Get On Your Bikes and Ride…

How old were you when you first rode a bike? I’m not talking about riding a bike with training wheels…I’m talking about pedaling the bike and holding it steady all by yourself. No parents running along side of you. Just you and the bike…and the road ahead.

Lean left…wobble…steady.

Lean right…wobble…wobble…steady.

“Go Jimmy. Pedal fast!” screams the mother.

“You can do it! Just keep pedaling. Hold your balance. You can do it,” says the father, sending support and encouragement to the youngster gripping the handlebars with stressful anxiety.

Pedal…pedal…pedal…coast.

Suddenly you are a “bike rider.” You will never need to learn how to ride a bike again. By the next day you’ll be able to pedal forward, backward and any direction you need to go. Heck, you are probably riding “no handed” by the end of your first full day of riding a bike.

Same Business…Same Bike

“Go Sean. Pedal fast!” screams the family.

“You can do it! Just keep building relationships, solving problems and having fun. Hold your balance. You can do it,” says the legions of co-workers, friends and supporters who have connected with me over the last 12+ years when I was teaching people how to be successful in real estate but just not doing it myself.

Sean Carpenter 2.0

Maybe some of you have heard through other channels like Twitter or Facebook or from me directly but I “retired” as the Director of Agent Development with the Ohio NRT Companies. I am now simply a full-time Realtor with the Coldwell Banker King Thompson company in Columbus and looking to take my speaking to a national audience in 2016 and beyond.

Luckily I have earned the trust and attention of many of the Realtors I have worked with over the years, which is probably why I have earned a few immediate referrals from many agents in Southeastern Ohio. One of those referrals was of an amazing young couple who was looking to buy in Central Ohio where I have spent 39 of my 48 years on this planet.

Long blog post made short… the Buyers and I  met, connected, showed a few houses and found them the right house. We closed on that house today after proper discussion, counseling, negotiation, inspection, remediation and more of the “ions” that make a real estate transaction happen. I almost had to resort to “intimidation” to change my client’s Closing Disclosure from a bogus charge they were going to have to pay.

It’s all good. Deal closed and everyone is happy.

“Go Sean. Pedal fast…”

Today, I rode that bike with no parents and no training wheels. I pedaled down the road and made it through the closing with no issues and no obstacles. Jeff & Stephanie were happy as were the Sellers. It was a good transaction – that is one that is “fair to both the Buyer and the Seller.”

As I reflect on this first transaction of SeanCarp 2.0, I realize that there are lots of moving parts to a real estate deal making it to the closing table; Buyer, Buyer’s agent, Seller, Seller’s agent, lender, inspector, appraiser, loan processor, underwriter,  attorney, closing attorney…and possible many more. I am just happy that on behalf of Jeff & Stephanie, we were all able to pedal at the same speed to ride away into the sunset without scraping our knees.

Pedal…pedal…pedal…

(Okay, is anyone still looking at us? Can we pull over at the nearest brew pub and celebrate our success with a cold beer?)

Photo Credit:  Randen Pederson via Flickr