The year was 2004 and I had just earned my real estate license.
Following Mom's advice and not knowing any better ideas, I took on a few floor shifts at my local office. Actually, at this particular location, floor time had a fair chance of working out as the office was on a busy corner in a retirement community.
My first client walked in
The third day of working floor time, the husband and wife that would be my first client walked in the door. They were a nice couple, recently retired and wanting to sell their home in a beach community to move to Sun City so they could be close to their son and grand kids.
I searched and searched, finding them a very nice, gated lake front home.
They made an offer and it was accepted. It was a cash offer as they had intended to finance their home on the beach to pay for the purchase of this new home, selling the beach home later. They gave $1,000 earnest money and left my office that evening excited.
I put them in touch with a loan officer.
The loan officer called them and explained their loan options. He called me later that day and explained while the wife was very excited, the husband was less than enthusiastic about the purchase and moving from the beach.
The inspection period came and went
In Arizona, the inspection period is ten days. We had the home inspected, found no real problems, requested some minor repairs from the seller who quickly agreed. We were on our way to close of escrow and I had cashed the commission check a thousand times in my mind.
The husband became very, very unenthusiastic about leaving the beach
Ten days or so before we were set to close I received the call. "I am not buying the house" the voice on the phone said (I could hear the wife in the background sobbing). I warned the client they could be sued for specific performance, he said he did not care and would not move, hanging up on me.
The seller sued my client for specific performance.
My client was sued and paid the seller $50,000 in damages. Both my designated broker and myself tried to talk the client into closing on the deal and offered to then immediately sell for no commission. He declined and paid the $50,000.
A buyers agent is more than just a representative of the buyer, you are there to ensure a smooth transaction and relieve concern and anxiety through your knowledge and reassurance in the process.
While real estate transactions are common place to Realtors they are far from common for the average person. People get scared with change, especially right after a major life event like retirement. I look back and believe today, with my experience and knowledge I could have been better at walking my clients through this process. I learned the hard way that you really need to understand that buying a home is foreign for most people and it scares many. It is full of anxiety and it is the real job of a Realtor to alive that anxiety not simply process the transaction.
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