kim
Registered: May 23, 2008
Posts: 25
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| June 06, 2008 at 09:36 PM |
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Reply with quote | #1 |
I was just sitting here catching up on paperwork, and I was reminded of what one of my client's little kids used to call me. They used to call me Kim Possible, like the Disney cartoon character. I used to think that was so funny. They would come running out of the house when they saw my car pull in the driveway, and say, "It's Kim Possible!" There's nothing as refreshing as knowing that somebody is excited to see you. And to be compared with the great Kim Possible, well, that's quite a compliment. One of the little girls actually drew a picture of me standing in their yard with a sold sign. I've never seen anybody so excited to move to her new house as this young lady was. She was about 10. Very dear. They still keep in touch with me.
One of my best stories, though, was about Anna, a brilliant little girl of 12 years old. It was about seven years ago, and I was selling real estate in Cleveland, Ohio. My cell phone rang one day, and it was this little girl. In her best broken English, she asked me if I would come to their house and help them sell it. I said, well, sure.... are your parents at home? She said yes, but that neither of her parents spoke a word of English. They were originally from the Ukraine, and they spoke Ukrainian. So, I went over there, and that was...that was very, very special. This was the smartest young lady I had ever met in my life, and very brave. She still writes letters to me (not email, but letters that come in my mailbox, and I write letters back to her.) When I got to the house that afternoon, she had the most unusual request. She said that I must sell the house in one week. Well, this wasn't exactly located in a hot area, like waterfront property on Lake Erie or something. It was one of those houses that you think about when you think about Cleveland. Built right after World War I, in 1918 or so, a frame-sided house, with every house on the block pretty much identical, kind of like the houses in that movie, A Christmas Story. An absolutely adorable house, and I still remember exactly how it was decorated. The color scheme in the living room was red and white, with little lace curtains, and handmade lacy things everywhere.
When I arrived at the house that afternoon, I met her and her parents and siblings in the living room. She interpreted every word of the listing agreement to them, and with great confidence and authority. I could tell that everybody in the family was proud of her for being able to speak (and write) English so well.
Pricing a house to sell in one week....that's never your best negotiating tactic, but I know how to do it, so I did. The reason they wanted to move so fast is because her uncle, who lived in Atlanta, had just passed away, leaving her aunt to care for five small children. So her family was moving to Atlanta to be with them. I did sell that house in one week. The last day of the week, she called me and asked me to drop the price by five thousand dollars. I told her I didn't think it was necessary because I thought we would be having an offer already, but she insisted that I do it anyway. Later that afternoon, I was showing property to a homebuyer, and I told her I wanted to show her Anna's house. So we went over there, and the buyer wanted to make an offer. She asked me what she should offer, and I told her that she needed to offer full asking price. So she did, and everybody was happy, and the family moved to Atlanta, and the last letter I received from Anna in Atlanta, she was wishing me a happy valentine's day, and she said that she wanted to get a dog like my Daisy.
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Kim Roulias |
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