This morning I read a humorous article by Kris, Berg, broker-owner, of San Diesgo Castles Realty, where she talks about some of the Catastrophies that can happen. It prompted me to share a few of her thoughts that made me laugh so hard I almost fell out of my chair:
One area is that of the transactions themselves: getting the house, selling the house, closing on time, etc.
Kris explains, "This all sounds easy enough, except that the level of difficulty has increased in our profession to the point where even the most straightforward of tasks often leave us feeling like we are running a half-marathon in stilettos.
The lender accepted electronic signatures last week; this week he won't. On Monday, the bank approved the loan only to deny it on Friday, approve it again after the weekend, and -- "Whoopsie!" -- deny it yet again despite that fact that everyone has packed and moving trucks are idling.
Sometimes it's that the buyer who loved the home two weeks ago suddenly lost interest, that the county pulls the recording at the last minute because there was a smudge on page 142 of the documents, or that no one saw that cracked slab or toxic mold coming. Whatever the issue, the one thing we can count on as agents is having issues"
Now her comments made me reflect on my year of 2010, and all my contracts that DIDNT MAKE IT.
Like one was at the beginning of the year where I had a pre-approved buyer for an RD loan, wrote a contract, and when I took it to the loan officer was informed, "Oh, I'm sorry but this week RD just raised credit score requirements from 580 to 620." The seller's agent was furious and demanded we go to her lender, which we did, only to find out it was the same lender that had just told me they couldn't do the loan".
Then there was another young man with credit scores at 700, who was approved and ready to close on a DSF, but decided a condo nearer work would be better so during the inspection period withdrew and switched to a luxury condo...whoops! He was self-employed and only had 18 months of employment and 5% down. All of a sudden they now required 3 years income tax returns and 20% down on condos. He could have gotten a single family, but they changed the length of employment requirement and no longer counted those years of college and graduate school as employment! By the time we went thru several changes and rejections he was so frustrated that he just decided to rent for 2 more years.
Kris also throws in the second half of the puzzle all those diverse personalities we deal with and their "perceptions" and "expectations" How do you deal with a seller whose subdivision values dropped 25% in the last 18 months?
If you'd like to read all of Kris Berg's article it was in Inman sponsered by Lowe's.
Wheee...2010 was like a roller coaster ride where the rules changes every 48 hours! Those of us left in the profession (and numbers seem to be dropping like flies) must be adrenaline junkies!!
If you had any interesting experiences, please share them with me so we can laugh together.
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