The expression “sometimes you are the bug and sometimes you are the windshield” came from a home stager that I worked with on a renovation home. She did a beautiful job staging the home with incredible furnishings, etc, and when the home sold, the buyers did not purchase a single item from her. We had hoped that she would sell some of her collection and it would be a truly profitable experience for her. Of course, it was just the excuse we needed to upgrade a few things in our own home. She was incredibly pragmatic and gracious about the situation.
It is now my turn to be pragmatic and gracious and it isn’t going to be easy! A home seller recently contacted me about a home buyer that was declined from two banks. She asked me if I could take a look to see what I might be able to do. I worked on the file for an entire weekend. It was one of those files where you pull one string and another unravels. The buyer owned rental properties and had written off a number of expenses so that the rental income was a negative. He had inherited some funds and had a good credit, some good “bones” to work with.
The file plagued me, he kept asking for an FHA mortgage because of the higher debt to income ratio. However, after a period of head scratching, I ran the file conventional and came up with a way to make it work. We would go conventional and have him put enough money down to eliminate his escrow. Eliminating the escrow brought the debt to income ratio down and Bingo we were there! The buyer was thrilled and thanked me over and over. I would have a copy of the Contract first thing Monday morning.
Monday morning arrives and no Contract. Tuesday morning arrives and no Contract. I start to shoot him a few emails and receive no response at all. So, I reach out to the seller that sent me the deal and she was practically in tears. She said “you will never believe what he did, he went back to the original mortgage person and showed him your solution and they are going to do the mortgage”. Gulp!
Being gracious is not going to be easy. Of course I would like to react, but nothing will be gained. Today I am the bug, next time I hope to be the windshield!
Comments(43)