We’re about to reach a pivotal point in Kate and Don’s downsizing journey. They’ve been thinking about selling their home and moving to either a condo or an apartment for a while and are getting closer to making the actual decision to move, but they haven’t been ready to pull the trigger yet. If you’d like to refresh your memory, check out Downsizing – A Real Life Story and Downsizing 2.

Even though they haven’t made the actual decision to move or found a new place yet, their daughter just told me that Kate and Don will be moving soon because her brother would be coming into town in a few weeks and “he makes things happen”. Don’t ask me why, but I pictured her brother being Harvey Keitel as Mr. Wolf in Pulp Fiction and couldn’t wait to see what would happen.

I knew when Harvey would be coming into town so I sat on the edge of my seat next to my phone that weekend. Sure enough, on Monday morning, I received a call from Kate and Don: “The kids were here this weekend and we’ve found a place. It’s much bigger than anything we’ve seen. We’ll hardly have to get rid of any furniture. It has a renovated kitchen and bathrooms, a great view, a huge terrace and it’s in the exact location we want.” I almost didn’t believe them. Maybe their son really was Mr. Wolf? But when they asked about selling their home, I knew they were serious.

The first step was for them to sign a lease and lock down the apartment. We wouldn’t want them to sell their home only to find out that the apartment fell through. The landlord wanted them to take the apartment in two weeks. It would be impossible to list, sell and close on their home in two weeks, which meant that they’d have to pay rent for the apartment while they sold their home. This was a relatively small expense when compared to the comfort of knowing that they had a great place to go to when they sold their home so they were okay with it, but no one likes to spend money needlessly.

We suggested they tell the landlord that they needed to sell their home and that the earliest they could take the apartment would be in a month and a half. The landlord would likely agree because the chance of someone else being able and willing to take the apartment in two weeks was very small. Besides, Kate and Don are two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Any landlord would love to have them as tenants. The landlord agreed, Kate and Don saved a month’s rent and signed the lease. It was now time to sell their home.

The first thing to figure out was when to put their home on the market. It was already very close to the end of the Fall market, there was work to be done to get their home ready for market and Kate and Don had some trips planned that we wanted to work around. We like to try to make things as convenient as possible for our clients. We put them in touch with a lovely woman who specializes in helping people get their homes ready for market. She assists with everything, including getting things organized and getting rid of things. Remember, like most people who have lived in their homes for a long time, Kate and Don had a lot of stuff that needed looking after.

We had several discussions regarding strategy and timing and ultimately decided that the goal would be to put their home on the market for a week in December and try to sell it then so they could embark on their trips without having to think about the upcoming sale of their home. When you have the opportunity to leave Toronto and go somewhere warmer in Winter, you should take it. If their home didn’t sell in December, the plan was to put it back on the market in the new year.

The plan unfolded as a good plan is meant to unfold (which doesn’t always happen, especially in real estate). We listed their home, they received multiple offers and sold their home for a good price and with a closing date which worked well for them.

They’re now enjoying life in their new apartment, which is even better than they described it. All I can say is “Mr. Wolf, you done good.”

It’s common for people to think of us and our fellow Realtors as sales people, but you can see from this story that selling Kate and Don’s home was really only a small part of the entire story. Selling or buying a home is journey involving many stages and we’re often on that journey with our clients, advising and guiding them every step of the way. Nothing makes a good Realtor happier than being able to help our clients create happy endings to their stories.

Do you happen to know anyone that can use this kind of real estate help? The kind of help that involves honest answers, straightforward advice, no pressure and being treated like family? If you do, please let me know the best way for me to connect with them because I’d like to offer them this kind of help. And as always, don’t be shy if you have any questions or comments about this post! Thanks for reading.