"Of Course I Remember You....You Sold Me That Over-Priced Home"

I sold a client a $4 million dollar retail building a few years ago. The market promptly crashed, it's worth $2.5 million today. And just last week, he called me....to buy another building! Whew!

Karen you're absolutely wrong! We all carry our very own personal fortune teller ball that we got right out of real estate school!!  How in heavens name could we have known how far and wide the market was going to fall.  I knew it had to end when prices were going up  overnight....but I had no idea of the complexity of what had been created and all the bad paper out there that pulled us all down. 

My question would be, would she think that about a CAR that depreciates the day it leaves the dealer's lot?

Same thing in the equities market, most "experts" did not warn of the market tanking before hand ie. Bloomberg, CNBC.

Same thing in energy trading.

Great clients DO understand.

Maybe we need to make a real estate disclosure, just like what the equity (stock) firms do.

That's the pickle of this business. We often get blamed for things that we have zero control over. A past client of mine remarked that " I did good, but was a little slow to close the file". Sometimes you just laugh and move on.

Karen, wouldn't it be great if we did know the future?

Great post.

Well Karen...she is very lucky to have a wonderful roof over her head and a house she loves...i wish we all had that crystal ball!  Smile, hang the phone up & grimace!

Karen,

Your client inspired you to write a great post!!! The market is what a willing buyer is willing to offer and what a seller is willing to accept on a given day. You did your job and you know that. 

Have a great week - Betsy

That would make me stop in my tracks....I guess it is easier to blame the agent for the decrease in values (weren't you on the Senate banking committee?)  She should focus on the fact that she and her family are living in a home they love where they are making happy memories.

Hi Karen - Just about anyone who bought a house around 2005-2009 could say the same thing! Real estate is just a snapshot in time and we deal with the factors of the moment. But it's kind of tough to hear them say that.

Even when they don't say it, they often think it. Tough phone call, but we don't shy away from the tough ones, do we?

I remember being called back for a listing appointment to a home that I had sold the previous year.  The bread winner's job was relocating him and he and his wife were FURIOUS with me for selling them the home for what they perceived as too much money.  At the time, it was market value and the market subsequently tanked.  The best part, was that this year, five years after that conversation (and, shocker, he didn't hire me to list it) the husband called and apologized for what he'd said.  It was bizarre, but nice.

Karen, you need to borrow Johnny Carson's psychic turban the next time! lol I think it's a bit unreasonable of your client to use such passive aggressiveness on you. You got them what they asked for!

Karen  I suspect there isn't an agent who hasn't been in that scence since the market meltdown.

"What if I had told her that prices were going to drop in the next year, and she didn't buy the PERFECT home. What if she never got a home that met her needs? What if prices went up instead and she missed her chance to buy the home? What if......?" - Those are the reasons that you should rest easy and know that the right thing was done. They say that everything happens for a reason and it looks like they got the right home for a reason.