I'm not sure if I'd call this a big deal, a small deal, a learning experience or simple say "Thank God that's over".
It started with a phone call from another KW agent out of the state. He was looking for a listing agent for some referrals.
Happy to take the job - YES - and Thank You Very Much!!
Then I learned the homes were federal bankruptcy liquidations. The "owner" had been stripped of his rights to own, or sell, the homes and the bankruptcy court had decided to sell them. There were 2 side by side.
First order of business was to knock on the doors and determine condition of the home, and the willingness of the occupant to vacate. Simple right? Only it's more complicated than that. The man who was forced into the bankruptcy (I understand it was a lawsuit settlement that forced the issue) had his mom living in one of the homes, and his brother in the other. Suddenly this is much more complicated - and more even when mom says she knows nothing about what's going on.
Turns out mom and brother were both very nice people. Structurally the homes were ok - they were fairly new and nothing had been destroyed. They had dogs and cigarettes in each (in Utah the cigarettes are particularly frowned upon). One had dogs that never went outside - I thought there was landscaping bark that had been tracked inside the first time I walked in. No - really - the dogs never went outside.
The homes were priced at a point the offers poured in. They came to me and got forwarded to the court trustee. Get them back and the court wants 3% earnest money - perhpas not a big deal in some places, unheard of in Utah. Also they won't pay a dime in closing costs. Ok - first round of offers are out the window thanks to one or both of these conditions.
Finally get offers that are going to stick. The deal now is they have to actually go to a hearing at wtih the court to get released for sale. Once that gets done there will be 15 days to get them closed. At this point we find out the court date is about another 3 weeks away. Creates some difficulty for the buyer's lenders with expiring locks and what not, but all of that gets worked out.
Date finally comes and the papers allowing the sale arrive. Buyer 1 is ready and closed within 8 days. No seller side closing - what's up? Title can't even answer the question of what's wrong, or when they'll get it worked out. So much for the 15 days. Takes another 3 weeks for title to get things straight which means buyer 1 closes again - and buyer 2 is finally cleared to close...Another week and I get notice one of the homes has closed (recorded) and there is still a problem with the other - by end of the next day it's all worked out. Emails go out from the court thanking everybody for their work...I'm sitting back wondering what the heck...Who gets congratulated for being more than 2 weeks late getting things wrapped up? In the transactions I'm accustomed to - title has everything lined up so once loan docs arrive both sides could settle within a few hours...once money is wired it gets funded and recorded and BAM - we're done. Not so much here.
Learning experience? I'm still looking for the lessons I learned from this one. There are the obvious people lessons - mom and brother really had nothing to do with any of it (except perhaps the most foul stench I ever walked into) so they needed treated well throughout. For a real estate transaction that paid me 1.75% - likely won't be signing up for such a referral again in the near future.
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