Excitement for a 1st time buyer turns into the house of falling cards.

 After taking some time off during the holidays to hang out with my kids I returned to floor duty at the office.

Our office is located in downtown Mt. Dora, a touristy little city with antique shops and lovely restaurants and tea rooms. Most agents enjoy floor time because there is a lot of walk-in traffic and those visiting fall in love with the city and can turn into prospective buyers.

I started out the morning catching up on a few social networking sites, checking the updates in our local MLS and sending out a few e-mails to remind this past year's buyers to file their homestead. Calls came in for showing instructions...so buyers are looking...Yay!!

It's a little chilly here today...I know....anyone from Georgia on doesn't feel for us, Floridians, when we complain about 65 degree weather, but, I had to wear my sweater...so it is chilly!

A floor call comes in regarding a foreclosed property.

I speak with the very nice lady for about 15 minutes getting some information on her situation and what she is looking for, etc. The house she called about just happened to not be on the market anymore so I am now ready to search and find her and her family the perfect home. She told me she was a 1st time homebuyer and was new to the whole home buying process. I asked if she was working with a lender, etc., and she said no but that they had money for the down payment now. I proceeded to ask a few questions and decided to put her in touch with a lender that I have worked with many times in the past, knowing, that her personality would match up great with this new buyer and she would help to walk her through the whole process.

I am very excited for the new buyer and she is also extremely motivated and excited.

It's nice to have a buyer who gets excited. The last few I have dealt with were more business oriented and had been through this a time or two so not a lot of excitement.

I immediately call and give the information to the lender and know she will get right on top of things.

I do my first search in the area she wants and send to her knowing she is on the other side of the computer waiting for it.

Then it happens......

I get the call back from the lender. She ran their credit report and yep, you guessed it, not even close to being able to buy now. I feel horrible.

I will call her and give my apologies of course, but, what can I do?

I guess no matter how much someone wants to be ready and able, sometimes, circumstances will stand in the way. I love the area she wanted to buy in, approximately 30 minutes away, and every chance I get to drive that way I am ready to jump in my convertible and go. But I do not want to waste hours, days and even months driving back and forth showing homes there to an unqualified buyer no matter how excited we both are.

Thanks to technology and an on the ball lender, I will be saving a lot of time, money and energy not working with a buyer who is in no way, shape or form able to buy at the present time.

I would love to point this, maybe, "future" buyer in the right direction to fix her credit "woes". Any fellow Active Rainers with some helpful insight would be greatly appreciated.