Bulldog or Chihuahua? Can You Tell These Two Apart?

Bulldog or Chihuahua?- Can you tell these two apart?

Today marks the long-awaited resolution of a complicated real estate transaction, which began, interestingly enough, right here on ActiveRain. The homeowners found me from my blog. The wife told me she, frequently, scoured the Internet for information and my name kept coming up. One day, I received an email from her.

See how well that worked? Blogging fulfilled its purpose!

The process began smoothly enough. We found a buyer within a normal timeframe. I knew there were many permit issues that needed resolving in the house but, quite frankly, this is often the case on Long Island. Most homes were build in the 1950's and Town codes have changed every year; even more rapidly, since it's been determined that legalization is a wonderful source of revenue for counties that are hurting financially.                                               

Here's where the sale became difficult:

I recommended the homeowners retain an attorney who I've previously worked with on homes with multiple C of O issues. This man is honest, ethical, proactive, tenacious and very approachable. He will even communicate with his clients on a daily basis if the situation warrants it.

But the homeowners had a family friend - someone they've known for 40 years. The day we accepted an offer and contract drawing was next, I called up to introduce myself. For no apparent reason, this man let out a string of expletives and hung up on me. I was taken aback and mentioned this very disturbing behavior to my client but she said not to worry. This attorney didn't like real estate agents very much; he had had some bad experiences with them, but he was a "bulldog" when it came to getting the job done. 

With that reassurance in mind, bedside manner or lack thereof, aside, I was prepared for strong seller representation. Incredibly, the agreed upon contract price was reduced 3x and more than $35,000 between original and final revision, and neither I nor the other agent was made aware. NY is an attorney state and we don't see final documents until closing.

Updates were very hard to come by and not knowing was always the hardest part. The seller's attorney refused to speak with me for the length of the transaction (8 months.) Communication didn't seem to be any better between he and his clients.

In the end, the "bulldog" label bestowed upon the attorney by the homeowner turned out to be a bit of a misnomer. Me? I might have opted for "chihuahua - high strung and barks all the time!"

_{Bulldog - Flickr Creative Commons Vrangtante Brun photo}

_{Chihuahua - Flickr Creative Commons Wsilver photo}