What does it mean for us to go the extra mile for one of our clients? Let me tell you a story.
A few months ago, I got an email from one of my past clients who needed to sell his home and buy a new one for him and his fiance. We were excited to help him. Ultimately, he chose a home in Monroe. We competed for this house against another buyer and won. When we scheduled the inspection, though, we found that the roof was toast and asked the seller to replace it.
The seller took this request hard because he had just put $20,000 into the house to fix it up after he had renters in it. Since he decided it was too much for him to handle, we offered to split the cost with him. We raised the price of the house a little bit, but that wasn’t a problem for my buyer because he was going to get the full value of that roof. To give the seller confidence that we weren’t going anywhere after they put another $7,000 into their house, we also agreed to make our earnest money non-refundable after the roof was finished.
Everything moved along nicely…until the house didn’t appraise. We went back and forth a couple times with the seller and his agent, but the seller wouldn’t budge. He wanted every single penny that he had originally been promised. My buyer, though, was not going to pay more for the house than he could finance, and he wasn’t going to pay more than what it was worth.
“On our team, we work to find solutions.”
At this point, we started talking with our lender about different finance options that could breathe life into this transaction. My lender suggested raising the interest rate a little bit so that instead of my buyer having to bring in his money to pay for his own closing costs, he could use it as a down payment and cover the roof expense. The process was a tad complicated, but the numbers equaled out in the end and my buyer was excited to hear about this compromise.
When I emailed our proposal to the seller’s agent, I got no response. So I reached out again, with still no response. I decided then that I needed to jump in and make this deal personal. In our business, we don’t have a lot of face-to-face conferencing anymore. Communication in today’s real estate transactions rely on text and email. I decided, though, that it was time to show up at this agent’s office. I cleared my calendar and got in my car. When I arrived, he was in the middle of a meeting. I waited for him to finish.
Once we got the chance to actually talk face to face, he relayed his seller’s frustration to me. He had already put so much work into the house, he shouldn’t have to bite the bullet and eat the whole expense. When I pointed out the counter-proposal that I’d sent to him, he hadn’t even seen it yet. He asked whether my buyer had agreed to this proposal. He promised to contact the seller and get back to me right away. The seller wasn’t excited, but it was a good middle-ground compromise. They took our proposal.
Now my buyer and his fiance are having their first Christmas together in their new home. All because I went a little old-school and met face to face to explain our proposal. That’s what I mean by going the extra mile for my clients.
If you’re looking for an agent who is willing to be a part of the solution, I’m your gal. If you’re interested in buying or selling or just want to hear how today’s market affects you, please don’t hesitate to call me or send me an email. We’re happy to help!
