When Doing a Little Extra Becomes Necessary
While all in real estate work to a common goal, which is to get our clients' real estate transactions to a satisfactory completion, not all have the same life experiences to be able to handle exceptional situations. Such was the case I encountered a few years ago. A routine call from a client to visit to discuss listing their house opened a kettle that was not going to be easy to cool down.
As I normally do, I pulled the fieldcard, viewed some comparables and proceeded over at the designated time. When I reached the house, it was well presented, but appeared different than the photo on the card. The seller gave me the tour and then we sat to talk. The husband had already relocated to his new job and had left the wife and children behind to get the house sold. The wife did tell me that I was not the first one to be interviewed.
I asked if anyone had made any comments on the disparity of the house as offered and the town records and the reply was no with a questionable stare. I then showed that the card showed a 2 bedroom house with no garage and the property was 3 bedrooms with a garage.
I was told that the house had been bought as a foreclosure and was gutted when purchased. The new owners had cleaned it up, gotten a contractor to do the work and had been told that permits were pulled. I detailed that the status of the permits had to checked not only at town hall, but also at the health district for the well and septic systems. If it was not done before listing, it would become an issue when a contract was received and the appraiser noticed the same discrepancies. I offered to work with them on the issues and then get it sold for them.
It took 3 weeks of chasing which involved the building inspector, health district people, a septic contractor for inspection, and the appraiser. At the conclusion of these efforts, we got a certificate of occupancy, and a new tax assessment and there was nothing in the system that would be a negative for a new buyer or their lender.
What some might call going above and beyond, others would call giving a client a complete service. We all have areas of expertise and life situations may have given some more insight than others. An observation of inconsistency and knowledge of the process enabled the client to prepare their house for sale.
This post is for the Above and Beyond Contest
When Doing a Little Extra Becomes Necessary
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