You Never Know... Redux

Last summer, I posted a blog on AR called You Just Never Know... in which I told about an open I held a few years ago. It was a super-cool, half-million-dollar condo. I had a large turnout that day. One of the lookers was an unshaven 17-year-old in flip-flops, torn jeans and a t-shirt who shambled through the place quickly and stopped to sign in just before he left. I struck up a conversation with him and asked what he might be looking for. A few weeks later found him a hip condo in super-trendy Adams Morgan that was almost as expensive as the one in which we met. Turned out he was a 27-year-old internet entrepreneur with substantial assets.

On the way out of settlement, I told him I was curious as to why he chose to work with me since as he had indicated he'd been going to opens for months. He said, "Because you were the only agent who talked to me." I guess to everyone else he appeared to be some ratty teenager who couldn't possibly afford to purchase anything.

This was about four years ago and we lost track of each other. His e-ddress lo longer worked nor did his phone number. Meanwhile, I changed companies and e-ddresses myself. He still lived in the same place, and on occasion when I would be showing in his building, I'd look to see if he was home, but he never was.

Fast forward to yesterday. I am holding open a condo in directly across the street from his place. It was a beautiful day and early on traffic was slow, so I stood in the shade of a tree out front. After a while, a couple approached and the guy said, "I don't know if you remember me, but a few years ago you sold me..." Of course, I recognized him. He looked a bit older and was dressed a little better, but it was the same guy.

He said he'd tried to email me a couple of times but the messages never went through. Did I have a card? He and his live-in GF had starting to look for a townhouse. Would I help?

Oh, his budget is a a larger now: over four time what he'd paid back then.

It just proves once again, one should never judge a book by its cover.