Most of us who have been in real estate any length of time at all have come across situations that would be a great chapter in a book. I may never write "The Book", but thinking of these incidents as a chapter helps me close the door and go on and focus on the next chapter.
I met this woman through an internet lead. We emailed and talked on the phone for awhile. She called me and told me that she was driving from Tennessee to Kansas City to look for a house. She and her fiancée were getting married. He was preapproved for a particular price range but they wanted to stay under that range. We had talked about the Kansas City real estate market extensively. I had emailed her listings and arranged a meeting at another Keller Williams office that was more convenient for them. When I met them, it was very evident that they weren't on the same page, but that happens. I scrambled around and found some listings that might more closely make them both happy.
He didn't have his preapproval letter with him and I broke my rule and took them out anyway (because she had driven several hundred miles to look for a house, of course they were ready to go. Lesson learned). My car was in the shop and I rented a larger car so they would be comfortable. She also was unfamiliar with the area so we did a wider tour of areas. The next day I took her alone to search for their home.
We found the house and she was excited. It was brand new - well within the price range and had everything she wanted. When she told him that she had found the house, he had something to tell her. As it turns out, this man had another wife here in the city and had no intentions of getting married, buying a house, or anything else. This woman had already bought her wedding dress, was in the process of putting her own home up for sale, and making arrangements for her children to change schools.
I was angry for her and angry at myself for allowing myself to get duped. If I had stuck to my own rules requiring proof of the preapproval, it wouldn't have played out like that. She and I had some interesting conversations and perhaps I was put in her path to minister to her at a very difficult time. I can only trust that God had bigger ideas than my idea of selling them a home. I have talked to her since she returned home and reassured her that she will be all right. She's a strong woman who is better off now than she was before we met. And I am going on to find the next chapter for the book.
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