Don't count your chickens until they hatch!
I'm the kind of REALTOR that wants everything in writing. I avoid getting my hopes up based on a verbal agreement because I've been burned so many times in the past.
This is especially true with rentals. As a property manager in Cody, Wyoming, I often see prospects view a rental and tell me it's "perfect" for them. In fact, they're so excited they are going straight home to fill out the online rental application because they don't want to miss this opportunity. 80% of the time, we never hear from them again.
We have a client we've worked known for six years and recently helped sell his vacation home in Cody. He was eager to buy a long-term investment property in Cody so we showed a lot of houses but nothing floated his boat. I told him about a property that wasn't on the market but the owners told me they may consider selling. We set up the showing and he loved it! He made an offer at 4:00PM the same day. I went over the offer with the sellers and they made a reasonable counter at 5:00PM. By 6:00PM we had a verbal acceptance and the buyers said they would be in the office as soon as we opened to sign. That was easy!
Unfortunately, they walked in the next morning and told us they had changed their mind. They went from full acceptance to full rejection and instead wrote a full-price offer on a completely different investment property at a much higher price.
WHAT HAPPENED?!?
The fact is, nothing in real estate is true unless it is in writing. Even when I completely trust the client, there is always the possibility someone can change their mind in a very short period of time. In this case, it only took 12 hours in a hotel room to go from 100% commitment to 100% rejection.
Until the egg hatches, you don't have a chicken.
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