two decided to relocate to Portland from Seattle last year, and from our first phone call I knew I liked them.
Apparently the feeling was mutual because we all decided to work together after that initial call.
Being an out of state buyer can be really tough. Normally you’re able to look at houses any time, attend Open Houses freely – even sneak in a few viewings mid-workday or after work hours. But with a 3.5 hour drive between Portland and Seattle and full-time jobs, that was just not in the cards.
My mission is always to make this as easy on my clients as possible, so we approached this home search a bit differently.
**I have a “five house max per tour” rule that is tossed out the window to accommodate my out-of-state Buyer clients. You have limited days in town, so that structure just doesn’t work. Instead we see all of the homes we possibly can while you’re in town.**
On the weekends when Alison and Peter could travel down, we toured both days. It was exhausting, but necessary.
For the rest of the time, I previewed homes on their behalf, and made plenty of video tours for them so they could really get a feel for the spaces without being there in person — often with my new baby strapped to my body, making sure to wave at them from any mirrors we passed by so they could see her little face.
I was able to quickly learned their tastes and preferences, and they quickly began to trust my opinions and advice.
A few times I told them, “I’m not going to let you buy a bad house” and I meant it. At one point I discouraged them from making an offer on a house that I KNEW didn’t check enough of their boxes and needed too much work for their budget.
“We can do better.”
It can be easy to start making concessions as a Buyer during your search, especially during a record low inventory like we had this summer. It’s my job to make sure you’re not falling into a purchase out of desperation.
When the right house did come along, I sent it to them via video tour. Interest was piqued and after a special drive down to Portland by Peter (sans Alison) to see the house for himself, we had a winner!
That’s when we all began to mutter things like, “it’s going to be really weird not talking to you all the time.”
It was starting to hit us, and we realized that we truly enjoy each other’s company. This wasn’t just about buying a home anymore, we had a true connection.
So here we are now, making plans to hang out, they’ve offered to babysit, and they’re even coming to my daughter’s first birthday party at the end of the month.
My clients ended up with a house they adore, and I got two new friends out of the deal. This is the stuff that makes me love what I do even more.
