Page 134 of Fierce-Matt

DAY IN AND DAY OUT

“This house is going to go fast,” Anya told her clients. This was the fourth on her list to show. She’d shown them five others prior to today.

Two they’d made offers on and lost. They dragged their feet and came in low every single time, causing them to lose the chance to even bid on two others.

“They all go fast,” Cole said. He turned to his wife. “What do you think, Whitney?”

“I love it,” Whitney said. “It’s the perfect location. The kitchen needs some love, but we can do that in time. Everything else checks the boxes.”

“I don’t know,” Cole said. “I don’t want to do much work. If you love it that much, we should come in under asking so we’ve got room to do that work.”

“I wouldn’t advise that,” Anya said. “It’s a seller’s market. You’ve seen that already. There isn’t a lot of inventory and coming in low on a house that just hit the market last night is never good. We are the eighth showing today.”

This house was being listed by another agent in her firm. She knew they were taking offers for forty-eight hours before they decided.

She couldn’t be that way, but some agents loved it. The clients too. It allowed them to pick and choose the best offer rather than jumping on the first good one.

“So that means it’s not going,” Cole said.

“No,” she said. “It means they are gathering all offers and will decide on the best one, not the first.”

“They can do that?” Whitney asked.

“They can. If you want this house, you need to decide what is a strong offer.”

“I don’t want to pay more than asking,” Cole said. “That’s stupid. If they wanted more, they should have asked for more. Sounds like they are being greedy.”

She felt the same way but wouldn’t voice that.

“If you love it and want a shot, I’d advise you to come in strong with a fast closing. One thing you have going for you is you don’t have a contingency to sell another home.”

“We need to think about it,” Cole said.

“Come on,” Whitney said. “You do this all the time and we end up with nothing.”

Anya didn’t need to say the same words. “You know how to reach me if you decide to make an offer on any of the houses you saw today.”

“We’ll let you know by tomorrow,” Cole said.

She walked out with the couple, locked the house and returned to her car.

At least she could get these showings done during the day since both Whitney and Cole were on vacation this week.

She found she loved having her nights with Matt. Even if he had work to do, she left him alone to get it done and entertainedherself watching TV or cooking dinner. She’d even gone to the gym there.

It’s not like she was moving in, but she enjoyed staying a few nights a week.

Her phone rang, and the number to the rehab facility came up. They didn’t call her. Not unless they couldn’t reach her mother.

“Hello,” she said, her heart ready to bolt like a bunny with the hounds let loose.

“Is this Anya Emerson?”

“Yes, it is.”

“This is Madelyn Watson. I’m your father’s case manager. We have an issue here at the home with him and can’t reach your mother.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, turned the blinker on and headed in that direction.