Sometimes it is Easy

“Luck is when Opportunity meets Preparedness”

-Branch Rickey

After one of my more difficult meetings with a seller today, I had an appointment at a Yonkers condominium that had expired previously with another broker. Not long into out interview, the lady’s cell phone rang and she informed me that she was not actually the owner.

Strike one.

The real owner was her brother, who was on the phone just then. He asked to speak with me, and I was happy to speak with him. It is always better to speak with the principal, you know? Initially, he wondered who I was and what I was doing over there.

Strike two.

I can’t say that I blame him. If I were in his shoes I’d want to know who is trying to list my home with my sister who doesn’t own it. I told him that very same thing. I asked, now that I’d seen the unit, if he and I could get together to speak about how I could help. He had more questions for me, and I guess I said the right things. He said he’d be over in 10 minutes. “Prepare the paperwork, we need to sell this thing.”

Boom. It is high, it is far, it is gone.

10 minutes later, he was over, we hit it off as well in person as we did on the phone, and the condo was listed at a $25,000 price reduction. Pretty lucky, given other possible outcomes. But things like this don’t happen unless you are out there and prepared for curve balls. He got that I wanted to do business, he meant business too, and we clicked. Just like that. Sometimes you get lucky.

Stay tuned.

* Branch Rickey was the GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers who signed Jackie Robinson and broke baseball’s color barrier. Also the inventor of the minor league farm system, he is considered one of the most innovative baseball executives ever. Moreover, he changed the world.