January 23, 2007 at 1:44 am
· Filed under Buyers, Real Estate Bites, Sellers, Sparks from Sparky
Okay, so I guess I should qualify myself here first. I suppose many would consider me to be an old dog. I’m not exactly sure when it happened. It was somewhere in between finding it increasingly more difficult to tie my shoes, and, receiving mail solicitations from AARP. Or maybe it was when my youngest son asked me if we had TV when I was a boy? Either way, I am the first to admit that I’m no Spring Chicken, or, at least, a Chicken with no Spring (You get the picture). Although, I am taking Ballroom Dancing lessons with my wife, so that’s gotta count for something, right?
However, regardless of my age, I do pride myself on being somewhat computer literate and having the willingness to embrace the newest emerging technologies (albeit at times, it might appear more like a rather slow and cautious hug!).
This past week, I encountered a real estate time warp.
I am representing some really great Buyers – husband & wife, 8 year old son, Active Navy, soon to retire, looking to plant some roots. We find this really sweet Brady Bunch home. Well, actually, it was more like a cross between “Father Knows Best” and “The Donna Reed Show” kind of house (now I AM dating myself!) Anyway, the house is just right for them. It needs some updating, but it’s immaculate and obviously well taken care of over the years. The house has been on the market for almost 90 days. There’s been one price reduction No offers.
My Buyers and I draft a FULL PRICE offer, but ask for Sellers to pay closing costs. It’s a very clean, very solid offer - good earnest money, only the standard contingencies, loan pre-approval letter, etc. To make sure I have all the bases covered, I call the Listing Agent to see if there are any additional considerations that are important to his Sellers, other than price. We finish writing our offer and I type a nice cover letter that serves to introduce my Buyers to the Sellers, putting “flesh & blood” on our offer. Then, I call the Listing Agent to inform him that I am sending over the offer. As usual, I have scanned the offer and converted it to a .pdf file. If not presenting the offer in person, I always fax and e-mail my offers.
So, I ask the Listing Agent, “Do you want me to fax the offer to your office, or simply e-mail it?”
His response?
Don’t bother to e-mail it, I don’t have an e-mail. And I don’t have a computer either.I’ve been selling real estate now for over 40 years…..(insert very longwinded story about the good ole’ days when homes were sold by a handshake and an agent’s commission sometimes came in the form of livestock, or whatever was shot that particular weekend).
I should have seen the RED FLAGS as they started popping up, but I was hoping this was going to be one of those relatively EASY hassle-free transactions, right? RIGHT! (Yes, Virginia, there is a hassle-free real estate transaction! It just never happens to me!)
We submitted our offer last Friday afternoon, with a response deadline of 9:00 PM the following day, Saturday. As Eddy from “The Greatest Game Ever Played” would say, “Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy.” Slam Dunk, right?
WRONG!
At 7:30PM on Saturday, I call the Listing Agent:
Buyer’s Agent: (me) “Do we have a response back yet from your Sellers on our offer?”
Listing Agent: “My Sellers would really like to have the rest of the weekend to think about it. Please tell your Buyers that we’ll have an answer for them by Sunday evenining.”
I inform my Buyers of the delay in response. Although slightly miffed, they heed my counsel, and agree to the requested extension.
Sunday comes and goes. Monday morning, first thing, my Buyers call wanting to know the Seller’s response to their offer. I finally get a hold of the Listing Agent and ask about the status:
Me: “So, do we have a formal response back from your Sellers yet?”
Mr. SnailMail: “I’ve been having problems getting together with the owner’s son. He works for the local electric company and is out on call a lot. The Seller’s are in a rest home and he needs to discuss the offer with them first. Can I get back to you sometime tomorrow?”
I call the Buyers and inform them of yet another delay. The wife is becoming extremely agitated with Agent Timeless. At 5:00 PM, and with still no word, my Buyer calls and instructs me to “pull the plug” on their offer. After much deliberation, I convince them to wait until the next morning before calling it quits. I call the Listing Agent to inform him that our offer will expire at 9:00 AM Tuesday morning if we don’t receive a response from his Sellers.
His response? “Boy, that’s too bad.”
How will it all end? I’m not too sure at this point. For all I know, he might have presented the offer to his Sellers by smoke signal. Who isn’t motivated here? The Sellers? The Listing Agent? Both?
UPDATE: Okay, so we finally got the offer back at Noon today. After four full days, the Seller’s elected to counter our offer by simply reducing the sales price slightly, and NOT paying any of the closing costs. Needless to say, my Buyers have elected not be respond, and the deal dies. So we’re back in the Hunt!
-Sparky-
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Toby wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 5:47 am
Nice post Mr. Sparky! Hope that the agent helped make this happen for your clients!
