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Sophie gathered her materials together—she’d printed out a presentation for Renee with detailed comps from other recent sales to support her suggested price. She headed out and hoped that the meeting would go well. Renee had sounded super nice when they spoke briefly after the meeting.
She arrived a few minutes early and took a good look at the outside of the building before going in. It was on a quiet street and the building was well maintained and there was a doorman. That was a plus.
Sophie went in and told the doorman she was there to see Renee. He buzzed her and Renee confirmed the meeting. Sophie went in the elevator to the sixth floor. There were seven floors in total.
She knocked on Renee’s door and she opened it immediately.
“Hi Sophie, come on in.”
She stepped inside and noticed the scent of something delicious coming from the kitchen.
“Are you cooking? It smells amazing,” she said.
Renee laughed. “Thanks, it’s a chicken stew. I work from home and when I went to the store earlier today, it was so cold and raw out that I wanted to make something cozy and warm. Let’s look at the kitchen first.”
Renee led her into the kitchen, which was a decent size, not just the usual galley kitchen. It had nice features too including a backsplash of smoky gray glass subway tiles, a Viking gas stove and wood paneled appliances that gave the kitchen a pretty, high-end look.
The kitchen opened into the living area, which had exposed brick along one wall and ten-foot ceilings which made it feel more spacious. There were two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of them was in the primary. Both bedrooms were big enough for a king-size bed, which was a plus and the primary also had a walk-in closet. The final room was an office, and while it was small, it had a calming view of the building’s courtyard with its leafy trees.
They made their way back to the kitchen and Renee suggested they sit at the island, which had three chairs and a creamy white quartz countertop that at first glance looked like marble.
“I really wanted marble, but my mother talked me out of it. She said marble is best for people that don’t actually cook. It stains so easily.”
“It’s beautiful. It looks so much like marble,” Sophie said.
“Would you like a cup of tea? I’m going to have one,” Renee offered.
“Sure, I’d love one.”
Renee had an electric kettle, and the water was already hot. She poured two cups of water and added teabags to each.
“It’s Autumn Harvest, an herbal tea,” Renee said as she set the cup in front of Sophie.
Sophie thanked her and took a small sip. It smelled amazing and tasted of apples and cinnamon. Once Renee was settled, Sophie walked her through the listing agreement. The final step was deciding on the price.
“Did you have a price in mind?” Sophie asked her.
“I really wasn’t sure, but I did some research too and saw a lot of the listings you mentioned here. Given the high-end appliances and condition of my unit I thought maybe a little over two million, maybe a hundred thousand over?”
Sophie nodded. “My initial research before seeing your unit would have suggested right around two million. Now that I have seen it, I agree with you and think that sounds like where we should be. We can reevaluate in a few weeks once we’ve had some showings and collect feedback—and hopefully some offers. If we don’t have offers and have feedback that the price seems high, we might want to consider lowering it at that time. Does that work for you?”
Renee nodded. “That seems fair. Will you want to do an open house?”
“I’d like to. If that is okay with you? We usually do them on the weekends and I can give you plenty of notice, of course.”
“That’s fine. I’ll make sure I’m elsewhere.”
Renee signed the listing agreement which was for ninety days, and Sophie drank a little more of her tea and then headed back to the office to get started on her new listing.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sophie went back to the office and turned in her paperwork for the listing and input all the information into the computer. She set up an open house for that Sunday and posted all over social media and emailed everyone in the office and her tiny list of personal contacts.
Both Caroline and Tessa were at their desks. Caroline was in a fantastic mood and was writing up an offer for a condo she’d shown a few days ago. When she saw Sophie, she asked her how it went, and Sophie told her all about the new listing. Tessa sat two desks over and didn’t even glance their way, which wasn’t like her.
“Oh, that’s a good one. Great price. There should be lots of interest, especially in that location. I may have someone, actually. I’ll call and run it by them.”
“Thank you!” Sophie glanced at Tessa who had her back to them. She raised her eyebrows at Caroline, and she sighed and spoke softly. “She’s having a bad day. Her big double sale—the buyer didn’t get co-op approval. She’s back to square one on the listing and they are furious with her.”
