Stay patient while selling your home
Q: The look on my husband’s face during a late-night phone call with our seller’s agent informed me that our home sale had just fallen apart. The next day, our seller’s agent had to help the inattentive buyer’s agent properly execute the cancellation paperwork and the refunding of the buyer’s earnest money deposit. All the while, our seller’s agent was negotiating a sale with an interested party. By 11:00 p.m. the next night, our seller’s agent helped us successfully cancel one transaction, and enter into another. It was a stressful 24-hours with two sleepless nights. Our seller’s agent warned us that when a home sale falls apart, the property is stigmatized, which takes longer to sell with probable price reductions. To our amazement, with all the Shelter-in-Place procedures, our seller’s agent got us the same substantial price and terms we received on the first sale. However, before we ratified the transaction with the second set of homebuyers, our seller’s agent insisted we would not sign an offer until we understood these new homebuyers received and reviewed every inspection, especially one that prompted the previous cancellation. Yesterday, the second buyer’s agent said his homebuyers wanted to know why the first set of homebuyers canceled. Our seller’s agent reminded him, and the second buyer’s agent replied that he “forgot because he was so over the moon to get the sale.” To make matters worse, the first set of homebuyers hired one inspection firm that made the house appear in dire need of repairs. To offset a dubious inspection report, we employed another inspector in that field. Today is Day seven, and now this sale is in jeopardy. What else can we do to protect our interest from another buyer’s agent providing unskilled representation?
A: It sure sounds like you are negotiating the real estate marketplace from a position of strength - and under COVID-19 conditions, no less. Poor homebuyer representation increases the chances of buyer remorse. Your seller’s agent has multiple jobs; protecting your equity position, reducing the chances of postlitigation, over-disclosure, sell with inspections, communicating well, often and directly through the buyer’s agent. Home sellers, skillfully represented, don’t need luck. You only need patience.