Couple of years ago, when the market was scraping the ground, and, probably, even digging it, my client bought a condo. A wonderful unit in older riverfront very well built building...
They liked it, so a few months later they made an offer on another unit there. It was a short sale, but it was not going anywhere. Either the agent was not cooperating, or the Seller, or both.
Then the Listing agent left town. New agent took over. It was dead again. And then the «new» Listing agent retired and the listing went yet to another agent. By this time the Seller moved to ALF; the new-new agent had no contact with the Seller.
Finally the attorney said «Basta. I am closing the file». I called the new-new agent, she said "Sorry". She tried, but could not establish a contact with the Seller.
Soon after we saw it scheduled for foreclosure auction. I called my client, told him about the auction, the procedures, and, of course, the risks. He wanted it, so I gave him the choice to bid himself, or I would do it for him. As much as he would love to save money, he figured that going with me was safer.
I bid, we won, and for exactly the same amount we had it under contract for over a year and a half...
The new-new agent called me a few days after the auction and informed me of the auction, and apologized that we could not do the short sale, and my buyer could not buy this unit. She was pleasantly surprised when I told her, that my buyer was the one, who won it at the auction.
As agents, we tend to confuse MLS with the Real Estate Universe. And it isn't. It is a widely used main tool. Many agents do not go beyond MLS but MLS is not the limit to real estate reach, it is merely a convenience for the agents, but life and real estate can be found in the outer real estate world...
Photo courtesy of Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via Flickr.com
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