When I was a new agent back in 2000, I took a rental call. It was a young couple, around my age, looking for a rental in town. Once we started talking, they told me they could spend $1,400 per month. That was higher than my mortgage payment at the time, so I asked them if they'd considered talking to a lender about being approved for a mortgage. It hadn't occurred to them that they could be homeowners for the same payment...and so our relationship started! I got them into an adorable little house by the lake and they began to build equity.

Fast-forward to 2014, when this week I'm starting my ninth transaction for them (including all of the referrals they've sent me). There's a possible tenth transaction on the horizon if I can find the dream home for a friend of their family.  (Challenge accepted!)

I call them my "A+ Clients."

We've been through a lot together - births and deaths, good markets and bad, and even though they're now in their "forever" home, I know that all of the time and work I've put in with them will continue to bring business my way.  I'm happy to help anyone they refer, because I know they are quality referrals.

As a side note, if my A+ Clients hadn't been able to qualify for a mortgage, I would have put them into a rental and kept in touch, because eventually (as Laura Rubinchuk Schwartz points out in a previous Lounge post), they would have become buyers. It's a mistake for agents to place renters and forget about them. They just may be your next A+ Client.