Lessons from Selling My Home

Lessons from Selling My Home     

I sold my home last year.  My sister and I were both new agents, so I let her list it, figuring we could both learn from the experience, and avoid practicing our new skills on unsuspecting clients (you’re welcome, current and future clients).

Things actually went pretty smoothly until a couple of “little things” turned closing day into an eleven hour marathon, much of it spent in limbo wondering what the buyer was going to do.  The day had a happy ending, but three lessons emerged from our ordeal; one for the seller, one for the listing agent, and one for both.

Lesson 1 For the Seller:  Keep doing the routine maintenance stuff even if the buyer has really annoyed you.  During the HOA inspection phase, the buyer somehow got an item listed in the report after it had been delivered by the HOA management company.  In the end, it only caused me aggravation, but at the time I was annoyed, and began to fulfill the letter of other inspection items instead of making sure things were completed properly, thereby “getting back” at the buyer and ultimately causing myself more aggravation.  Specifically, the electrostatic air filter needed some maintenance (it was popping due to an arc), which I had done.  The filter elements also needed cleaning, which I ignored, figuring the buyer could do it.  The result was that the system was still popping some during the final walkthrough.  The buyer wasn’t happy, and a short delay ensued while we had another maintenance guy come out to confirm that the work had been done, and that the filters were just dirty.  Doing the maintenance would have made the symptom prompting the needed maintenance go away, and there would have been no issue.  As agents, we need to keep emphasizing that our seller client needs to do the little things to keep the process as smooth as possible.

Lesson 2 For the Seller and the Agent:  Words matter.  Continuing with the same issue from lesson 1, the home inspection addendum had asked that the filter cartridge for the electrostatic filter be replaced because it was dented (and presumably causing the arcing).  The filter system consisted of two electrostatic filter elements and two mesh pre-filters.  One of the pre-filters was dented and always had been.  I had it replaced, and I also had my furnace maintenance guy fix what was really wrong.  The key is that I wasn’t exactly sure what the buyer had asked for.  When we finally got our broker involved in the closing ordeal, one of his questions was whether I had completed exactly what had been requested, and I honestly didn’t know if I had because I wasn’t actually certain what the buyer wanted.  Fortunately, we mad the buyer happy with the second expert opinion, but it could have been a major issue.  As agents, we must make sure everyone who is a party to a contract fully understands what is being asked.

Lesson 3 For the Agent:  When in doubt, go back to the contract.  The buyer was unhappy with one other element in the final walkthrough concerning the gas fireplace.  The inspection addendum had requested that it undergo a thorough check and maintenance by a licensed professional.  I had actually done that.  During the final walkthrough, though, it set off a smoke detector (residual dust from years of not being used, coupled with a 90 degree day).  Once again, we had a maintenance guy come back and confirm that the fireplace was in good working order; it only needed to be used some to get ancient grime burned off.  The buyer still wasn’t happy, and wouldn’t sign the closing papers.  As we approached the 8^th hour of this “fun-filled” day, our broker said these magic words:  “What does the contract say?”  I had fulfilled the fireplace requirements exactly.  Our broker suggested we go back to the buying agent and state that we had fulfilled the terms of the contract and completed the closing documents, and we therefore expected the buyer to do the same.  A couple of hours later, we had the closing completed.  When emotions are running high, and stress is taking over, we as agents need to take a step back, and re-read the contract.  That piece of paper, not the buyer’s or seller’s gut feeling, or even 11^th hour desires, ultimately wins out.