Today was a great day for me in real estate.
I closed on a foreclosed home today that I've been working on for a few months. This wonderful couple was looking for a large home, at least 4 bedrooms/2 baths, about 1800 SF or larger in Gainesville (not on the outskirts) and they only were able to spend up to $160,000 and they wanted to be in Central or NW Gainesville. Impossible, right?
We had been looking for a few months and everything in their price range was either a major fixer-upper or just too small for their growing family (they just had their 3rd baby and their grandmother also lives with them). Finally, the wife emails me a listing in Gainesville that was 2400 SF 4/3 and listed for only $176,000. There must be a catch, right? Well, the listing she sent was from realtor.com and was not listed in our MLS. (Lesson #1: If your customers are looking for something that you can't find in your MLS, research some general sites, which may list homes that are marketed by out of town Realtors not on your board.) After a little bit of research, I found out what was too good to be true wasn't! It was a recently foreclosed bank-owned home listed by a Realtor out of Jacksonville.
That day, we toured the home and made an offer, a very low offer. They wanted to see "how low the bank would go"! But, of course, another couple looked at the house that same day and they made an offer too! Well, with bated breath, we waited, and waited for the bank to respond. Within days, they rejected both offers, which happened to be for the same amount...talk about fate, right? and asked both of us for our highest and best offers, which we submitted again. Still low, but a little higher than the last offer, we went forward again and we waited. Well, after a few weeks, they finally responded by telling us to yet again, submit our highest and best offer. After a little negotiating, they finally counter offered at a great price, $155K and we were ecstatic and immediately accepted only to find out an hour later that they had rescinded their counteroffer. My customers were true saints and waited patiently and calmly for the bank to again respond without changing their previous answer. After a few more weeks, the bank finally sent us an addendum to sign, meaning that they were willing to work with us. We sent it back that day and again, waited and waited, for two full weeks for them to sign the offer and then they expected us to close in 2 weeks. (Lesson #2: Patience, Patience, Patience)
After herioc efforts by the lender and the title agent, we indeed closed on time, today! And it was such a great accomplishment. This wonderful family will now be able to live in a large house with the number of bedrooms they need and everything worked out. And through it all, they were just the most patient, reasonable people. So, through all of the waiting and difficulty, the customer, lender, listing agent and title agent all had a great attitude that made me just feel completely fulfilled about being a Realtor. (Lesson #3: It's All About Attitude!)This is what it is all about! The American Dream fulfilled by a family who really deserves it....
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