GSD - [ANYTHING FOR CLIENTS]

Today marks an interesting transaction in the world of real estate. 

If you’ve ever bought or sold a house… and/or you are in the real estate business, you know that each transaction is like a movie.  There are the characters in the movie.  Might have a protagonist and antagonist.  Then there are actors that come in for a brief cameo, but those actors might come in just to throw a curve ball in the movie. 

Then… things are sailing along smoothly in the movie and BAM one phone call, one scene, one character adds a plot twist that throws the movie in an entirely different direction and what you thought was a comedy quickly become a horror movie.  All the meanwhile there are the central characters that have to make sure the plot twist ruin the film.

That is what is exhilarating about real estate.  That is what also frustrates the he(( out of you.  Everyone thinks ‘oh let me get into real estate and sell a couple of homes and make some good money.’  Let me tell you a dirty little secret.  There are many transactions during the year that we make less than minimum wage because of the investment and the time commitment to make sure the movie – I mean the real estate transaction – doesn’t have a TRAGIC ending.

Union Bridge Road is the perfect example of the movie/transaction analogy.

What started out as a beautiful film, turned into a horror movie.  The house, the sellers spent a few months getting the house ready.  Painting, cleaning, removing personal belongings and doing exactly what we laid out in our ‘Customized Solution’.  Dotting every i and crossing every t on our list.

We do what we do BEST, present a home in its best possible light.

Photos are great, as always.  Thanks Annie!  Then we time the market correctly!!!  End up with multiple offers ABOVE list price. 

Inspections are complete.  All good.  Smooth sailing as we are about a month into the contract and everyone is just waiting for this movie to end.  It’s been one of those movies that everything unfolds as you plan and everyone leaves the movie theater all smiles and laughing.

Then it happens!  The Plot twist…

A few days before settlement and the lender doesn’t have the appraisal back yet…  Then the APPRAISER calls and says, “We have a problem with value.  I can’t find comps to justify the sales price.  And we have a few property condition items that need to be fixed for the buyer to get the loan.”

Having sold real estate for 16 years you know I don’t price properties based on ‘COMPS’, I think this is an archaic way to put a value on a home.  We price homes on an individual basis based on the current market conditions and the house itself.  I KNEW the value of the house was fine, but the appraiser didn’t.

Now, I gotta find the ‘comp’ to justify the price.

Digging.  Digging.  Digging. 

I find a property that the appraiser overlooked because it sold in the last few days.  It was the perfect ‘comp’ to the house we were selling.  This market was HOT so I knew the value was there.  Now I had the evidence (the smoking gun in the movie).

So, everything is good now.  We had our plot twist.  And were able to work through the issue and ready to finish the movie with a happy ending.

But wait, there is MORE…

Another plot twist…  Another phone call.  The appraiser called back when he went out to reinspect the house to make sure the repairs were complete. 

Well, the repairs that were needed for the buyers to get the loan, it is a VA loan, were not completed by the contractor that the seller had come out to the property.  The missed painting the facia board on the roof line of the house.  There was some peeling paint that needed to be scraped and painted.  Somehow the contractor missed this.

The seller called the contractor back, but he was out of town for a week.

Oh Sh*t… What to do now?  Buyers ready to move in.  Sellers ready to be done with this.  We’ve already pushed back settlement 3 weeks now because of all the last-minute twist and turns.

Time to GSD.  We go buy paint.  Go buy a couple brushes.  Get the ladder and head out to the property ourselves.

The above picture I took for my partners to demonstrate that we do what we have to do for our clients to go above and beyond.

I always tell my partners, do what you gotta do to help our client!  If you are doing that, then I will ALWAYS support your decision and support you!  Sometimes it is arranging a contractor to go out the day of settlement to take care of a leaking sink.  Sometimes it is buying a warranty for a client.  Sometimes it is climbing 15 feet up on a ladder to paint trim because the contractor missed it!

Hopefully this movie ends today!  There have been enough plot twists!

When you work with Impact Maryland Real Estate you know that we have your back and will do everything in our power to help you… and make the transaction as painless as possible (although there are always plot twists!)