02/12/2026
Another successful closing with this client in the books! 🎉
I’ve known my client for over 20 years. We met in our later teen years and ran in the same circle. In her early 20s, Jenna made one of the BEST decisions a young adult can make, she bought her first home. 👏
Eventually she moved out of state but held onto it as an investment property. In early 2019, she decided it was time to sell. Even though we’d known each other for years, we weren’t especially close. When she started considering agents, she reached out to mutual friends about possibly using me. One person warned her that I had just gotten licensed (August 2017) and suggested she go with someone more seasoned.
But Jenna called me anyway.
On that first call, we talked about what I've done in real estate so far and how many transactions I’d closed. I told her I had closed 11 on my own and currently working with 3–4 buyers (I honestly can’t remember exactly), with one under contract. She explained that since she lived out of state, she would need someone very hands-on because she wouldn’t be here physically.
I told her, no problem!
What she didn’t know was that it had taken me 7 months to get my FIRST house under contract from the time I had gotten licensed. I had a slow start, but once that first one hit, things took off VERY quickly! I went from 0 to 5 homes under contract at the same time!!! I had learned very fast how to juggle multiple transactions and stay organized. I was ready.
After that call, she asked me to list her home.
Here’s the part she didn’t ask… how many LISTINGS I had I closed?
The answer at the time? ZERO.
Her home was my very FIRST listing. 🙃
Thankfully, in my first year I had been taught how to handle listings properly, so I felt confident I could give her a top-tier experience. Since she lived out of state, I was responsible for virtually every part of the transaction, even things sellers would normally handle themselves.
We listed her home.
It was on the market for just 3 days. We received an offer on day 1, but instead of accepting the first offer that came in, we chose to give the home more exposure so additional buyers had the opportunity to see it. That decision paid off.
We ended up with multiple offers.
And we closed ABOVE asking price. 🎉
About a year later, it finally came up in conversation that her home had been my very first listing. I truly thought she had known but she had no idea. She told me she was impressed with how smoothly everything was handled.
Thank goodness I did right by her… because today marks our 6/7th transaction together (one was an out-of-state referral. I still count it as one, because she trusted me to help her find the right agent locally to help her).
Eight years ago, we were acquaintances. Today, I consider her a friend. 🫶
I will forever be grateful that she took a chance on me when others told her not to. Thank you for trusting me then and for continuing to trust me now. I look forward to doing this as many times as we need to! 💛
Rikki Surratt
NC & SC REALTOR®
RE/MAX Executive
(980) 214-8810
[email protected]
