This month Patricia Feager and Kathleen Daniels are hosting the March challenge titled "March to a Solution | ActiveRain March 2023 Challenge" Patricia and Kathleen are requesting us to share issues encountered during our professional career in Real Estate, which may help others to avoid and hopefully resolve. This is my third entry.
Years ago I listed a home for a divorced man who was giddy with his new fiancé. He had been divorced for a while and met a lovely woman in the community. They made the decision her house would work better for them so he was selling his and then would move in with her.
A photo shoot was scheduled, brochures were completed and the house listed. I held an open house that was well attended. An agent called me and said she had a buyer interested and wanted to know if I had any offers. I told her no, please submit as I had nothing in hand. The offer was tendered and my seller accepted the offer!
Things were moving forward as planned and my seller was very happy...he was going to be able to move in with his fiancé in 35 days if all went well. The buyers scheduled inspections to be done in a few days. Then came the frantic call from my seller! His fiancé broke up with him! #&%# She called the wedding off and didn’t want him to move in with her. He was beside himself as he signed a binding contract to sell his home and now what could he do to get out of it!!!
I suggested he write a letter to his buyers explaining his fiancé had called off the wedding, he was devastated and now there was no need to sell and would they please, please release him from the contract. He would give them back their option fee and of course the earnest money.
He wrote a very moving letter, I emailed it to their agent and explained what happened. The buyers were very understanding and sorry this happened to him. They really wanted the house but agreed to release him from the contract. I told the agent about another listing I had coming on the market, just a few houses away that her buyers might like. As it turned out they bought it and became neighbors on the same street. They are friends now!
Their reaction reinforced my faith in people for having empathy for others. Kindness to others is so important. Real estate can be full of drama and its our job to take that out of the equation and help facilitate a calm transaction. We are problem solvers, that is what we do.
Comments(27)