The 72 Hour Napkin

It was a beautiful Memorial Day in 2018. Teresa and I decided to meet for lunch at Rancho Mañana golf club. I was excited to share an idea I had been thinking about for weeks. After we sat down, I grabbed a napkin and sketched it out for Teresa to see.

We tested my napkin idea with several properties over the next few months and discovered it wasn’t just a dream…it really did generate more offers at higher prices for our home sellers.

What did we do different from before? We hired the most skilled photographers (expensive). We further optimized each home’s photos (expensive). Then, we posted only the most spectacular of those photos online. The goal wasn’t to try to sell homes online, but rather to set them apart so they stood out from their competition. The goal was to generate immediate inquiries from every potential buyer.

We also studied the ad copy techniques used for Fortune 500 companies by New York advertising agencies. Over many months we developed a type of ad copy that I later named “curiosity creating ad copy with an irresistible call to action”. This ad copy, combined with the amazing photos, truly set our homes apart and made the price, even if it was too high, look like a bargain. It worked! Every time we posted a home online the phone lit up with excited buyers.

Teresa and I learned that we really could flush out every potential buyer for a home in 72 hours or less. This enabled us to create a competitive environment that generated higher offers. This enabled us to generate those offers while a home was new and fresh on the market, making buyers even more excited and willing to offer premium prices.

It all started on the back of a Rancho Mañana napkin on Memorial Day 2018. Little did we know this was only the beginning.

The company we founded, 72SOLD, is now in 81 markets around the country. We’re in the 2023 Inc 5000 Top 5 fastest growing real estate firms in America, and we were just recognized among the “Most Admired Companies” for 2023.

Thank you Arizona, and now America, for believing in Teresa and me and our better way to sell your homes.