Earlier this year, I had a a few lots in a very small subdivision listed for sale. My seller is a great old guy that put in a considerable amount of time and money to get the lots ready for sale (i.e. water tap, sewer, soil and civil engineering, etc). My seller has worked all his life and just wants to retire. He will not do so until the last lot closes. In mid March, we received an offer for the last lot and with some back and forth negotiating, we got ourselves a deal.
The biggest issue that I had was my seller's willingness to concede on a very long contract period (almost 4 months). Anyway, once we got all the contingency items out of the way, I called the buyer's agent about every other week to see how things were going and to make sure we were headed in the right direction. Five (5) days before the scheduled closing, I get a call from the buyer's agent to tell me that we will be getting an amend/ extend. Basically, the buyer needed more time to get financing. This was supposed to be a cash deal!
My seller is a no-nonsense type of guy and I knew this would not go over very well. Before I even contacted him, I checked my database to see who had shown interest in those lots before. Immediately, I called these folks and put the signs back up. By calling the past interested parties, I was doing one of two things, 1) drawing up some interest just in case my seller said no to the amended contract request, and 2) the signs went back up to 'motivate the seller' that we can still sell the lot to someone else should the original buyer be in default. By the way, I removed the signs in the first place because the wind and/or some unknown individual kept throwing them in ditch on the property (hmmmm?).
Guess what, one of my phone calls yielded some great news. This particular buyer was still very interested in the available lot and wants to make a back up offer. The big unknown, what will my seller decide to do? Honor the requested extension or blow it off (buyer would be in default) and go with the back-up offer. I will let you know as soon as I know. CHECK THAT: I will let you know when one of the deals close. Either way, having a back-up plan for 'contingencies' is always a good idea.
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