Terrific Real Estate Agent Patty Hopkins

Well, the sale of the old house (2 previous posts back) really was totally a God-thing.  I had so much anxiety over the past three years as I worked my way through the process.  We had another real estate professional that we started out with and I guess we just weren't a good match.  He was a very nice, very knowledgeable man who was actually very helpful .  However, he constantly was telling me about all the problems that could come up.  And while I dare say that I needed to know what he had to say, it was really too much information.  I would wake up at night and start thinking of all the looming potential problems (not the house itself, it was fine) but the septic tank, decommissioning the oil tank, water run off requirements, declining property values, possibly increasing interest rates, deck repair, and on and on.  At the beginning he really wanted us to subdivide the almost two acre property into four lots (currently two).  But I didn't want to deal with that.  I wanted a fair price and I did not want to start any more major projects than I already had.

Over the past three years when lying awake at 2 or 3 am with the mind roiling around, I would simply pray over and over, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee." I would say that over and over again until my poor exhausted mind would finally let me sleep. Later I realized that I still needed to seriously trust God through this whole thing, so I moved beyond "What time I an afraid, I will trust in Thee." To "I will trust in You and not be afraid." "I will trust in You and not be afraid." "I will trust in You and not be afraid."

The straw the broke the camel's back, so to speak, was the oil tank.  We discussed the need to test the soil, which we did, and no surprise, it came back with a small leak.  The letter I got from the state said that I had 90 days to complete the decommission.  Jeez Louise, I couldn't believe I had to pay for that as well.  Since I was loaning money to the estate for these big projects (the $10K deck was already done), I was not in the mood to hear that I had a deadline AND an out of pocket expense of $3K. Not only that, but I now had a 4,200 square foot home with no backup heat source.  Sure it had a heat pump/air conditioner, but it only works down to a certain temperature.  Now that the oil tank was gone, I would  have to add some sort of heat source, electric or gas. 

I had a major melt down by email and offended him greatly.  I agree that how I said what I said (no swear words) was inappropriate however, what I said was still generally valid.  But he no longer wanted to work with me.  That was fair enough. (I did apologize.)  So now what to do.  My husband got on the phone to Eastridge Church on Sunnyside and asked their office manager if they had any real estate agents in the church and who they would recommend.  The office manager called him back and said that everyone she had talked to had recommended Patty. (Aside, we LOVE Eastridge Church -- another reason I wish I could have kept the old home.)

Patty was wonderful.  First of all, she liked the house and was enthusiastic.  Of course the house had a lot of dated custom features, but she seemed to feel that those were beneficial, not negative.  She loved the view and thought the property (land) was fantastic.  And best of all, her philosophy was that "it's not a problem until it's a problem."  Then to my surprise she came up with a value that was higher than had been discussed any time since right after my mother had passed away.  Back in 2010 the values had been about the same as we ended up with, but since that time they had continued to decline month after month, year after year (to my ongoing anxiety and distress). 

Well, the house went on the market.  Patty added nice little decorative touches here and there.  In two days it sold, cash, with no contingencies.  She never even got a chance to do a photo spread.  We had a couple other offers as well, but it was so quick and not being stupid we thought cash was good.  Seriously, I expected to have to provide at least a credit for a new heat source or something toward a new roof.  But nothing!  The house sold.  I'm  happy with the sale price.  The buyer is happy with the house.  I think the price was really fair to both of us.  And it turned out to be as easy as pie.  That's why I am sure it was a God-thing.  It certainly wasn't me and my great faith. 

A couple of days ago, Patty sent us a thank you gift for the opportunity to work with us.  Are these cookies absolutely adorable or what??  But the thanks really belongs to God's faithfulness and to Patty. 

They are done by a company in Bellevue, I believe, called Cookies by Design. 

This is so totally fun and clever! 

Such a wonderful word!  Thank you Patty!  It was nice working with you as well.  

You can use me as a reference :-)