Closing Escrows.. Making Active Rain Work for You

There are a number of reasons to like Active Rain.   One of the perks of membership for me has been the relationships I've formed with other AR bloggers.  A few weeks ago I finally closed an escrow on townhome in  Redondo Beach, CA.  I worked with the buyers for 9 months by the time the escrow closed.  The buyers had found me through my blog.  We had e-mailed a few times and I answered their questions about the South Bay real estate market.  We started looking at property in May 2007.  We looked at every property in their price range over the next 6 months to the point that even they began to question whether or not they were being too picky.  The answer of course was Yes... but they had just gotten married and were still learning the art of marital compromise.   During the 6 months of our property search I sent them the names of a number of lenders I was comfortable working with in my area.  One of those names was Brian Brady... America's#1 Mortgage Broker. 

The clients were very nice people but boy were they tough. They typified the "new" generation of buyer.  Internet savvy and computer literate. They wanted information and answers immediately.  There were no givens on this deal.  They had both owned property in other parts of the country and the hardest thing for them was finding that real estate is local.  It didn't matter how deals were done in other places.. what mattered was how they were done in CA.  This is a very difficult concept for a lot of buyers who have purchased in other states.  They were experienced homeowners... just not in California. 

They found searching for a lender was as difficult as searching for a home.  They had financed their other homes through their credit unions and didn't understand  that using a credit union from another state was probably not a wise choice let alone a very practical one.  They tried Internet brokers and traditional bank sites.  Ultimately they kept coming back to Brian Brady's blog as the best source for the information they were seeking.  About three weeks before they found the right property I managed to convince them they needed to be totally pre-approved to make an offer.  They finally chose Brian as their lender.

In November of 2007 they found a great property in South Redondo about 3 blocks to the water.  The property was a short sale that appeared to be a slam dunk until we got into the transaction.  The seller was a former lender who thought he had the deal wired.. he didn't.  There were a number of hurdles we had to cross to get this one closed.

Fortunately Brian was on top of things.  We were able to submit the offer to the lender with full approval for the buyers subject to the appraisal and lender acceptance of the short sale.  We waited and heard nothing for about three weeks when the lender suddenly demanded  an appraisal within a few days.    Brian decided to call on  Mike Tarabotto of California Appraisal Solutions Corp as Mike was an AR guy and close to Redondo Beach.   Mike scheduled an appraisal immediately.   I can truthfully say that Mike submitted one of the best appraisals I have seen in many years.  In fact the appraisal was so well done it included the name of the HOA president.  I'm guessing that Mike's appraiser gave her my name and phone number at some point which proved to be of major importance later in the transaction.

After being in escrow for over 2 months with almost no communication from the lender and a seller who really didn't know what he was doing it was time for our side to get tough.  After threatening to walk from the transaction after a seller bluff I  managed to get the number for the person who was in charge of the file.  I passed the information along to Brian who began calling them every few hours.   I won't be able to "prove" Brian's calls were the catalyst to get this sale moving but about three days after he started calling we suddenly received a demand from the lender and could proceed.

I was incredibly impressed with Brian throughout the entire transaction.. he is a pro.  However my approval became complete adoration when Brian drove from San Diego to Redondo Beach to sign the loan docs with the Buyers.   WOW.... I haven't had a lender do that in 20 years.  As it turned out there was a glitch in the paperwork and we would have been in real trouble if Brian had not been at the signing.  As Brian and I were talking with the Buyers while waiting for paperwork... they told us that the reason they picked both of us was our blogs.  They were very impressed with the information we offered and how quickly we responded to their questions.

Brian's latest blog on AR is about Justifying Your Fees .  I can guarantee that after you work with Brian Brady  he doesn't have to "justify" anything.. he earns every cent of his fee.   Thanks Brian... I couldn't have done it without you!