"Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream."
In the original nursery rhyme, the lyrics are sort of a metaphor for life's difficulties, and many see the boat as referring to one's self or a group with which one identifies. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row,_Row,_Row_Your_Boat
"Rowing is a skillful, if tedious, practice that takes perfection but also directs the vessel.
When sung as a group, the act of rowing becomes a unifier, as oars must be in sync in a rowboat."
Ever wonder if you will have a good experience sending a referral to someone far away? I definitely have had doubts in the past about sending clients to agents I didn't know too well, from points far away.
But not this time! We certainly were "in sync" on this transaction, since we have been rowing together here on AR, working toward creating more referrals, more business and more Google juice. For this buyer, we worked together with Active Rain as our unifier, it was FUN and it all came together like a good dream.
Here's my success story about sending a referral to a good friend I've never met in person, here on Active Rain...
I learned that my client needed to buy a house in Tennessee.
I'm not licensed in Tennessee, but I always tell all my clients that if they need any help buying or selling in another state, they should tell me, since I know more than 170,000 real estate professionals across the country, and I KNOW I can find them help.
Mary took me up on this claim. I went to Active Rain to see who I knew in the area.
I knew Larry Brewer in Tennessee, and he was born and raised and lives right near where my buyer was looking.
He showed houses to my buyer's son, wrote the contract and emailed it to my buyer in Ohio, answered all our questions quickly and knowledgeably, set everything in motion with title and inspections, and we quickly had an accepted contract that was racing toward a wonderful closing!
(I'll let Larry blog about that if he wants to...I just know it went exceedingly SMOOTHLY from my perspective in Ohio.)
But it gets even better!!
I also knew an inspector in Tennessee - Michael Thornton! He handled the inspection and provided the best looking and most thorough inspection report that I have ever seen. Not to mention that his paperwork, office, and payment is completely online, so it was soooo easy for my client to pay her bill and access the reports and appointment information.
Closing was completely seamless - Larry made sure that we had all the paperwork in place at the right time, explained everything to my buyer and we closed on time without any problems. My buyer was able to have a local contact here at the title company of her choice, so it was very comfortable.
My buyer got a great price on a beautiful house, plus the concessions she wanted and timing she wanted. Everyone was really happy. The cherry on the sundae was that I received my referral check within a few days after we closed.
It was one of the best, if not THE best, transactions I have ever referred.
We were unified, we were in sync, we were prepared - and we had a great transaction, pulled together by our association here on Active Rain.
"Buy, sell, inspect a house,
Gently down the stream (in Tennessee),
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
AR Referrals are a dream!"
