“It means that instead of the five couples I expected, that’s the average on an open house with only a week’s notice. Thirty couples showed up.”
“What?” Shay asked in shock.
“Thirty couples. Before I even closed and locked the door behind me when I was done, I was receiving calls.”
“Regarding?”
“Offers. Out of the thirty couples, twelve of them put in an offer. Richard, my husband has to help me.” She laughed. “Bottom line, we ended up listing your home for two hundredand twenty thousand dollars. With all the offers, we are now in a bidding war with four couples.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means that all four couples want your house, and are willing to pay more than the asking price. Yes, you can do that. I need to talk to you before I can go back to them. They are at the same amount right now, all four couples.”
“At what price?” Shay asked.
“Right now, we’re at three hundred and fifty thousand. If you want me to continue, I can.”
“If I say no?”
“Then we run a financial check on the four couples, to see if they can get financing, and then you would pick the couple.”
“Why me?”
“Because you have to accept the offer they are giving.”
“And if I say to continue?”
“Then I go back to them and tell them what the current bid is. They can either up their offer, or back out.”
“Question,” Shay said. “Are these couples in the bidding war yours or your fellow real estate agents?”
“What do you mean?”
“If these couples are people the other real estate agents sent to you, after you told them about the open house, do they get a commission, do you, or do you split the commission?”
“Oh, these are my people, or people that came in off the street. The people my colleagues told either didn’t show up, or thought the house was too small for what they wanted.”
“Can you tell us about the people bidding?” Faith asked.
“Two couples are empty nesters and want to downsize. They are nearing retirement age, but can still work for several years. The other two couples are young families. Young enough that one couple married only a year ago, while the other couple has been married for three years and are expecting their first child.”
“Bottom line, what’s my role in all this?”
“I continue with contacting them to see if any of them want to up their offer.”
“Okay, let me know how you make out. Do you know how long this could drag on? I’m not putting any pressure on you, I’m starting what I was hired for tomorrow, and it’s going to be intense. I’m not saying I’ll be ignoring you, but I won’t be able to answer my phone every time you call. I understand you have a tough task ahead of you, and I’m just warning you that I won’t be available until after six at night, mountain time.”
“Oh wow, okay, thank you for letting me know that. I’ll make note of it. If I can ask, what is your job?”
Faith grinned, even though Margaret couldn’t see it. “I’m a jockey. The type that rides horses around a race track. I was hired to train thirty horses.”
“Wow, okay, yeah, you’re going to be extremely busy. I’ll do what I can, and I know I have no right to ask this, but could you clear out your voicemail so I can leave a message?”
“I’ll do that as soon as I hang up. Thanks, Margaret, I look forward to hearing from you soon.” They hung up, and Faith immediately cleaned out her voicemail without listening to any of the messages. She put her phone down and looked at Shay.
“Wow. I never expected something like this.”
“I had heard that it was a seller’s market.”
