10/03/2026
SOMETIMES IT STARTS WITH A HAND WRITTEN LETTER….
Sometimes, a real estate story doesn’t start with a FOR SALE sign.
Sometimes it starts with a pen, a piece of paper, and a handwritten letter.
A while back, I started writing letters to homeowners in a Powell neighborhood. Nothing fancy. No algorithm. No massive advertising campaign.
Just an old-fashioned attempt to start a conversation.
One of those letters turned into a phone call.
That phone call turned into an interview.
And that interview turned into an opportunity to represent the sellers of a home on Cranley Road.
Before they hired me, we talked. Not just about square footage, marketing or what I thought their home was worth.
I listened.
I wanted to understand what they actually needed to accomplish, what mattered to them, and what they expected from the person they trusted to represent them.
We found common ground, and they gave me the opportunity.
Then the real work started.
We came to market a little stronger on price than I had originally recommended. But that’s one of the lessons real estate teaches over and over again:
We can choose the asking price. The market ultimately tells us the value.
So we worked the listing. We communicated. We watched the market. We adjusted when necessary.
And eventually, an offer came.
I remember the agent representing the buyers asking good questions from the beginning. She communicated. She was reasonable. She wanted to find solutions instead of creating problems.
At the time, we were technically on opposite sides of the table.
She represented the buyers.
I represented the sellers.
But we had four people depending on us to figure out how to get them where they wanted to go.
We found common ground. The sellers accepted the buyers' offer.
Then came all the things that don't make the pretty real estate posts.
Questions.
Inspections.
Issues that needed to be addressed.
Conversations that needed to happen.
Decisions that needed to be made.
And instead of drawing battle lines, we worked the problem.
We communicated.
We found solutions.
We protected our respective clients while respecting the people on the other side.
And we got everybody to the closing table.
WHEEEW. 😅
You would think that's where this story ends.
It isn't.
Fast-forward.
I'm back doing what started this whole thing—handwriting letters to homeowners, this time in another part of the area.
Then my phone rings.
It's the agent who represented the buyers on Cranley Road.
We'd stayed in touch. Somewhere between negotiating a contract, solving problems and getting our clients to closing, a professional relationship had turned into a friendship.
She started asking me questions about what I had been doing to market homes and generate opportunities.
We talked strategy.
We talked about the market.
And then she asked me something I wasn't expecting:
“Would you be interested in co-listing one with me?”
That one hit differently.
Two agents.
Two brands.
Two different companies.
Two different approaches and sets of experiences.
One goal.
Go to work for the client.
I told her I would be honored.
This will be my first opportunity to co-list a property with an agent outside of my own brokerage, and I'm genuinely humbled that she made that phone call.
Not simply because she asked me to help list a house.
But because of why that phone call was possible in the first place.
It started with how two people treated each other when we were sitting on opposite sides of a transaction.
That's the part of real estate I wish more people got to see.
Because real estate isn't always what you see in the headlines.
It's not just interest rates.
It's not just home prices.
It's not just signs, social media posts, contracts and closing photos.
Especially in a market where affordability is difficult and the cost of everyday life continues to put pressure on people, sometimes having the right people working together matters more than ever.
Real estate is a relationship business.
Sometimes the person sitting across the table from you today becomes the person standing beside you tomorrow.
Sometimes a competitor becomes a friend.
Sometimes two different companies and two different brands realize there is room at the same table when the goal is taking care of people.
And sometimes an entire story starts because you sat down one evening and decided to handwrite a letter.
That's pretty cool.
But here's the part I love most:
The letter opened the first door.
The relationship opened the next one.
And I have a feeling this story isn't finished yet.
Listing Agent
Dawn Queener - 865-643-3296
Walker Realty Group, LLC - 865-240-3647
Co-List
Ray Williams -865-776-7368
Realty One Group Anthem 865-294-5848
