From a Simple Postcard to a Lifetime Friendship

What does it take to be a successful realtor? You may think it takes integrity, experience, expertise — and you would be right. However, the key to our true purpose – building great relationships, magically and simultaneously opens the doors of our clients’ homes as well. 

Met by accident, passing by, after a deep conversation about the real estate market in San Francisco and in California in general, as well as other life-related topics, this elderly woman was all by herself, in her stunning, custom built home in nature. Nested right next to the Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, it was an exceptional property, with plenty of open space, vibrant, natural light flooded rooms and beautiful views of the forest. She, together with her home, gave out the impression of a proud, happy and courageous person despite the fact she was living alone. At the end of our conversation, she was genuinely excited when she got our new postcard. It was a simple, yet effective postcard with our brand new Tim Rangel logo, of which we were really proud at the time. She recognized our thrill and more importantly, the designer quality we wanted to establish so she simply said she liked it, she’ll have us on her mind and she put the postcard in her pocket.

A couple of months later, we got a call. It was our lovely lady, ready to start a new chapter of her life, seeking for expertise and friendship at the same time. 

We’ve been sitting for hours, talking about her, her life, her challenges, struggles and her new mission. Asking questions and understanding her was the main focus. She appreciated the effort and treated me as her son. She was deliberate in her decision to find a new home, since her old home with almost 3,000 sq ft, two levels and a little far from the city was no longer the best option for her well-being. 

Soon after, we started working together on implementing my strategy for selling and preparing the home for the market. 

Right at the start, we faced obstacles which made us improvise and manage them in different ways. Her gorgeous home was deep in nature and private, just like the whole neighborhood. We cleaned the home, painted it, did a lot of market prep, had some ongoing maintenance projects, went through the inspections together and finally, put it on the market. The first observation potential buyers had is that the road leading to her home was bad. That led us to making a plan on building a road and investing an expansive amount of money, while dealing with the neighbors who disagreed with modernization and availability the new road is providing. The downsizing process was hard for our seller, but I was there for her, every step of the process, both because she needed me, and because I no longer felt the professional obligation to help her, but also a moral one. 

Holidays have come and she trusted my strategy to get her home off the market and invest more in prepping and improvements. Time went by, and we managed to empty the house completely and showcase its highest potential, with our marketing team and talented designers. It was hard for her to throw away or give out her old memories, stuff, furniture. However, we went through the whole process together, surpassed all the challenges and managed to continue doing what was best for her. We still talk daily. We became a family. Her magnificent home was one of the properties that were the hardest to sell. Not because of the property itself, but because I had the feeling that it was my own home. She still has our old postcard, I have her trust, but the thing we both have is a lifetime friendship!