Typically, vacations are planned weeks or even months ahead of time. This particular fishing trip with my buddies is booked a year in advance. Actually, before we leave the lodge, it’s booked for the next year. It’s a trip that I look forward to as it brings back such fond memories of when I would go with my dad. One week in total Canadian wilderness. No internet or cell service. Just men on a boat fishing for their next meal. 🎣
This year, business has been non-stop, which I am incredibly grateful for. It also meant that I needed to have everything buttoned up before I go.
Well, let me share the Miracle that indeed happened on Interstate 90.
It was 12 hours before I took off for my annual trip, and I get a call from one of my best clients. They want to make an offer on one of my listings (owned by another of my top clients). I explained that in less than 30 hours, I would be in the Canadian wilderness and out of cell / Internet service. He says, “Let’s go for it!”. In the back of my head, I was not optimistic. Will the stars truly align? So, I get to business and write the offer up on this beautiful 11-acre parcel of land, and we put it into play.
On the entire drive north, I’m on the phone with the seller, then the buyer, negotiating this land sale. Typing counter offers on my laptop as we are traveling down Interstate 90 through the beautiful state of Illinois, then Wisconsin and then Minnesota. The clock is ticking. (This may be the fastest drive up north ever!) At first, I tell the guys in the SUV that this is terrible timing and it would take a miracle for it to go down before we run out of network. But as we get to Counter Offer #3 and #4, both parties start loosening up ever so slightly. I begin thinking, “Heck, this just might happen today.” Two dozen phone conversations and many texts later, we cross the border into Canada and start to negotiate Counter Offer #5. Thinking to myself – we’re close, so darn close. But I knew that it was still a long shot – they were still pretty far apart on the price. I kept them both talking, got ‘em laughing, and I am not going to lie, I did a Lil’ begging in between. We checked into our hotel, and I furiously typed out Counter Offer #6 before we headed out the door for a very very late dinner. With the clock moving towards midnight (literally) all of a sudden, the stars aligned and it’s “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!”
With six counteroffers later all in a 14-hour drive 🚗, we have happy campers on both sides.
Whether it’s Monday in the office or the first day of vacation, “We work harder to make great things happen!”
