It was a rare Saturday that I wasn't working and was enjoying my son's high school baseball game. I glanced down at my phone between innings and saw an e-mail from the Buyer's Agent representing the Spokane Home Buyer who was set to close in 2 weeks on the house that my Spokane Home Seller had purchased 6 months prior, rehabbed from top to bottom and was now selling. Apparently the buyer was walking around the backyard and found a head stone with a name and dates of birth and death, next to what appeared to be a raised patch of dirt. My first thought was that it was probably a pet, so I googled the very unique name. Nope, it was the name of a real person, and his birth and death dates matched those that were listed on the tombstone. After 12 years in real estate working with numerous investors who have purchased and flipped Spokane Foreclosures, I thought I had seen every thing, but apparently not!
I forwarded the bizarre e-mail to my seller, then texted him to tell him to check his e-mail when he had a chance. He replied asking what the e-mail said. Texting back, I described what had been found in the backyard.
His reply: "Is this an April Fool's joke?"
Me: "I wish it was"
Him: "Are you s*!#?ing me?"
Me: "I wish I was"
Immediately my phone was ringing. He asked me again if I was kidding, and when I assured him that I wasn't, he said he had never seen anything of the sort on the property. I told him that the agent described it as being located behind some bushes in the backyard. He said, "I'm dropping everything and going over there right now". Twenty minutes later I received a picture of the headstone.
He asked me what he should do. I said this was sort of uncharted territory for me, but probably our first step would be to check county records on Monday and see if we can find a record of an official burial site so we could rule out the possibility that he was buried in the backyard. It was an anxiety-filled weekend of waiting for the Spokane County offices to be open on Monday morning.
After more investigation, we were able to determine that the stone was just a memorial stone and that the poor soul had been buried in a real cemetery and not in the back yard. Quite a relief for everyone!
When you are selling or buying a Home in Spokane, you need a Spokane Realtor who can handle any surprises that might come up! We are here to help our clients through all kinds of situations to a successful closing, and we look forward to helping you!
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