do i give up...where's the white flag?

When do you give up on a deal? At what point do you say, this deal just can’t be completed?  When do you surrender and raise the white flag?

A couple of weeks ago, we got a lead via my website and locked up a contract.  Subsequently, we got a closing scheduled.  The buy side of the purchase was signed on a Thursday morning, and the seller was slated to complete the deal at 3:30pm.

I get a call at 3:40pm stating the seller was about to back out of the deal over a $300 discrepancy. I literally dropped what I was doing and headed over to the title company to sort out the issue.

Upon arriving at the title company 15 minutes later, the infuriated closer informs me the seller will no longer sign any documents due to unreasonable demands. She also said he was literally kicked out of their office for his erratic behavior and comments. The seller has been rather difficult to deal with over the past few weeks, so this was not overly surprising. To top this off, the one phone number we had for the seller no longer worked since his phone got cut off.

So we’ve got a truly upset closer at the title company, a seller who is no longer willing to sign the paperwork, and no way to find the owner.  The deal literally fell apart at the closing table.  Everyone is saying this deal is DEAD. What do we do? After all the hard work put in by everyone, do we raise the white flag and call it a day?

Not a chance! Investors get paid to resolve problems. We looked for alternative ways to find this seller and track down another number for him.  We try to talk him down from that proverbial ledge. His new requirements were not feasible, and the title company would definitely not agree to his requests.  After several calls with the seller throughout Thursday evening, there was great uncertainty if the seller was going to sign the following day.  

The first action on Friday morning is to call the seller.  After much back and forth, he finally agrees to remove his requirements and sign the paperwork at 9am. The closer at the title company said he came in and signed all the paperwork saying less than 3 words the entire time.

The moral of the story is do not give up on deals that may seem dead. This goes for the ones you do not have under contract as well. Be persistent and remember investors get paid to resolve problems. This is the difference between successful investors and those who exit the business.

- Charles

P.S.  The seller told me he has another property he wants to sell us.  He will get a follow up call early next week.