This is not a fairy tale. Nor is it a made-up story - I shall not tell a lie! This really is a true story of a loan officer who thought he knew enough to sell his own home.
The story took place a couple years ago when “My Kids”, who were renting a home in a very small rural town, decided they were ready to buy a home. They wanted to stay in this small community for my grandaughters’ sake. The town offers essentially two types of homes: those built in the early 1900’s and ranches built in the 50’s and 60’s. Prices ranged from $90K to $120K.
We went through the process of getting them pre-approved, then began searching the MLS for homes. We viewed those that met the criteria, but none were “just right”. Then one day my daughter called to say that a FSBO sign had just gone up on a cute ranch on the same street as their rental. She gave me the phone number on the sign, so I called the seller to first see if he was willing to co-op and would he sign the required paperwork indicating that. He said he would, so I set up a time to show the home. He was to meet us there, sign the paperwork and give us entry into the home.
So far, so good!
I pulled comps for this specific home, checked what he had paid for the property, checked the Auditor’s site for any delinquent taxes, etc, etc. He had volunteered during our initial conversation, that he had purchased the home direct from his sister. The Auditor’s site said they had paid $107K for it a year previous. The price he was asking was $114.9K, but they had added a number of improvements since owning it.
Well, the house was darling! The improvements they had made were truly very nice. Ceramic tile, 
pedestal sink and brushed nickel in the updated bath. The kitchen remodeling was wonderful. The elevated circular paver patio was an added bonus. This home seemed to “be the one”.
So far, so good!
We “casually chatted” with the seller after viewing. Here’s what I learned in that “casual chat”.
- The seller is a loan officer working in Dublin.
- They had planned to live in this home for quite some time (hence, the over-improvement), but now his boss’s home is up for sale, and the very pregnant wife really wants to buy that home.
- He bragged about the subdivision it was in, and I know that prices in that community are around $500K.
So far, so good … and getting better!
So the kids and I went back to their home to prepare an offer. There’s no doubt about the improvements adding value, but to me, it indicated that (1) he overpaid his sister for the home and (2) in this small community, the comps said the price should still be no more than $108K. The main piece of info that we considered was the price of the home they WANTED to buy and their URGENCY to buy and move before a baby came in another month! So I told the kids “let’s go for it”. We prepared an offer for $108K with seller paying $4K in closing costs. I dropped the offer off to the seller at 10 pm.
So far, so good … we’ll see how it goes.
The seller called me the next morning to tell me they had signed the offer and were faxing it to me! I couldn’t believe it! So we proceeded to move toward closing. Inspections went well. Remedy fixes went OK. The seller was so-o-o agreeable to everything we asked for. I attributed this somewhat to the seller being a lender and as such, more knowledgeable than an average consumer.
So far, so ….. WHOOPS!
The day before closing both the seller and I receive the faxed HUD. I review it for correctness and all looks OK. I get a call from the seller who is in a panic! You see, the HUD says he needs to bring over $5K to closing! He tells me that …
- he didn’t know he would be paying $4K in closing costs (translated - he didn’t really read the contract! It wasn’t hidden.)
- they had purchased and closed on the boss’ home the previous week. (not a good thing to do until their current home sells unless 2 mortgages are OK)
- his wife might go into early labor once he gave her this bad news (well, that baby’s going to come out sometime in the next week anyway)
- if I were a “good mom” I would eliminate my commission so my kids could buy the home. (nice try! You qualified to buy a $500K home without selling this one. And my commission isn’t close to being what you owe!)
I called my daughter to give her the news that we might not be closing because the seller seemed to not have the money. She was OK with it. Her position was that we were looking for a home when we found this one, and we could just continue to look. The seller also called her to get her to try to convince “her Mom” to forego the commission in order for her to be able to buy their home. My daughter told him the same thing she told me.
So far, so ….. please, please, please … I don’t want to tell my wife that I screwed up!
As the day went on, both my daughter and I received numerous pleading phone calls from the seller. Our responses to him didn’t waiver, plus I added that I thought that with him being a lender, we had a right to expect that (1) he knew how to read contracts, (2) that he would have done a Net Equity review prior to putting his home on the market or prior to agreeing to a contract, and (3) that he wouldn’t agree to a contract if he knew he didn’t have the cash to close. The fact that he might just end up owning two homes, wasn’t our concern.
