I wanted to sit down this morning and take a few minutes to tell a story that recently happened to me while visiting homeowners looking to sell their house.
Not too long ago we bought a house. To most people, it will look like just another house that we bought, but to me it was special. Like every house, it was special because of the person selling the house. Over the last few years, I’ve bought and sold a lot of houses and it’s funny I forget a lot of times what kitchen or bath we put in the house, but I always remember the people attached to them.
It started off when the seller called us off of a postcard that we had sent in the mail. At first, like most, they were skeptical. They asked things like "how we got their information," "if we were real," and why “his” house. So, we let him that we’re the Home Buyers of Pittsburgh, and we are in fact, very real. What we do over the initial phone call is gather some information about the house and the situation and see if we can help out.
Unfortunately, we can’t help everybody but there are a lot that we can. He then loosened up a little bit, started talking about the house and the condition it was in and then we get into the situation. The house had been borrowed by a family member…and…ready for it? Trashed…yup trashed. Obviously, he’s not the most happy about it and just wants to be done with the house. It was in an area that we buy a lot of houses in, so we set an appointment.
I told him over the phone, what we’re going to do is come out, take a look at the house, assess any repairs, and work our numbers backwards to then make you an offer on the spot. I knew he didn’t really believe me at the time, but I told him anyways because that’s what we do.
The next day I met him out at the house. This happens pretty often, so it doesn’t bother me at all…but he says “wow, this is not what I expected at all," judging me based on my age. I am, admittedly, a younger guy and the fact I’ve been in this business over five years now still shocks some people. Doing what I always do, I typically never start off an appointment talking about the house. I really want to get to know the person. And this guy, ah he was great. An older businessman with loads of experience and knowledge…I couldn’t get enough. We ended up connecting on so many different topics that I actually forgot I was there to see the house!
Anyway, about an hour and a half goes by and we have talked about everything under the sun. I learned so much from him in that time that I really didn’t want to leave. We both kind of looked at the clock and I said alright, let’s actually talk about the house haha. We both agreed on a price as to what we thought the house would be worth when it was all fixed up, I showed him the repairs I would need to make to the house, and then let him know that, yes we are a for profit company but we’re absolutely fair in our offering price.
Once I got down to the number I was offering him, he said “Wow, I actually expected it to be less. How soon can you get it done?” I told him we could get it done in about three weeks and it’d be the easiest thing he’s ever done with his house. As I was leaving he stopped me and he said “Ryan, I have to admit I’ve gotten a bunch of those cards in the mail before and I never call. I don’t know what led me to call yours but I am so glad that I did because we got to meet."
I couldn’t have agreed more.
A few weeks later, we bought the house and of course he said it was much easier than he thought it was going to be and he was just happy to be able to work with people that take their word as their bond.
And you know what, I have to admit it really got me thinking. When we started this company a few years ago - that was exactly what we wanted to do for people. We wanted to make the home process as easy, simple, and hassle free as we could - but most importantly we simply wanted to do what we said we would.
I always love being able to have these memories of the people I have met over the last few years and how we’ve been able to help them. If you’re reading this, just know that we built this company based on helping people…not just buying houses and we hope we end up meeting you one day too.
Have a great Day,
Ryan