I read a wonderful real estate story recently which illustrated beautifully the idea that small things make a big difference.

Here’s the story…
 

Looking for a change of scenery the Touzel family moved to Wagga Wagga, five hours west of Sydney, in January 2020.

After renting in the area for six months they started looking for a home to buy.

But they soon found themselves smack bang in the middle of a booming real estate market as COVID-19 saw more people working from home and looking to move out of the city.

“We noticed the prices were really going up,” Bec Touzel said.

“We were seeing a lot of offers being made that were above asking price because people were so desperate to get in.”

“You might see a house advertised for $410,000 but then it would go for $430,000-$440,000.”

Before long, the family had made 10 offers on homes and missed out each time.

To make matters even more stressful, their rental property’s lease was due to expire in December and the owner had told them he wanted to put it on the market.

“We were prepping for an open home at our rental and then going to open homes,” Mrs. Touzel said, adding that her daughters Abigail, aged 10, and Jemima, aged 8, were also getting discouraged after going to see so many open homes.

“I think Abigail was aware of a bit of a deadline feeling with the rental and she just wanted to help out,” she said.

It was during this time that the family went to see a home up for sale down the road from their current rental, Mrs. Touzel said.

“We decided to go along to the open home even though it was a bit over our budget. 

We loved it as soon as we walked in,” she said.

Mr. and Mrs. Touzel decided to put in an offer on the house, despite knowing it was likely to be too low.

After returning back from the open home, Mrs. Touzel said she found a note on her bed from her daughter Abigail, along with $11.75 of her pocket money in coins.

The note from Abigail read…

“Dear Mum and Dad, this is your money now for the house and other things if you want. Don’t take them back, they are yours now.” 

On a whim, Mrs. Touzel added a picture of her daughter’s note along with their offer when she sent it to the real estate agent.

“Within half an hour the real estate agent rang me and said, ‘Oh my goodness, that note has had me in tears. I’m going to send it along straight away with your offer,’” she said.

“We heard back within an hour to say look, your offer is a bit low, can you come up?” After a bit of back and forth, they decided to go a little bit higher with their offer.

After not hearing back for a few days, Mrs. Touzel said she was convinced they had missed out again. “I thought, ‘Oh no, we’ve blown it.’

But then the agent rang and said, ‘You’ve got the house. They had full-price offers on the table, one lady is going over asking price – but they just can’t get your note out of their heads.’”

Mrs. Touzel said she was told the vendors had two daughters of their own and remembered going to look for their first home.

The Touzel family moved in just before Christmas last year. Mrs. Touzel said they were enormously thankful to the vendors.

“The vendors were so generous – it’s really mind blowing in today’s world where the money is what rules,” she said. Mrs. Touzel said Abigail was dumbfounded when she
was told the role her note had in securing the house.

“I think she was quite astonished, that it had such an impact, but she was very excited as well,” she said.

“I’ve kept the note and we will frame it and talk about it in the future with her.”

As I read this story I thought it was a perfect example of small things making a big difference.
 

Take Action: 
 

What small thing can you do this week that could potentially make a big difference in your results?