Last Tuesday at our sales meeting, our team leader surveyed the room and in typical fashion asked if anyone had any success stories. A few hands went up and stories were relayed. We murmured our congratulations and then I raised my hand to report that I had written five buyer deals in the previous week. My team leader raised his hands in applause that was seconded by my colleagues in the room.
Well, here we are on another Tuesday and if I wanted to be really truthful, I'd have to raise my hand to say that only one of those deals remains a "sure thing" - probably just jinxed that one, that's why it is in quotes. Another is a half/maybe, and two others seem dead and dead. The fifth deal is an ongoing HUD bid online; I have become a machine, daily upping the offer incrementally on a predetermined basis. The outcome is impossible to predict.
So what went wrong? The HUD has not been accepted so that is still a possibility; we don't know the number they'll take and their list price is way too high. Another deal had an inspection so chilling it is in serious jeopardy, from the leaking natural gas at all points of the furnace and the outdoor meter to the uniformly sinking slab within the surprisingly intact foundation. We were all in jeopardy from the gas leak but the sinking slab? Was the foundation built on bedrock and the poured slab on quicksand? I don't get it. Is it done sinking or will these buyers eventually be putting up wainscotting to cover the gap between the floor and the sillplate, all rooms in the ranch suddenly officially below grade?
The final two deals to fall apart were investor deals,
both condos with one accepted and one countered. The countered one has a pie-in-the-sky bank not ready to face market reality so the buyer walked away. The other accepted condo deal was done in by the HVAC on inspection. All of the other faults were accounted for in the offer with a builder ballpark underscoring the rightness of the numbers. That furnace and custom AC unit, at $5000 was the nail in the coffin on inspection. The numbers didn't add up at that point and getting to the agreed upon offer had been difficult enough. Renegotiation failed, not for lack of trying. Do these lenders not want to sell these palaces?
The one bright spot left, the one deal left, is a renovated condo with converted renters for buyers. They saw the rent-versus-buy numbers and found a great property they could afford. A few tweakings needed from the inspection report but everything is on track to close in record time. Start to finish, from the first call on a rental to closing on a purchase? Maybe six weeks. Those are the deals I want more of, and these buyers just might get my finest closing gift ever. It can be a cruel world in real estate, but give credit where credit is due.
My hat is tipped to them. :)
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