If At First You Don't Succeed....at least keep
the client!
I love Active Rain Contests and Challenges. We learn so much from each other in the Rain...and from our own reflections as we tell our stories. This morning I found the Contest, "Who Says There Are No Do-Overs?," and it reminded me of a great success story I had.
This story is one about one of my favorite transactions....two transactions actually.
I started working with a family to buy a new home and sell their current home. Seems simple enough. They lived in a very popular neighborhood and received an offer the first weekend on the market. The buyer was from overseas and was happy to allow them some time to find the replacement home. We found that home very quickly, it was in the same neighborhood and literally around the corner.
So far so good!
Fast forward to the closing. We were set to close on Thursday with our buyer and Friday for the new home. All closing documents were signed, all closing conditions met....but things moved slowly. By Friday afternoon, we realized we were moving into the following week to start this process.
Since the neighbors had already left their home and moved out, they offered to my clients that they could still move in over the weekend and we'd all close on Monday and Tuesday....no problem.
My clients asked me what I thought. I said normally I'd say "no" but that really everything was already done and I didn't see any red flags....so we could do a simple lease to cover liability, and sure...why not?
Well of course I should have stuck with "no."
Monday all hell broke loose. The lender who was lending to our overseas buyer was shut down by Fannie Mae. It wasn't our fault, but now we were without a loan. The other 2 lenders in the country who funded these kinds of loans refused to take an application until they understood what was going on.
Both transactions had just died!
I spent the next 2 weeks making sure that my clients were made whole financially. Certainly I couldn't help the emotional stress, but we negotiated from the deposit:
- All Seller costs
- Moving costs to and from the replacement home
- Repairs made during negotiations
- Termite report and repairs
I frankly worked harder negotiating how to get out of this transaction that I ever did getting us into it.
Why is this a success story?
Because a mere 2 weeks later, my clients found another home they wanted to buy. Due to my efforts to help them when the first situation fell apart....they trusted me! Again we found a buyer the first week and closed in 30 days on each.
They have referred me to many of their friends and family! I'm glad they are happy! If at first you don't succeed...well, you know the rest.
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