Our daughter, Jess, and her husband, Brian, are Air Force and were being transferred from Maryland to Texas for a brief six to nine month period. Her husband was stationed in Alabama for three months prior to that and our daughter and 19-month old grandson lived with us during that time period. Jess was responsible for finding a rental home in Texas. She had planned on making a two to three day trip for house-hunting, signing a lease, etc.
Just like everyone else, we started with online searches for rentals. No sooner would we find something that looked ok, we would call and find out it was already rented. Consequently, I recommended she not make a trip and save the $1000+ for a house-hunting trip that would probably end up being wasted time.
So, next steps – Mom to the rescue, as I am an ALC and can network with other land REALTORS® all over the country. A search through RLI’s Find a Land Consultant tool helped me to find someone in the area that Jess and Brian were being transferred to, and a call was made to RLI Member Michelle Rushing, an agent with United County/M & M Ranch Land Investments.
Michelle was super to work with! From providing information on available rentals and information on rentals we asked her about to even answering texts and emails when she was away from the office at a class! Then, Jess finally found a rental that looked promising and was available; completed the lease application, etc., but the leasing company wouldn’t finalize the lease until she walked through the house. Creativity again by Mom, I called the leasing company and asked if a proxy could walk through the house on our daughter and son-in-law’s behalf. The company said yes. So, I placed yet another call to Michelle, who graciously agreed to do this for us. She provided great information on the home, the neighborhood and surrounding area, and Jess and Brian were able to move forward with the lease!
I cannot say enough about the willingness of Michelle as an RLI member. I later discovered Michelle had just joined RLI two weeks prior to my call, and she was impressed that she had already received a referral call from the Find A Land Consultant on the RLI website, just because she had invested in being an RLI Member! This to me is part of what RLI is all about – networking, helping each other, and trust in each other… even when members may not have met each other before.
Special thanks to Michelle and I hope to meet her at an upcoming RLI class or event!
About the Author: Terri Jensen, ALC, served as the 2015 RLI National President and is currently a Broker with National Land Realty based out of Minnesota. Of 18,000+ REALTORS® in Minnesota, Terri is one of only 14 to have earned the elite ALC Designation (Accredited Land Consultant). This designation, through the REALTORS® Land Institute, requires rigorous experience, education, and expertise in the areas of real estate, auction, appraisal, 1031 exchange.