During my real estate career I have had the opportunity to list homes that were originally FSBOs however I have never been in a position to represent a buyer who was selling their home as a FSBO.
July 1 I get a call from my future buyers. They have sold their home to a friend, the home will be closing on July 15th at which time they will be moving to Arizona to purchase a home with the proceeds of their sale. Their buyers have been working with a lender since May and are pre-qualified. They want me to find them a home in Arizona. All is good.
Mid-July There was a short delay regarding their loan and they took the opportunity to go on vacation. The contract and pre-qualification letter will be send to me when they return from vacation. My buyers delay their move to AZ.
August 1 I get a call from my buyer’s wife. She is in Arizona and wants to look homes. The new close date is August 7th. I have a contract, a prequalification letter and a buyer broker agreement. We start home searching, find the perfect home, put in an offer with a contingency and it is accepted. Their Arizona dreams are coming true!
August 17th I get a call from my buyer. The midwest home sale is moving along. Underwriting found a few issues that were cleared and the lender and Title are preparing the paperwork. Their buyer's will be signing at 1pm. The inspection for the home in Arizona went better than most and the seller agreed to fix all BINSR items. Miracles do happen.
August 18th I get a call from my buyer. The signing was called off at the last minute by the lender. He could not fund due to an issue underwriting found. In the meantime the Midwest buyers have moved into their future home because their rental sold and they had nowhere to go. After all, it would only be for a few days.
August 19th until Today October 13. I get a call from my buyers. Their buyer’s husband is in the hospital due to stress, my buyers are living with relatives and since neither have found jobs they have discovered that finding a rental will be a challenge. They are trying to keep it togehter. I strongly suggested that their buyer's change lenders which they agreed to. The new lender is looking at a October 30th close.
October 13th until Today November 3rd. I get a call from the lender. The loan was denied. I cancelled the sale in Arizona and my buyers are moving back to Minnesota. They may not have a place to live because their home is occupied (no written agreement).
FSBOs may be a good idea if everything goes right but once there is an issue, any issue, sellers and buyers start looking for answers from friends, family members and even Realtors. For Realtors the challenge is to maintain professional boundaries. There is only so much we can do to help a FSBO seller and those boundaries must remain clear both the Realtor and to the FSBO seller. I was really challenged when I found myself in the middle of this situation and had to count on my broker a few times to ensure I didn't cross any lines.
As listing agents let's start showing our seller’s how much it really takes to close a sale successfully. It’s time to prove to the public that selling real estate should be left to the professionals.
Any other thoughts on FSBOs?
Valerie Tourangeau, Realtor, EcoBroker
Serving the Phoenix East Valley
Call us at 480-229-8858 or valerie@eastvalleygreen.com
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