As a CRS, one of the reasons you are among the best in the field is because you go the extra mile for your clients. The Council wanted to celebrate the work you do every day—continually delivering the superior service that helps make your clients’ dreams come true.
So we asked you to tell us a #storyofthesale about when you went above and beyond for a client, and then share it on social media. We received hundreds of amazing stories from CRS agents and we want to thank everyone who posted. We are truly impressed with how dedicated, caring, hardworking and passionate you are about providing your clients with the best service in the industry.
You are all winners and we wish we could choose all of you, but we could only pick one to be on the cover, and we want to congratulate Tim Burroughs on his win. Read his touching story below, along with three of our other favorite stories.
A Life-Changing Sale
Tim Burroughs, CRS
One day, Tim received a call from a buyer…
“She started off slowly. She was going through a divorce, but it was not yet final. She had two children of different gender and needed at least a three-bedroom house. She had to live in the county where she worked and her budget was only $65,000. I am sure other people she had called just dropped her when she said the amount she was qualified for. I simply said, let’s see what is available.
There was only one house in the entire county within her budget and it was bank-owned. She was willing to go see this three-bedroom, one-bath house that fit her budget that was listed for $53,900. With this house, you needed to have some imagination—which I had and she didn’t. There was cat urine sprayed up the wall and on the floors. Appliances were older, and the furnace and air conditioning were not functional. One window was broken and the roof needed repair. But I was able to tell her what I imagined, and she made an offer for $52,000 that was accepted.
We tried to purchase it with a conventional loan, but couldn’t get one due to the house’s condition. We tried a Rural Development loan and they also turned it down because of the house’s condition. So I asked the lender to have the appraiser tell us all that needed to be done to allow the house to be financed with an FHA loan. I had a builder come out, who quoted the work for $13,000, which was ironically the difference between what my client was approved for and the purchase price. My lender and I both wrote letters to the bank owner and let them know the house could not be financed, and if they sold to anyone besides us, they would need to sell it wholesale to allow someone to come in and rehab the house, and then resell it to make a profit. I told them if they would let us raise our price to $65,000 and give us $13,000 to pay the builder, we could get it financed with an FHA loan and close on the house. Two days later they wrote back that it would work for them.
Then, a week later, the builder dropped out. I took over as the general contractor and hired my own sub-contractors. Every one of them knew the buyer was low-income and barely able to afford this house at $65,000, and they all gave me more than they had bid their part. In addition, the $4,000 profit the builder was going to take all went back into the house instead of me taking a salary when I became the general contractor.
When the buyer’s two children came out and looked at the finished house, they exclaimed, ‘Mama, I didn’t know you were so rich!'”
The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
Kay Hunt, CRS
I helped an older couple purchase about 20 years ago. They knew no one here in the Vancouver, Washington, area and arrived in town with their entire life savings in three cashier’s checks that they were carrying around with them. I took them to a bank near the home they wanted to purchase and waited while they opened their accounts there.
They had no children or close relatives, so for the next 16 years, anytime they needed something,
I got a call. I helped them with everything from figuring out the thermostat on their heater to taking them to a travel agency to arrange for a trip abroad.
When the husband died recently, I was one of just two people who attended his funeral. I helped the widow with all of her insurance and retirement benefits and filing her taxes with her accountant. She purchased another home soon after that, and I helped her pack, made the arrangements for the moving company and even instructed them on where to place the furniture.
This was a relationship that was far more than real estate duties and transactions.
Community Organizer
Patti O’Reilly, CRS
“I began my real estate career in 1997. I was a retired international flight attendant. Going the “extra mile” was second nature to me.
I loved helping my buyers and sellers. I staged their homes before we had a name for it. I found jobs for family members, and even helped a client get his green card. I revisited 10 homes one day to find a lost Barbie doll.
One winter day, I got a call from a former client and friend. Her husband had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and they would not be able to pay their mortgage. He could not work and was applying for disability, which is a long process. The home was in need of repairs, but there was no money to make them.
I was working on getting the home ready when overnight he was hospitalized. I spent the next afternoon with the family in the hospital. It was clear to me that they could not sell at this time.
I called a mutual friend that afternoon and asked her thoughts on doing a fundraiser for him. Soon there were 11 of us on a committee. We called it “Standing in the Gap!”
I was on a local radio station and the donations started coming in. We attended different churches, but all came together: One church was in charge of the dinner and the other an auction. A local jeweler donated a diamond ring! It was a wonderful evening. Tears of joy! Blessings beyond anything we could imagine. We raised over $50,000!
He could pay the mortgage until his disability was approved. He went on for treatment and continues to live today. What sweet memories!
Monk Business
Judy Barrett, CRS
Past clients referred a brother and sister to me who needed to sell their father’s home. Dad, a doctor, had died unexpectedly while undergoing surgery. The daughter lives in Portland, the son in San Diego, and the property is in Honolulu. Neither had ever sold a house before and they only had a few days in Hawaii to make arrangements.
As soon as the legal paperwork was in order, my favorite handyman and I cleaned, painted, made small repairs, packed up and stored an enormous number of boxes for the planned estate sale, hacked back some aggressive vines, made six dump runs and arranged for a failed pool pump and water heater to be replaced.
On a Wednesday, I had the whole house staged and almost ready for the photographer, who was due on Friday. That evening, vacationers were supposed to check in to a very limited part of the property. When I returned Thursday, the vacationers had helped themselves to the entire property. Furniture was rearranged and food and appliances were all over my immaculately cleaned kitchen. There were suitcases, clothing and snacks in every room. My meticulously staged beds had been slept in!
I contacted the son and daughter, who contacted the booking agency, who made arrangements for the tenants to return by 3 p.m. to remove their things and vacate, as they’d violated the terms of the rental agreement. By 5 p.m., they had not returned. The son and I agreed that I’d lock the gate, leaving a note instructing them to call me for access. They finally called at 8:30 p.m. and I headed over, calling Honolulu Police on the way to ask for an officer to accompany me, as I had no idea who or how many I was meeting, or just how hostile they might be.
I waited a few doors away from the house until police arrived. Four tall, handsome officers (straight from Central Casting) accompanied me to the gate, where we found a group of about a dozen saffron-robed female monks and one male spokesperson.
The police were dismissed, and after some discussion, the monks seemed sympathetic to my plight and agreed to depart. Within 40 minutes the monks had almost everything packed up. There was much bowing and smiling. On their way out, one monk asked if she could hug me. She said the house would sell for a good price in an honorable transaction because they had all blessed it—and she was right. The house sold to a very nice doctor, over list, in just five days.
Thirty-six years in this business and it never gets boring, but I’ll never forget the night I evicted the monks!
To read more of the entries, go to TRSmag.com/crss-share-their-story-of-the-sale.
