by Todd Lewys
If you thought REALTORS® lead a simple life, think again.
Quite the contrary, actually.
On any given day, a REALTOR® might list a home, stage an open house, take clients through a cross-section of homes selected specifically to meet their buying needs, and then write an offer to finish a busy day off in style.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In many instances, a REALTOR® will go out of their way to help a client through the complicated process of buying or selling a home. In this instance, REALTOR® Cathy Burgess navigated an extensive series of events and circumstances to help a client acquire their dream home.
“Past clients of mine called a week before they were due to leave on a trip to England to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary,” she recalled. “They said their dream home had just come up for sale, and that they wanted to have a look at it.”
After looking at the home, the couple didn’t think they were going to buy. Then, they called Burgess and asked if they could take another look.
“We went through it a second time and they turned to me and said, ‘We don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we think we want to buy the home.’ I told them fine, leave me a cheque in case you want to write.”
Turned out, the clients decided they did want to write an offer. That’s where things started to get very interesting, said Burgess.
“Now my clients were in England. There was the time difference to deal with, plus the fact that they couldn’t send faxes from where they were. So, I asked for, and got their permission to sign on their behalf, which they granted.”
Then, another wrench was thrown into the purchase process for good measure.
“The vendor was actually in Las Vegas looking for a home, so they’re weren’t in town either. To top things off, there were tons of conditions on the sale, so there were lots of challenges.”
It was at this point that the network formed between REALTORS® paid off.
“Fortunately, I’d known the other agent for years, so we worked so well together,” Burgess said. “So we did the home inspection, got answers to questions, and then removed the inspection as a condition of sale. By this point, the process had taken three weeks, but the vendor had nothing else going on, so they worked with us.”
Her clients then returned from their vacation to put legal signatures on the purchase agreement — good news. However, the vendor had yet to return from house hunting in Las Vegas.
“Now, they had to authorize the other agent to sign on their behalf, which they did. Then, another offer came in on the house.”
At this point, the clients hadn’t sold their home — a condition in the purchase agreement for their dream home — and a third agent with anxious clients was now involved. This is where Burgess’ wealth of experience came into play in a big way.
“I told them to remove that as a condition, and trust that their home would sell. It did, and I worked with the second and third agent to make sure the whole process went as smoothly as possible. In the end, my clients ended up getting the home, and were thrilled.”
Burgess said everything worked out for one simple reason — trust.
“Both my client and the vendor, as well as the other potential buyers, had faith in me and the other agents. As REALTORS®, we all knew our challenges, and worked together in an honest, open way to get a good deal done.
“In total, it took six weeks to make it work. It happened because we all worked so well together.”
Even though the process was time-consuming and involved a mountain of paperwork, Burgess said all the hard work was worth it.
“As a REALTOR®, I was committed to working however many hours it took to get my clients the home — I didn’t want to break their dream,” she said. “I did whatever it took to help them realize their dream.
“There are many other REALTORS® out there who share the same commitment — to help clients in whatever way they can to help them find their dream home, or sell their home quickly so they can move on to the next stage in their lives,” Burgess added.