The Twitter Genie

I have decided that Twitter is my new best friend. It's like having a genie; make a wish and someone will likely have the answer. Yesterday, out of frustration, I posted the following tweet: "Need to find a realtor. Hate cold-calling for stuff like this, but don't know what else to do. Moving sucks." Not language I typically use, I know. I was in a grumpy mood. I also decided that Thursday was the day to check out various Twitter tools for the first time, so that I could see any @ replies of people who I was not yet following. (I didn't realize until this week that even if someone did a direct @ reply to me, I wouldn't see it on the Twitter website if I wasn't following them!) I checked out Twhirl and TweetDeck, and decided on TweetDeck. Got it installed, opened it up, and there in my "mentions" column was someone I do not know from Arizona responding to my tweet and asked if I was looking to buy or sell my home. It was actually a little creepy.

I checked out her profile. @ECNewlin was from Arizona, so I didn't think she could help me, but I responded just to be polite, informing her that we were looking to do both, but in the Atlanta area. She offered to run our location and criteria through their relocation service and get a name of a local agent to help us. Um, okay. My husband wanted to know how this was better than cold calling, since we still have no idea if this person is any good. True, but to me it is better because A) this company is actively looking for our business, which I consider a good thing in a realtor, and B) well, quite frankly, because they're calling me and I don't have to call them. Call me lazy! I mean, the worst that could happen would be that I don't like the person I'm referred to, and I can move on.

Around 10:30, Amber from Century21 in Arizona called to ask me about our house and to inquire about my desires for an agent. I explained that we wanted someone who could represent us as both buyers and sellers (one person is just easier on us at the moment), and we definitely need someone familiar with this area. Amber said someone would contact me before the end of the day, and sure enough, a couple of hours later, my phone rang again with yet another number I did not recognize.

Jayme Gooding of Coldwell Banker (they are corporate sisters of Century21) was on the other end of the line. She was pleasant and cheerful, and *clearly* knew the area where we live. She said she even looked at some of the houses behind ours when she was looking to buy her own house. I enjoyed speaking with her on the phone, and we set up an initial meeting for Friday. DH and I both liked her immediately. We looked over the house, and I was terrified she would say that we needed $20,000 worth of "sprucing up" to be able to get a decent price for the house. Nope! She did agree that we should go ahead and replace the vinyl, but other than that and doing some general yard clean up (well, and major house cleaning, which A) we already knew, and B) is "free" because it will be DH and me doing it ourselves), she thinks we should hold off on any other expensive items and see what kind of feedback we get. She will do the research on the local comps and will call us next week to discuss pricing. We've set a target of listing the house the Monday after Luke's birthday party. That's about 3 weeks from now. It is going to be a lot of work, but I do think we can do it. Advanced apologies for what will likely be more than one "house freak out" post in the coming few weeks, and incessant house chatter on Twitter and Facebook.

So, wish granted! Due to a confluence of somewhat random events (grumpy mood, Twitter post, happening to install TweetDeck that same day otherwise I would not have seen the initial response to my complaint), we now have a realtor, and I didn't even have to call anyone. They called me! I wonder what I should wish for next? Perhaps I should complain about having a dead yard....

Currently feeling: wish granted!