A real estate transaction is never complete until everyone signs on the dotted line at the closing table. Some home purchases go smoother than expected while others can be forty miles of rough road. However, one thing is always for sure; You need to be engaged and present for your clients the whole way through.
I was given a buyer referral from a friend of mine about a month ago. It only took one trip out to view a handful of properties before they found a home that worked great for them. Based on all of my advice they formed a strong offer which was submitted and accepted within a day.
The inspection found typical items that needed to be addressed such as roofing and air conditioning repairs. The inspector also noted that the pool was badly in need of resurfacing which should be done within the next two to three years and would cost around $3,000. My clients decided the major pool expense was not a deal breaker and they would rather request the sellers fix other aspects of the property that were more important to them.
I sent my clients repair requests to the sellers agent, including the request to resurface the pool(you never know unless you ask). We were able to come to terms on which repairs would be done, minus the pool repair(like I said, you never know unless you ask). The items on the repair request list were quickly done and the reinspection showed that the sellers did indeed address all of the contractually obligated issues.
The day finally arrived this week for the final walkthrough before my buyers signing appointment. The sellers had officially moved out and were in a U-haul driving on their way to Idaho where they were moving because of a job transfer. The final walkthrough was going swimmingly until we reached the den/office which was located off of the living room. The buyers were horrified to see that the expensive, solid wood, custom built-in shelves that were previously there had been taken by the sellers. These office shelves were affixed to the home and should have stayed with the property and nowhere in the listing or contract did it state the shelving units did not convey.
I immediately reached out to the sellers agent and let them know what had happened. The agent knew that her sellers were in the wrong but they were halfway to Idaho by this time so she offered to have her brokerage foot the bill on some new shelving. Within an hour the agent had emailed me some pictures and prices of office shelving but they were cheaply made with laminated pressed particle board, cost about $30 and completely unacceptable as a replacement for the expensive custom shelves that were removed from the home.
Not having time to call local wood working shops and get estimates on how much it would cost to replace the taken shelving I ran over to my local Home Depot. I had one of their sales associates in the kitchen cabinet department print me up an estimate of what it would cost to replace the taken shelving units with open faced solid wood cabinets. Their estimate came to around $1,100. I sent this over to the agent stating that my clients would not be going to their signing appointment until they were assured of receiving proper compensation.
I received communication back from the sellers agent that she would be picking up a Home Depot gift card in the amount of the estimate and would have it there for the buyers at their signing appointment. So what did I learn in Real Estate this week? You can't ever stop fighting for your clients until the final signatures are received and you get notice that you have officially recorded. Some transactions can come down to the wire like this one did and we always need to be prepared to deal with the unexpected. We also need to be able to think outside the box and provide solutions for our clients when they are frustrated and distraught because of circumstances that are out of their control.
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