The other day a long time friend of mine called me and he wanted to know if I could help a friend of his from church sell his home in Miami Springs. The elderly male was living alone in deplorable conditions. His wife had died 2 years ago and right afterwards there was a flood in the home. When I walked in the home the floors had buckled and the drywall was broken and falling down everywhere. There had been a roof leak in the past and the ceiling looked like it was about to come down. The home also had mold and termites.
I told my friend that before I could take the listing I wanted my home inspector to come over and give me his opinion on the home. I was told the old man had no money for the home inspection so I told my friend I would take care of it. The home inspector arrived several days later but told me the house needed numerous repairs and that it would be a waste of time and money to do a full inspection.
I then studied the market to see what I could list a home for in theses conditions in a nice area of Miami Springs. I came to the conclusion that the home would be worth in its present conditions for about $250,000. I listed the property on a Friday and received about 15 calls over the weekend. By Monday I had received 4 written offers and 1 verbal offer. All of the offers were between $240,000 and $255,000. The higher offers had financing contingencies and the others were cash deals. I advised the client that I did not feel that a home in these conditions would probably not pass inspections or appraisals, so I advised him to negotiate with one of the cash contracts, which we did, and by Tuesday we had a fully executed contract.
But the story does not end here.....
Several days after we had an executed contract I started getting a lot of phone calls from my seller's "Church and Bible Study Classes" friends who were questioning my sale. They wanted to know why I was selling the home and why my seller never notified them. I told them that my seller had contracted with me as a Realtor to work on his behalf with the sale of his home. I continued getting phone calls over the next few days about why my seller had no attorney representing him and basically questioning my practices. They wanted me to fax them copies of the contract along with my client's paperwork. I told them that if my client decided to retain an attorney I would gladly send him or her copies of my file but I could not send it to them since legally they had no right to receive such copies. The phone calls kept coming even now from the church president himself who basically was accusing my friend, who referred me the seller, and myself of trying to take advantage of the old man. Things started getting nasty, but through it all I never raised my voice and kept working in a professional manor. The church friends finally convinced my seller to use an attorney that was also a church member to review my deal and handle the closing for my seller. The attorney called me one day and said she was representing my seller. I told her to send me a copy that my seller signed to retain her, which she did.
I then quickly sent her all the copies of my file with everything the seller had signed.
I finally stopped receiving calls from the "Church Buddies" who finally had to come to the realization that all of the work I had done was professional and I had held myself to highest standards and code of ethics as a Realtor.
I don't know what you learn in Bible Study classes these days, but I am sure it is not to make accusations first then have to say your sorry later.
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