My clients were frantic on the phone.
Could I please come over as soon as possible? There was a snag in their application for the propane rental at the new property they had just purchased. Their lawyer had suggested that I could help them with their application.
I was more than happy to do so. These clients had purchased a property, their dream property, without any conditions other than a home inspection. Their house had yet to sell and I could feel a slight sense of worry and desperation. All of that channelled into an application for a propane rental.
While sitting at their dining room table, I looked over the application paperwork. I then called the company’s toll-free number, and while on speaker phone, discussed my clients’ situation with the person on the other end of the line.
My clients would like to have the existing propane tanks and furnace transferred into their name upon closing and assume the existing rental/purchase contract. The ball had started rolling.
Then, like the floodgates had opened at a dam, my clients began opening up about all their worries and concerns about the entire situation.
Would they be able to come up with financing? Would their house sell in time? What if they couldn’t come up with financing? What if their house didn’t sell in time?
I could only allay their fears and worries so much. I was happy to be their sounding board, happy to listen and acknowledge all their concerns and problems. And I think that alone helped them immensely. Just listening.
A problem shared is a problem halved, as the saying goes.
I was able to help with the financing by connecting them with a person who was able to offer some assistance. And I was able to be there to help emotionally, and in a hand-holding capacity, as they channelled this course they had wrought.
But in the end, it was their decision, their path, that they had to ultimately take.
As is the case more often than not in our real estate profession, I was happy to be there as a therapy of sorts. And, that evening at the dining room table, it was not just about the propane.
Sharon Posius is a Realtor with Century 21 B.J Roth Realty in Barrie, Ont.. She is a former broadcast journalist who keeps up her writing chops as a contributing writer to the monthly Focus 50+ News Magazine. She also hosts and writes her own blogsite, SharonsBlurb.org.
