My Greatest Failure, At Least It felt Like That To Me
We have all had issues that have happened in our lives that have left scars, good or bad. Over 35+ years of sales, I have had a few, but none impacted me as much as a real estate transaction gone awry, several years ago.
We all have friends and family that are hesitant to approach us with their real estate involvements. It is understandable as there are always financial issues that come to light or they just don't want someone close to them knowing all about their money issues. I do understand.
I had the son of my SIL's sister contact me to help me sell their home. This is better than 6 years ago. They had listed with 2 previous agents and were unable to get offers on their house. The market had just turned, they had bought higher and didn't have enough equity or savings to go the conventional sale route. They needed to sell short to make it work.
While short sales were in the market at the time, they were not as integral to the system as they are today. I hadn't had enough exposure with them, and their lawyer proclaimed that he could make it work if we got the offer.
There were 2 issues here. Their lawyer had not done any previously and it was my first adventure with no training. I should have been smart enough at the time to tell them they needed to find expert assistance, but didn't, especially as they were known to me, yet not directly related.
I was able to get the second lien holder on board, but without the third party authorizations, the first lien holder wouldn't talk to us. As we were almost into the third year of no payments on the mortgage, the bank initiated foreclosure papers. The sellers moved out and their home was lost.
This was a very severe scar to me, because I was supposed to be able to help a client. It was shortly after that, that I made it my mission to learn about short sales so that it would not happen again. Four years later, I can honesty say that I have only lost 2 homes to foreclosure while being involved with the transaction. I have also read and learned as much as I could about the changing landscape of short sales and made sure that any lawyers that I need to work with on a short sale have had the experience to help me close them.
I have done enough of them at this point that several major banks refer their potential short sale clients to me as a possible agent to get them done. I also find myself spending time educating other agents in my area that have short sales listed but acknowledge that they are dependent on the lawyer to get it done.
That young couple that came to me for help, didn't get help from me at that time, but they have been the instruments to get almost 110 other home owners completed short sales. We try to do our best, and always have the best of intentions for our clients, but sometimes are best isn't good enough because we just don't know.
Now I know how to do what I should have done for them. I also realize that I can't be all things for all people and need to step aside or pass along a transaction that I can't handle.
My Greatest Failure, At Least It felt Like That To Me
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