The one call a listing agent NEVER wants to get!
As I flew out the door headed to my seller’s house I went over in my mind what the showing agent had said, “The basement carpeting is soaked, can’t tell where it’s coming from, better let the owner’s know!” Yeah, not so easy to do since my seller was out of the country, with no return in sight. As I opened the lockbox and headed for the basement I hoped for the best, but feared the worst. The carpet was wet in different places, and I couldn’t tell where the water was coming from. My mind immediately kicked into recovery mode and I called my assistant to get the number for a few of our plumbing vendors, and restoration clean up companies. Five phone calls later, including one to my trusty home inspector to find out where the water shut off valve might be, I had a moment to take a breath, and regain some vestige of composure. This might have been something I could wrap my brain around if my home owner was in the same HEMISPHERE as me and knew about his EMERGENCY home disaster! But being the ultimate professional Realtor that I am, who thinks on her feet, I realized I was on my own with this little misadventure.
According to my assistant, it was approximately 12:30 AM in the region that my home owner was visiting, and as he slept peacefully, with full confidence in my ability to protect his interests in his absence, I tried to convince myself not to run away, since I could think of a few countries I would rather be visiting myself at that exact moment. One more deep breath, and the plumber finally arrived. He found the culprit pipe leak within minutes and proceeded to ask who was paying for his services today? I looked around and didn’t see anyone else, so I reluctantly signed off on the $350 service fee, happy that the flood had subsided. Not long after, the restoration company showed up for what was going to turn into a much longer stay than the plumbers. As I threw the clothes that had gotten soaked in the washer, and turned it on and gathered up the remaining delicate items to drop off at the dry cleaners, I looked around at the damage to report to my home owner. It was obvious that it was going to turn into a home owners insurance claim, but I didn’t have his insurance information, deductible, etc and did I mention it was the middle of the night where he was? Oh well, story for another day. As the words ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ wafted through my mind, I smiled and thought to myself , “I’d hope that he would have done the same for me if he was in my place”, and either way, this is what being the best is all about.
It’s about protecting your client’s best interest, whatever it takes! If this sounds like the kind of ‘service with a smile’ you are looking for when you are ready to put your house on the market, give me a call at 678-463-3173, that’s Winter Baserva, real estate agent extraordinaire!
