Page 45 of The Fifth Avenue Apartment

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sophie woke early Monday morning, showered and changed and made herself a cup of coffee. She’d only seen Caroline and Tessa for a few minutes the prior evening when she came home from Max’s apartment. Tessa had raised her eyebrows when Sophie told them where she’d been. But Sophie ignored it. She’d already told them she and Max were just friends. And Sophie knew that wasn’t likely to change anytime soon.

Caroline and Tessa both had good weekends and Sophie was glad to see that Tessa was in a better mood. She wondered if Tessa would be able to sell her twenty million dollar listing again in less than a month. Sophie knew that the high-priced properties often took longer to sell.

Sophie ate breakfast quickly—a bowl of cereal and almond milk, and then headed into the office. It was very early, and Tessa and Caroline were still sleeping, but Sophie wanted to get in and get started on researching potential properties for her new buyers. She had a very busy day ahead of her. She had calls scheduled with her two new buyers to go over what they wanted and to possibly set up some showings for that afternoon or the next day.

And she was excited and a bit nervous to show her listing to the wife of the buyer she met at the open house. When she arrived at the office, it was a quarter past seven and no one else was there yet except for Rick, who was in his office with his door shut. She could see through his all-glass walls that he was on the phone. His feet were up on his desk and his tie was loose around his neck. His hair was still damp. She guessed that he’d come straight from the gym, which she gathered was his usual routine. He saw her walk by, waved and flashed her a grin.

Sophie dropped everything at her desk and went to make a cup of coffee. She sat at her desk and sipped her coffee, savoring the rich flavor and fluffy foam on top. When she opened her laptop and pulled up her email, a new message came through. It was from one of the brokers that she’d met at the open house.

“Sophie, just a heads-up that my buyer wants to offer on your listing. We’re pulling it together now. I’ll be calling shortly with the details. Just wanted to check quickly by email to make sure it’s still available to see if there are any other offers pending.”

Sophie typed back, “No offers yet, but I do have a second showing today.”

A few minutes later, the reply came, “Great, stay tuned.”

Sophie felt a strange sense of excitement course through her. She had activity now, and there was serious interest in her listing. She hadn’t expected that she’d get offers or a sale so quickly. She knew it still might not happen though. So, she turned her attention to her two other buyers. They were going to talk in depth that morning, but they’d both given her a sense of what they were looking for and their ideal location and price range. She spent the next half hour searching all their available listings and going into REBNY, the database of listings across New York offices.

Tessa and Caroline walked in together at a quarter of eight. They grabbed coffees and headed into the conference room for the sales meeting which started sharply at eight. Sophie joined them a moment later and slid into a chair next to Caroline who smiled at her.

“I never even heard you get up this morning. You must have come in here extra early,” she said.

Sophie nodded. “I did. I finally have some activity going on and it’s going to be a busy day.”

Caroline looked happy for her. “That’s really great, Soph.”

Tessa just looked her way, nodded hello and picked up her coffee mug.

Rick strode into the room a few minutes later. His hair was dry, his tie was perfectly in place and as usual, he was smiling and full of energy.

“Okay, talk to me, team. What does everyone have cooking?”

They went around the room, talking about new listings and giving updates on pending deals. When it was Sophie’s turn, she told them about the pending offer. “I have another showing today, too, so there’s a possibility I might have two offers.” She was excited but also a little nervous about managing that properly.

Rick looked pleased to hear it. “Fantastic job, Sophie. Stop by my office after the meeting and we’ll strategize on how to handle multiple offers.”

Sophie nodded. She was grateful that he was going to help her with how best to handle that.

When the meeting ended, Caroline looked thrilled for her as she said, “I didn’t realize you were close to one offer, let alone two. That’s amazing. And Rick will help you. Multiple offers can be a little tricky to navigate.”

Tessa looked her way and said nothing. She went straight to her desk and pulled up her email. Sophie wondered if she was in a bad mood. She’d come to learn that Tessa could be very up and down with her moods, and it often mirrored how things were going with work.

Sophie went to Rick’s office, and he waved her in. He was pacing behind his desk and talking on his Bluetooth. Sophie took a seat and waited for him to finish the call. He wrapped it up and sat.

“So, you’re about to get not just one but possibly two offers?”

Sophie nodded. “Might just be the one. It depends on how my buyer’s wife likes the property.”

Rick was quiet for a moment. “It was the guy at the end at the open house, the one I overheard?”

She nodded.

“I’ll be shocked if they don’t make an offer. That guy wants it. Though sometimes a spouse does torpedo what looks like a sure thing. You never do know.”

He leaned his elbows on his desk and told Sophie all about multiple offers. She took it all in and hoped that she might actually get two offers. When he finished, he wished her luck. “If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me.”

Sophie headed back to her desk and the rest of the day was a blur of non-stop activity and meetings. She spoke with both of her two new buyers and went more in detail with both on what they were ideally looking for and budget. She set up several showings for both over the next few days.

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