I have the good fortune to sell houses to people with fortunes - at least some of my buyers have fortunes. A few have many houses in several cities. A couple have houses on multiple continents. People who have made money in real estate like to buy more real estate. And that's where I come in.
One special customer found me off my blog. We talked a couple of times on the phone and then started email correspondence. She would send short one line questions about a specific property. We did this for weeks and maybe months. I educated her in the ways and whys of Key West real estate. I looked at houses offered for sale in out MLS. I sent her photos with my comments. Eventually she bought a place and renovated it. Now she is looking for a second second home in Key West.
The lady is like so many people - she lives on Zillow and knows whenever some new property hits the Key West MLS. She will send me one of her one liners asking my opinion. She recently sent me an email about a new listing that caught my eye that same day. I made an appointment to see the place. Several other agents were scheduled around the same time I was there I moved from room to room taking it all in. I looked for reasons not to buy but I found more positive things than negative until I spotted it. It looked like a dehumidifier. Mold, I thought.
I asked the listing agent what the device was thinking it was a dehumidifier. Wrong, it was an electronic air cleaner. The above photo is Samsonite luggage. But it looks like the device. Then I asked whether the house had flooded in Hurricane Wilma - it had, but the damage was fixed. Earlier I looked for tell tale signs but found none. The agent then volunteered the owners have a couple of dogs. I said I did not smell any dog odor. But I was standing in the dining room with doors opened out to the back yard. Besides the machine actually worked and eliminated (or hid) the odor of Rover.
I exited the house and stepped out to the covered rear deck to checkout the backyard. The spread the width of the house. There was a shed addition on the right. I could see the washer and dryer. I walked over to see the inside and was overwhelmed by the stench. I loved dogs. Some smell. Those dogs smelled really bad. The shed might have to be torn down.
