AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Troy got another incredible listing. He sold that Murray Hill one so fast,” Caroline said. A moment later she added, “You should ask him if you can do an open house. He might let you.”
“Good idea. I’ll ask him on Monday.”
“Did you notice that Rick gave Sue another listing? I swear she’s his favorite and it’s so unfair,” Tessa complained.
“I don’t think he really favors her,” Caroline said thoughtfully. “I think it was just her turn.”
“Her turn seems to come up more often than anyone else. And Rick knows the owners of that property. He handed it to her on a silver platter. I’ve never been handed a listing like that,” Tessa said.
Caroline changed the subject. “We should have a dinner party soon. You could have Cody over and I’ll have Ed and Sophie you should ask Max and his girlfriend.”
“That would be fun. I’d love to chat with Millie. Her life sounds so fascinating with all that travel,” Tessa said. “I can’t do this weekend though. Cody’s taking me to Vermont to meet his parents.”
“Oh, that’s a big deal. Are you nervous?” Caroline asked.
Tessa smiled. “Not really. I’m good with parents. They usually love me. We’re not staying with them, though. We’re staying at a bed and breakfast nearby. It should be fun.”
“A dinner party does sound fun. Does anyone know how to cook?” Sophie asked. So far, they’d eaten a lot of takeout and heated up very simple things, like store-bought rotisserie chicken.
Tessa laughed. “Kitchens and I don’t get along very well.”
“I can cook a little. Easy things like chicken parmesan or lasagna,” Caroline said.
“I do know how to make a good garlic bread,” Sophie said. “Either of those options sounds good to me.”
They decided to aim for the following weekend, Saturday night, and to make lasagna. “I’ll show you how my mother makes it. It’s time consuming, but pretty simple,” Caroline said.
“Perfect,” Tessa said. “I’ll pick up some red wine. Looks like we’re running low.”
Chapter Eighteen
After closing her first rental, Sophie started the week expecting wonderful things. She kept busy, doing everything Rick and the others recommended. She’d chosen a farm area, the neighborhood of her aunt’s apartment.
“You might as well take advantage of living there. It’s a tough market to crack but people knew your aunt—you should make a list of everyone she knew. You said she volunteered on a few boards and was active at the Met. Send a nice postcard to all of them letting them know who to call if they’re in the market to buy or sell,” Rick had said.
Sophie did that and was optimistic that she’d hear back from someone who might be looking for real estate help, but she heard crickets—nothing at all.
“It’s a numbers game and timing. Where most people mess up is they reach out once and never follow through. Put everyone on a regular rotation, where you are reaching out to them with information about the market,” Caroline advised. “They will remember your name when they finally have a need, and you might get a call or email out of the blue.”
“Always have lots of balls in the air, because you’ll drop most of them,” Rick advised. Sophie had heard that same advice from most of the agents about the danger of getting one deal moving along and focusing all your energy on that and then when it falls apart, you’re left with nothing.
Troy agreed to have Sophie do an open house on one of his listings. It was a slightly overpriced property, but the seller didn’t want to lower the price.
“This will calm them down for a while. Doing open houses will keep them happy. Sellers think they are the magic sauce—when in reality, if they just priced better, they’d sell quicker,” Troy said.
“Do you ever refuse to take a listing if the seller’s price isn’t realistic?” Sophie asked.
He nodded. “Yes. I hate doing it, but I’ve learned the hard way that it can be a complete time waster. When the listing period is up and the property hasn’t sold, they blame the agent and give it to someone new, at a lower price and then it sells. It can be frustrating.”
Sophie wondered why he’d taken this one if he felt it was overpriced. She didn’t ask, but a moment later he volunteered the information. “I told him it was too high, but he promised to give me another chance if we don’t sell it at this price. And I’ve worked with him before. So, it was a risk, but a calculated one.”
Sophie set up an open house for that Saturday. They’d had to postpone the dinner party again because Caroline’s grandmother fell, and Caroline went home for the weekend to see her family and visit her grandmother in the hospital. Tessa had mentioned that she’d probably spend the weekend at her boyfriend’s apartment, so the weekend stretched ahead of Sophie, long and empty. She was glad to have the open house, and when Caroline asked if she’d cover her open house on Sunday, too, she happily agreed.
Sophie baked cookies Friday night. She wasn’t much of a cook, but she could bake a really great chocolate chip cookie. She made a big batch and divided them to take to both open houses. She also printed up a bunch of brochures and brought a notebook for people to sign in with their contact information.
The weather cooperated and was clear and sunny, though cooler than Sophie would have liked. She got to the first open house on Saturday a bit early and turned on the oven. She put the cookies on a tray she’d brought with her and popped them in the oven to warm up and hopefully make the kitchen smell homey.
She arranged the warm cookies on a platter, along with a pitcher of cold water and nice paper cups. She walked around the apartment and made sure the lights were on in all the rooms and the curtains were open to let in as much light as possible. She also put balloons and a sign outside of the building, letting people know there was an open house. Now she just had to wait.