Sparky wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 7:02 am
Thanks, Toby! We’ll find out this morning. I am not being very optimistic at this point. But who knows? Maybe this agent will actually come through! Thanks for stopping by!
Hah! Been there. Sometimes the sellers just aren’t motivated enough to move to the buyers time schedule. If they are elderly and not comfortable with making decisions without consulting their son they just may not move fast. Better cut back on all expectations for speed. That’s always frustrating for all concerned. It sounds like their agent isn’t helping them to understand the phrase, “time is of the essence”.
It’s rare in our area for an agent not to have a fax, but not uncommon not to use email.
Carole C wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 8:54 am
Hi Rich, I agree with the above comment. An elderly client can take time, even when a son or daughter is advising them. It may really not be the agent’s fault. They may have decided to take it at their own pace. Believe it or not I’m not old enough to remember when things were less hectic (and you aren’t either lol)
Bob wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 11:26 am
Well at least you don’t have to worry about the agent stumbling across your blog. I wonder if in the interest of efficiency it’s time that part of the continuing education requirement for real estate agents relate to computers and their role in the transaction?
Sorry to see your Jayhawks hit a little bump in the road on Saturday. I’m going to have to find a new team to root for come tourney time, the Huskies will lucky to make it. I went to Eastern Washington University though so rooting for the Cougars (who look very tough right now) won’t be that hard.
Sparky wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Marty, great to see your comments here! How’s thinks up North? We can understand the need to be flexible with elderly clients. Absolutely NO problem there. The agent should have made note of that in the MLS datasheet, “Please provide additional time for Seller’s response.” But he didn’t. Still, we have waited. Patiently. Unfortunately, our patience has not been adequately rewarded (note update in my blog!).
Sparky wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Carole, thank you for chiming in. I always enjoy your perspective on things! You’re absolutely right, and we have been extremely accommodating with the Sellers. I really don’t fault them. I just don’t think their agent is necessarily counseling them effectively, and according to today’s market. Thanks for droppin’ by!
Sparky wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Bob, an excellent point! So I can bad mouth him here all I want? Naw, my comments and observations here are simply the bare facts, or “sound bites!” I definitely think we need to do more to streamline transactions, communications, and the whole “paperless” deal. Brio Realty certainly has done a very admirable job in that regard. You guys are way ahead of the curve, compared to a lot of other real estate companies!
We’re still in mourning over our loss to Texas Tech. There is no love loss from the KU faithful as far as Mr. Knight is concerned. But we’re still a ways away from March. So much can happen once the Dance begins!
Rich, I feel your pain and I am having flashbacks to a deal I had like this a few months ago. You are lucky in that yours did not come together. Mine did, so my suffering was prolonged until it fell apart not long before it was supposed to close.
When I asked the agent on the other side for her email address she gave me a street address. No cell phone. No answering machine at home, where she works. The list goes on…
Sparky wrote @ January 23rd, 2007 at 7:09 pm
MF - there is great wisdom in your words. Better to have things unravel on the front end than to have it fall apart much later on in the process. I was also really concerned with how my Buyers would perceive me, as if I was somehow at fault for not achieving a successful negotiation. But I spoke with them, and we will be looking for other homes soon. Nice to see your face on here. Life in the Rain hasn’t been quite the same lately 
Too bad…is your inventory large enought to give your buyers a good selection? Hopefully these clients of yours will do better in the long run.
I just wrote an offer today for a client who wants an answer NOW. He is trying to be patient but the seller is out of state (In Seattle I believe). We are hoping for one tomorrow and I know he will be hounding me if we don’t hear back. Isn’t real estate fun? At least it’s not boring, I hate boring.
Sparky wrote @ January 24th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Hey, Marty! Yes, our inventory is fairly sizeable at this point, although my Buyers are pretty specific in what they want. Hopefully, we’ll be under contract with a home soon. Appreciate your thoughts, as always!
Rich - we’ve been there so many times. It makes you wonder whether it is the listing agent not cooperating or the sellers not being motivated. What ever happened to “time being of the essense”? Good luck with your search - just be glad it didn’t happen, you would have had all kinds of delays throughout the transaction because these sellers simply did not get it.
Sparky wrote @ January 26th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Ines - the listing agent was completely clueless. We offered full price. My Buyers were solid and ready to go. It was a VA purchase, so at the very least, the Listing Agent should have recognized that closing costs were an important issue to my Buyers. Instead of just reducing the price, they could have simply inflated the sales price to make up the difference. The fact that they were slow to respond AND countered our full price offer without any accommodation for my Buyers, nixed any hope for a deal. Thanks for your comments and stopping by!
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