Only another REALTOR will understand that sometimes the less expensive listings can turn out to take the largest investment in time. For the right sellers, it is worth the effort.
We've had the listing at 58 Shadow Ridge, off and on, for quite a long time. I say off and on because our seller had been the beneficiary of a less than stellar developer so every time we came up against an obstacle to a successful sale, we'd pull it off the market until the issue was resolved. I can't begin to tell you all of the On The Job Training we got with this listing. The seller wasn't even aware of any of these issues....she honestly thought that she had completely legal access to well and septic. How could she know that she didn't have the proper road right of way to her property? This type of issue is almost always caught during a title search before closing. Unfortunately for our seller, she was able to purchase this land when the only criteria to getting a loan was being able to fog a mirror. Title work was often sloppy and incomplete. We're all paying the price for the shoddy work now...especially the sellers.
This sweet little trailer has been "under contract" several times. The first contract failed after a heavy rainstorm (like what we're having now), a tree on a neighboring property fell onto the singlewide severely damaging the roof. The seller had a licensed contractor replace the old roof with a brand new metal roof. What a nightmare for the seller and us. Another contract failed when the buyer's attorney discovered that there was no right of way over the main road to access this property. This time the seller had to hire an attorney to research the issue, draft a right of way agreement and get it signed...more money out of the seller's pocket unexpectedly. Luckily, the seller was dealing with a thorough attorney who finally tracked down the neighbors and got all of the necessary signatures.
All this time, the seller has been making her payments, paying her insurance and taxes, and worrying from a distance that all was well with the property. The entire time she has remained loyal to us.
A few weeks ago, out of the blue, a friend of ours...a fellow agent who had just opened her own brokeage called and said she had an offer on the Shadow Ridge property. It sounded too good to be true...cash deal and no due diligence with a closing date of only a couple of weeks. Awesome! Finally, smooth sailing on this little singlewide.
So, good luck to the new owners...they plan to use it as an investment property, a rental. They should do very well with it. Congratulations to our sellers, it's been a tough road but we all hung in there.
When we calculate the hours invested in this $39,000 property, we really ended up earning a pittance...but, hey...what can you do? All's well that ends well. Finally, our seller is out from under this debt and worry.
It really doesn't matter if you are on the buyer's side or seller's side...those little inexpensive listings are always going to be the ones we have to go the extra distance for. It wouldn't surprise me if we see other listings like this in our future and no doubt, no matter how well we investigate the property, we'll still end up in the same kinds of situations in the future. I'm ready, thanks to the Shadow Ridge experience, we've learned about a few new potential pitfalls to avoid.
For tonight though...we celebrate for our sellers.
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