Back in November, after months of discussing our daughter’s school situation, we decided to put our house up for sale. We met with a discount real estate broker who came to our house to evaluate the listing price for our home. Our goal at the time was to attempt to sell the house before the end of the school year with a pipe dream that we would sell it before the Christmas holiday.
Very shortly into the process, we discovered that you get what you pay for when dealing with discount real estate brokers. He promised to get back to us within a day or so with listing price. Well, the day or so , turned into over a week. We finally gave up on him.
One of Jackie’s friend suggested using one of the more successful full service realtors in the area. With the market the way it was, we needed to have any advantage we could get in selling our house with a price that we could accept. We knew that the number of years in the business did not necessarily provide the best measuring stick when evaluating a particular real estate agent or broker. We needed to measure based on the number of homes that were sold by the agent/broker in the area especially recently in market. In essence, experience does not always equal success.
The same friend suggested that we contact one of the most successful firms in the Raleigh-Durham area named Linda Craft and Team. Since my wife at the time was mostly handling the search for the real estate assistance, I was not really up to speed with the real estate movers and shakers in the our area. I remember when she mentioned that we should talk with Linda Craft, I immediately recognized both the name and face. In our area, Linda’s likeness can be found on yard signs(mostly marked sold) for home listings, and sides of her moving and signage trucks, and easily found through search engine searches. This type of visibility is a definite advantage especially in the tough real estate market that we were facing.
We called the office expecting to speak with one of the members of Linda’s team not Linda herself. One of the first steps in working with Linda Craft and Team was to meet with Linda Craft herself to discuss a game plan to sell our home. Upon meeting Linda, we quickly learned that in this case experience does equal success. Linda was very interested in understanding why we were selling our house and not just getting another listing for her firm.
In our initial meeting, she suggested on several occasions that we may want to consider getting our daughter some reading tutoring instead of the selling our house in this tough market. This was a good sign for me that we would not be just another “listing notch” on her belt. She spent some time explaining very patiently the current market and what we could expect with both a selling time frame and price for our home. She also shared her very detailed and thought out staging/sales/marketing plan that was presented in organized home selling book. We knew that if we were going to sell our house that this is the firm that we should should use.
We made the decision to take the plunge and sell our house for the sake of both of our children’s future education.
We used Linda Craft’s firm for both the selling of our home and also as our buyer’s agent. Linda assigned Jessica Hunt as our buyers agent. So the expected goal was to leisurely look at properties with Jessica and hope that our home would sell fairly quickly in this market.
Linda sent a “home stager” to provide us with advice on getting the house up for sale. We followed her suggestions and replaced the carpet, touched up the walls, re-arranged furniture, performed some yard work, and de-cluttered the house. Well, Jackie(wife) was the bigger part of the “we” on this effort as I was out of town due to work for part of this process. She is a Jackle of all trades – mother, wife, best friend, painter, organizer, home decorator etc.. By the way, the people that replaced the carpet were suggested by this member of the Linda Craft family. They were prompt and did an excellent job.
Once the house was ready, the next step was to have Linda’s photographer take marketing pictures of the home and have a walk through with all the buyers agents from her firm to add it to the list of options for her clients. The house was finally listed and ready to sell.
The effort paid off. Within 24 hours of the listing, we had a showing and an offer that was real close to the listing price. The house was sold and the rat race to find a new home began since the closing of the sale was going to be about a month later on December 19, 2008. I am very impressed in how flexible and patient Jessica Hunt was to make sure that we made our goal of buying a new home in the right area for our child’s education with this deadline.
It seemed like we spent most with our time for the next few weeks with Jessica and her lovely daughter Saige. Bringing Saige along on the house hunting was a stroke of genius as this occupied our two children(2 and 6 years old at the time) while we talked business. As a side effect, our kids now have a new friend that they can not stop talking about. We now have not only a great real estate agent but also a couple of new friends.
Late November and early December was a complete blur. After house after house of searching we finally found a home that met our needs.
We scheduled the closing on the same day as our sale. We used Linda Craft’s third party resources for the punch list items, moving services , and another other moving related items. Linda Craft is a one stop shop for all the resources that we needed for the move. Check out her web site for more information.
Backing up a bit in the Jackle timeline, a couple of years ago I promised Sophie that I would take her to a Carolina Hurricanes game. This promise was made on the heels of a successful father-daughter trip to Lambeau field on one rainy day to see the Green Bay Packers play the Seattle Seahawks.
Another perk from working with the team was a pair of Carolina Hurricanes tickets. These were not just any tickets. These were Lexus Champions club tickets with premier gold parking passes. This evening included two food buffet lines, drink tickets, and some of the best seats in the RBC arena. Not to mention who better to spend a few hours with than my lovely daughter Sophie and one class act realtor named Linda Craft. My daughter is still talking about this night. The only problem here is that I will never be able to replace the royal treatment we received if we decide to go to a game in the future. That is a small problem to overcome (fingers crossed).
At the end of the Hurricanes game, Linda asked Sophia what color of hockey jersey that she was interesting in getting. We left the game with smiles on our faces as this was one of the best father-daughter evening that one could expect. The Hurricanes won in overtime over the Pittsburgh Penguins to clinch a playoff berth and I had another enjoyable conversation with Linda. Thanks again Linda !!!!!
The next weekend was Easter weekend. I was away at my mother’s home in Wisconsin surprising her on her 70th birthday and Jackie and the kids were at grandma’s house in Winston-Salem, NC for the Easter weekend. Jessica contacted us to let us know that Linda had purchased a hockey jersey for Sophia and she was dropping it by. Fittingly enough, she placed the jersey in a cooler on our mud porch at the new house.
When Sophie arrived home on Easter Sunday, I asked her to help me with something. I needed her to carry in whatever was in the cooler on the mud porch. You should have seen Sophie’s excitement as she pulled out the jersey from cooler. Imagine for moment a girl running, jumping and screaming for joy as she proudly wore her new jersey. Well, since then it is almost impossible for us to get her to take it off.
I find it very fitting that this process began with a plan focused on Sophie’s education and ended with a special gift from Linda Craft also for Sophie. Linda Craft, you are best!!! We truly truly feel part of the Linda Craft family.
Ok, you know that a one of my blog postings would not be complete without some photos.
Sophie and Linda Craft at the game:
Shots of Sophie proudly wearing the new jersey around our house:
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