Dallas Real Estate News

...but almost never got closed!

My clients came to me with a request to list and sell their home.  The home is beautiful and my sellers were motivated, so why not.  "Sure" I said,  "I'll be happy to do that."

Within three days of the listing being active, we had three offers.  One was disposable, but the others were good offers.  The sellers opted to go with one and we had the deal in title and on it's way to closing right away.  My sellers were in awe of me, and I was thrilled to have so quickly exceeded their expectations.  The appraisal came in at value, the survey, HOA documents and title commitment were in order and in file at title. It was too good to be true. And then the drama began.

First, we were asked to amend the contract to include a second buyer.  This happens from time to time, but it's not really typical.  Hmmmm.  Two weeks later (two days before closing) we learned that the loan was not approved.  We were able to get the earnest money released to the sellers (a rarity), and the house immediately went active again.  Within 24 hours we had competing bids on the house.  The sellers settled on a full-price offer with an assurance from the buyers' agent that these folks are rock-solid and ready to close.  They had just sold their home and were living with their adult son.   The sellers' disappointment was replaced with relief-- especially since there wasn't another inspection and buyers agreed to every term that the seller put out there.  And then...

again we were asked to change the contract.  This time we were asked to remove one of the buyers.  We later learned that, indeed, the buyers had just sold their home, but we weren't told that it was a short sale.  Mister couldn't get loan approval on another house, so Missus was going to buy the house.  Then we were asked to move the closing out another week.  By this time I was starting to feel a bit queasy about the whole thing.  It was becoming waaay too complicated.  Sure enough, after another week passed, we learned that the buyer would not be able to close for another two months, in order to meet the employment condition of her loan.  This was not good.

Another round of releases to the title company and the house went active again... only this time, there was a buyer who had literally been stalking the property.  She pounced immediately, and we had the house under contract again.  The sellers were so perturbed that they made some pretty unreasonable demands of her, but she agreed to every one of them.  The house was back in title and we were all holding on for what we expected to be a bumpy ride to closing.  It was that and more. 

Of all things, this buyer received her income from a gas lease that dated back three generations and the lender wanted "original" documents.  We were continually being told that everything was approved and then there would be yet another request to extend the closing.  The sellers were displeased, I was exhausted and while this drama was playing out, the 2nd buyer kept going back to the house and taking down the for sale sign!  If we weren't all so tired, it might have been comical.  Quite honestly, I was concerned that if ever the second buyer and the third buyer ever met up over there, there would be a fist fight on the front lawn... and I was still getting calls from agents and buyers wanting to send us an offer!    

Finally, five months, three contracts and 8 offers, approximately 600 emails and a few hundred texts, telephone calls and a couple of meetings after the house was originally listed, it closed.  When it was all said and done, I probably lost money based on the amount of time I spent on the transaction, but I have never been happier to get a deal closed.  The entire week after the closing, I wasn't really sure what to do with my time.  Suddenly, it was over. 

All that said, I still don't understand what the attraction was to the house.  Yes, it is a beauty, but there is a house right next door that has also been on the market now for months-- same age, same builder, many of the same attributes, same neighborhood and no interest.  I have never had a listing that generated as much buyer interest, and I've never had a listing that was so difficult to close!