Sponsored: Selling a home in the best of times requires skill, but in a year of uncertainty keep your eyes on the goal
After seeing one home sale fall apart and a second on the verge of collapse during the pandemic, sellers want to know if there is anything they can do to protect their interest.
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 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 resulting in 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 offer. However, before we ratified the transaction with the second set of homebuyers, our seller’s agent insisted that we would not sign an offer until we understood these new homebuyers received and reviewed every inspection, especially the one that prompted the cancellation.
Yesterday, buyer’s agent No. 2 said his homebuyers wanted to know why the first set of homebuyers canceled. Our seller’s agent reminded him, and buyer’s agent No. 2 replied that he “forgot because I 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 7, and 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: protect your equity position, reduce the chances of post-litigation and over-disclosure, sell with inspections, and communicate well, often, and directly through the buyer’s agent. Home sellers, skillfully represented, don’t need luck. You only need patience.
Realtor Pat Kapowich is a career-long consumer protection advocate and Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager. Contact him at 408-245-7700, Pat@SiliconValleyBroker.com DRE# 00979413 SiliconValleyBroker.com YouTube.com/PatKapowich