So this story is not from my glory days in real estate. In fact I would put this right up there in the list of worst closings ever. But now that this is long over with I can laugh about it all and pass along a few important lessons about selling real estate.
The first lesson I learned is about me and my family. We are 100% Californian. When my husband was transfered to Washington State to manage a lumber yard we both told ourselves we would love it! We are nature lovers and the promise of Washington State's natural bounty was appealing. We knew we would love it. We eagerly sold our home in California and bought in Washington State. Two soggy years later we both admitted to each other this wasn't the place for us. We needed to get back to the sunshine. We liked water, but preferred it under water skis and not on our heads.
California housing properties increased in the 2 years we were gone. It about killed me to know we were going back to California and moving into a Rental. Nevertheless, we sold our home in Washington on a Land Sales Contract (boy that is a whole other story). We did not get any money out of our home other than a small monthly payment.
My Washington Real Estate License, which I had only had a short time, was not acceptable in Calif. I had to retake all the tests and apply for a California Real Estate License. In the mean time we found a home we wanted to make an offer on which actually was across the street from the home we were renting. Both were in the country which was a plus since we had horses, dogs, etc... but it was a mess. Determined to get settled back into California quickly, we submitted our offer through a Realtor since I did not have my license yet. The offer was accepted. However, since it was a divorce situation the husband who lived there was not very happy when it closed because it meant he had to move.
Now this is where it gets dicey. If you can imagine we had given our 30 day notice. The Landlords had rented the home we were in and we were trying to move into the home across the street which had closed. Of course the Seller was not out! He was in the process of moving but was certainly not happy about it. In the meantime the people scheduled to move into the rental we are trying to move out of have 5 trucks lined up in the driveway and are very threatening. My husband and I walk across the street to speak to Mr. Seller who was supposed to have already moved. Mr. Seller is in the process of throwing garbage in a bag from the refrigerator and he is mad- and drunk! He has a pit bull in the house with him. Right off the bat the dog comes after me. My dog, a small poodle mix believe it or not protects me from this pitbull. The Seller gets even angrier and takes his gun outside and proceeds to shoot it off in the air. I walk outside, the tenants, Mrs. Tenant to be exact, wanting to move into the home we are trying to move out of decides to come after me. Can you believe we are all supposed to be adults here? The Seller who is in the backyard hears the commotion in the front yard and walks out with his gun! He sees that I am very upset with the situation and decides to take on the Tenants! Now he is on my side. Guess he just wanted to fight with whomever was handy. Needless to say the cops came and the whole situation was resolved.
Lessons Learned
Where was the REALTOR! Since I was a new Realtor at the time, less than 6 months, I did not know that I should have had several thousand dollars held in escrow to motivate the Seller to get out if he was not out by closing. My best advice is get the Seller out prior to the home closing if at all possible.
Do your final walk through. The Realtor I find out now was afraid of the seller. She did not schedule a final walk thru. We were left with all kinds of garbage from the Seller. In her defense I will say she did pay to have all the garbage removed after close of escrow.
Next try to arrange schedules so everyone is not moving in and out at the same time. I would have given myself a few extra days to move out of the rental if at all possible. It can get crazy if you have 3 legs of a transaction and everyone has to move out and in at the same time.
If you are moving out of state and own your home maybe you should consider keeping your home. Rent it out until you know for sure you are going to be happy in the area you are moving to. This especially applies if you are moving from a high end market such as California to a lower end market price such as Washington at the time. This has just happen to one of my clients. They just had to sell. They bought in Ohio now they want to come back. Guess what they are going to have to settle for a lot less than what they originally owned here in California due to the prices increasing. Even though prices have fallen they have not fallen enough to allow them to move back into the same type of home they sold.
As for Buyers or Sellers make sure your Realtor has either the experience or ability to help you through the process of buying and selling a home. They should be with you the whole way. Our Realtor was not there for a walk thru, she did not show up for the signing of the loan documents, she did not counsel us on any inspections. I was somewhat lucky in the fact that I did know what to expect in regards to inspections and signing loan documents. A Realtors job is not done after you sign the purchase contract!
Did you like my story?? Then digg it.
Comments (0)Subscribe to CommentsComment