I recently had a client contact me with some urgency. I had helped her rent a home a couple of years ago. Her landlord told her they were selling her home and had offers from builders coming. She was given just 3 days to submit a bid. My client needed help, and the landlord wasn’t paying for an agent. She agreed to pay my fee and we got to work.

This home had been a sanctuary for her after a difficult time in her life. Not only was it her home, it was her happy place and she and the neighbors had become close friends. She and I discussed the pros and cons of going all out for the house vs. looking for other options and it became clear quickly that his home had some intangible value that she wouldn’t find elsewhere and was willing to pay for.

I called the landlords and made her case, she wrote a personal letter and even had the neighbor write one too. I also aligned her with an incredibly fast lender who basically dropped everything and got her approved in a few hours. 

The landlord got 6 OFFERS! Not on the market, not on Zillow, no sign in the yard, simply word of mouth. Is this normal? Well not for all houses, but this was a desirable “tear down” surrounded by newer homes in the 22207 zip. Believe it or not, the mid 700 range on a 8000 square foot lot is a good deal for builders.

We provided a strong offer, tight closing, no inspection and a short appraisal and loan contingency. Added an escalation clause of 20K and still got beat by 15K with zero contingencies whatsoever.

However….the landlord had a heart, and he allowed us to increase our offer and even let us keep the contingency for appraisal – we reduced it to 8 days. Two days later, the appraiser came by, the tenant/buyer and I both met him and he gave her the value!

Moral of the story – yes the market is crazy and there are some aggressive buyers out there with cash to pay, but sometimes humanity wins.