So far, so … maybe we’ll see you tomorrow morning … maybe we won’t
Well, 10:00 came and went, as did 10:05 … 10:10 … 10:15. Finally the sellers walked in, carrying a fat envelope filled with over $5,000 in cash in assorted denominations of bills. The wife was obviously not a happy camper, but we were unsure as to whether she was upset with the husband … or with me … as she never said a word. They signed their papers. The title company made copies of all the currency … a requirement I learned when cash is involved. And then the sellers left. My kids finished signing and we closed OK, having a good chuckle afterward.
I wonder if when this young couple decides to sell that $500K home, whether they’ll decide it might be worthwhile to have a professional represent them!
Copyright © 2007. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate,com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.
Busy Realtors® work long hours and sometimes it feels like our office is in our car with all the files, signs, tools, equipment that we store there. We may grab a bite to eat at a fast food drive-thru on the way from one appointment to another. Years ago, I remember seeing a special Realtor® bib with a big deep pocket to catch dribbles.
The daughter of one of my daughter’s co-workers reportedly enjoys reading my blog. This co-worker family is a “dog-owned family” being owned by Springer Spaniels.
Most people will Google their name to see what comes up or to see how many others share the same name. Because Google Juice is critical to my business and to gaining visibility for my listings, I’ve worked very hard on my SEO to make sure Google lists my various sites when certain keywords are searched.
A new pet product is reported to be due out in mid-2008. It’s a CELL PHONE for dogs! 
In January I wrote about the city of Delaware approving the expenses to 
One of the homes I put in contract over the weekend was touted as having a wine cellar in the finished basement. My buyers aren’t really into wine but this novelty seemed to hold interest to them as being something “different”.
At least that’s what some people outside the industry think, right! I thought about this yesterday afternoon.
The Jan. 28 
Elaine Reese
614-825-8860Real Living HER
I DIDN’T shop till I dropped …
June 8, 2008 · 2 Comments
I dislike shopping. Let me re-phrase that. I dislike shopping for clothes. I like shopping at stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, Anderson’s or Giant Eagle. But shopping for clothes is akin to sticking toothpicks under my fingernails.
I don’t recall how many years the Polaris Mall (Lewis Center) has been in existence but tonight was the first time I’ve been there, and even then I didn’t go in the Mall portion … just one of the anchor stores close to the parking lot.
I had to bite the bullet because my eldest granddaughter is getting married this Saturday. We’ve known the wedding date for nearly a year, so I guess you could call me a 1st class Procrastinator. The “mother-of-the-bride” told me what I could/should wear.
I “think” I found something acceptable … I’ll need to run it by the “M-O-T-B” for final approval. I’ve still got to buy a couple more things since I ran out of patience - couldn’t take the pain under the fingernails any longer.
As I was trying to select some jewelry, a 2-yr old was screaming at the top of her lungs and the mother simply ignored it. This went on for a good 15 min. Another lady near me groaned that she HATED shopping and mumbled something about today’s kids being out of control. I sympathized with the toddler. Hey, if I could cry I would, too!
I also learned … the hard way … that some restrooms are UNISEX. When did THAT happen! I opened the door under the “RESTROOM” sign … and walked in on man standing. (I’m still working on getting THAT image out of my mind.) HINT: if you’re using a unisex restroom designed to only hold one person, it might be wise to LOCK the door!
When I was in the Fitting Room, I quickly lost patience with trying to undo the little ribbony things that hold the clothes to the hanger. The outfit I selected was 3-pieces so I had to “fight” with 6 of these little ribbony things that were wound around the neck of the hanger so tightly I couldn’t undo but a couple of them. Finally decided I would just buy the outfit and finish trying it on at home. That way the check-out clerk had to figure out a way to get them untangled from the hanger. Then there were the little boys, whose mother was in a nearby fitting cubicle, that kept looking under the various doors until a sales clerk had to tell them to STOP THAT!
My last stop was the Shoe Dept. I selected a particular style but then realized I had to wait for one of the three clerks to actually go get the right size shoe in a backroom. By now it was after 9 PM and there were at least 4 shoppers in line for the same thing. I gave up and left. I’ll buy shoes somewhere else where the boxes are stacked with the shoes.
Thankfully, it’ll be a few years before my NEXT eldest granddaughter is old enough to get married. That will give me time to recover …
Copyright © 2008. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.
Categories: Commentary · Humor
Tagged: problems shopping in department stores