My latest "learning experience"
Hi fellow BP members,
When I was about to start this post, I was not sure what forum to post it in. It kind of fits into a few of them. I chalk this experience up to expanding my real estate knowledge. So here goes:
What I love about this business is that I am always learning. No situation is ever the same. Take for instance my latest spin deal...gone sideways.
An investor I work with had this hot lead. He went to get it into contract, but the seller went nuts over an addendum that was in sales contract, and would not sign. He has a long drawn out conversation with the seller on the phone later on...and I can hear almost everything through my office wall. The seller was challenging to work with, and my associate had no deal, the seller would not sign. The seller was saying that my associate was not trustworthy and not a person of his word (not true by the way, he is a great guy, and very honest).
After he is done with the call, he is furious. I go into his office, and he says that I should go after this lead, but warns me the seller is crazy. I was intrigued, so I called the seller, no answer. I write the deal up the next day, a Friday, and go over to the house. I brought my associate's assistant with me to introduce me. Needless to say, the seller opens the door. I talk with them for about half an hour. The seller won't sign today, they tell me, and I leave a copy of the contract to look over. So I ask if I can come over the next day to talk with them about it.
I go over there, and get the deal signed around, and at the price I want it at. "This is awesome!!" I yell when I get into my truck. And it is. Because I assigned that deal to a great investor that I have worked with before, and he paid a handsome fee that I picked up from him right away. Also, of course, I am splitting the deal with my associate that gave me the lead, but its still great money!
This deal was on a time crunch. And luckily for me, the buyer was an all cash guy, and closes very quick. The seller needed a quick sale because they were about to move out of the country for good.
Then the things started to go sideways. The seller has a phone that cannot receive calls, but can make calls. This is a problem. Every time I need to have a conversation with them, I have to drive to the house to see the seller in person. I go over about 3 times a week to talk with the seller.
I brought the buyer in to take a look around... and to the seller, the buyer did not look enthusiastic enough about the house they were about to pay cash for. So the seller calls me and says they are concerned that the deal won't go through because they didn't look like they liked what they saw. I alleviate the sellers concern and let them know that the buyer very much wants to buy the place. Problem solved, right? No...
Then I get a voicemail that is from the seller yelling at me about the earnest money deposit. The EM receipt has a photocopy of the check in it. The "void" watermark is all over the face of the check. Well, the seller thinks I am trying to swindle them with a fake check. You see, the seller is a retired bank teller...and had retired before such watermarks were industry standard. Once I talked the seller down...again... we were back on track to close.
Keep in mind, my buyer thinks things are going fine, and has no idea what is going on in the background. So, now its 4 days away from closing, and the seller calls me up and wants to talk. I get into my truck and go to the house. The seller tells me that they want to back out of the deal...and please don't sue me, but if you do, expect me to fight. I tell the seller I am not going to sue, and kill the contract. The following weekend, the seller leaves town to move out of the country.
Then the hardest part came... giving that cash back to the buyer. Mind you, I had not spent a dime of this money yet, I never do, till the deal is closed.
I wanted to share this with you as encouragement to never give up. Its OK to fail. Even the successful baseball batters that are over 300 are missing the ball 70% of the time. It's easy to look like a genius when you're on top, but what really matters is how you handle losing.
So I got right back up on the horse and got another house into contract...but that is another story.
Thank you, BP and community, I really appreciate the warm welcome as a new member. Just reading what I have so far, its really cool to see all the great like-minded folks out there, and the great examples of people working together.
Cheers!
Brian Truman - Kingston Realty