We sold Keela the house thirteen years ago. That was back in 2001, when Peter Jackson was making The Fellowship of the Rings and Apple was releasing the first iPod. Johnine and Keela clicked, and they embarked upon a fun—and successful—house search. Keela ended up with a place she loved, and Johnine ended up with a great client.
We try to keep in touch with all our past clients, but somehow, we lost track of Keela. And meanwhile, the Lord of the Rings trilogy finished, and Apple upgraded the iPod. iPhones appeared. The Hobbit trilogy started. And soon, thirteen years had passed before we knew it. We had not talked to Keela once.
But late last July, Johnine got a phone call.
Keela.
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Before the renovations
She had been trying to track down Johnine any way she could. She had enjoyed working with us so much that, thirteen years later, she didn’t want to partner with any other real estate agent.
We caught up and swapped stories, and it turned out Keela still owned that house we had found for her. She had lived in it for four years, then rented it for a quite a few more. Now she was ready to sell. Johnine jumped at the chance to work with Keela again. It was fun the first time, and we love working with repeat clients, because at that point, we’re already friends.
The house, though, had seen better days. Years of renting tend to do that to a place. As is, Johnine guessed she could sell it for $380,000, but with a few repairs and improvements, that price could leap higher.
Johnine got to work.
We handled everything. We got bids for all the most pressing repairs and upgrades, and we scheduled all the work. Cleaning up the crawl space, repairing the chimney. Painting inside and out. Refinished the hardwood floors, fixing the lighting, repairing the siding. Replacing the closet doors, cleaning up the yard. Staging.
That’s the advantage of being a full-serive real estate team—we can do it all. Keela didn’t have to lift a finger.
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After the renovations
And after all the work, Keela owned a house transformed. We ended up listing that once-$380,000 house for $420,000. And the final price? It sold for $438,200. All told, once we subtracted the cost of repairs and improvements, we netted Keela an extra $32,200. Not bad at all, in our book.
Now, hopefully, we won’t lose track of Keela again. Working with her was a pleasure—both times—and we hope to see more of her.
