Sometimes things just don’t work out in life and in real estate. We wish every contract on our listings got to the closing table easily, but that isn’t always the case. Having a plan to handle the unfortunate circumstance of losing a contract on your listing is so important. We are chatting about what you should do as a listing agent before losing a contract to try and save the sale. If you can’t make it work and you are stuck with going “back on the market”, we are giving tips and advice to make sure you get a new buyer quickly. This episode talks about how to handle seller expectations, so you can still provide a high level of service and reach their goal of selling even in a tough situation. We are giving specific strategies for returning to market and talking about what some of the possible obstacles may be. And as always we are sharing some real life stories that will have your jaw on the floor!
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The following is a rough transcript provided by Otter.ai.
Alissa 0:00
Oh, you did a great job way to hit that value ruining my life in the buyer’s agent has been in the you know fetal position this whole time crying,
Katy 0:12
okay and you’re like I will fix it right?
Alissa 0:14
Oh by or cancel their losses your game.
Katy 0:18
You know people do that all the time.
Alissa 0:22
I love the one that said back when the market lender is a liar
Katy 0:28
you better be doing something because they’re your sellers already mad
Alissa 0:33
they’re stressing Hi y’all welcome to hustle humbly. It’s Alyssa and Katie and we are two top producing realtors in the Baton Rouge market.
Katy 0:42
We work for two different companies where we should be competitors. But we have chosen community over competition.
Alissa 0:47
The goal of our podcasts is to encourage you to find your own way in business to stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strengths. Hi, Alyssa. Hey, Katie.
Katy 0:56
How are you today?
Alissa 0:57
Just great.
Katy 0:58
Today we’re going back on the market.
Alissa 1:00
Yeah, in preparation of this episode, I took a trip down memory lane because I didn’t want to take was it painful?
Katy 1:07
It was so painful. I
Alissa 1:09
feel like I need a cocktail. At this point. All the stress came back. You know, luckily, it
Katy 1:14
was kind of hard to find them. So we had removed them from our memories. And then we had to trigger them back into our memories with some pretty extensive Gmail searches.
Alissa 1:25
And Katie was in her office and I was in the kitchen and every now and then we would hear each other go. Oh, yeah. Oh, oh, man. That was bad. I
Katy 1:32
was so bad. No. But I will say um, although that was an unpleasant walk down memory lane. I’m relatively excited to talk about it. Because you know, I really love a nuts and bolts. This is how you do it. Episode. Good. This is a how to Okay, great how to back on the market
Alissa 1:51
here. We actually had a listener right in saying that they had a house that they had to put back on the market after a cancellation and that it just wasn’t going well after back on the market. Right. So what do you do? What do you do? What do you do when it’s back on the market?
Katy 2:08
And we all gave some advice, because that was in community. So if you’re in the hustle, homely community, that’s the kind of thing you could talk out with our, with our friends who maybe have some good advice, but we’re gonna give you our advice.
Alissa 2:20
Okay, great. You want to start with advice? Or do you want to start with story?
Katy 2:24
Hold on, we’re gonna get to stories. What I want to start with is, well, a story from you. But before you get to the point where a house is going back on the market, a contract is being cancelled. I think you need to take step one and find out if you’re the listing agent, especially even the buyer’s agent, why do you want to cancel really find out from that buyer? What is it? Can we make it work? It is always better to make it work with your current buyer than to put it back on the market. Right, right. Yeah. All right. So tell us the story. Do you remember you’ve told us before one, or maybe you have another where someone says my buyer is going to cancel and you’re like, wait a minute.
Alissa 3:05
So I have received three cancellations that I was like, No, we’re not doing this. We can make this work. Yeah. And in all three situations, it was just a situation where it would have been very dire to the seller. In one of the situations the seller had already moved out, right. And then one of them I just thought we cannot be cancelling over this, like this. We have made it too far. This doesn’t make any sense. I had one send me a cancellation. And I was the second listing agent on this house. Okay, it had been on the market for a very long time before me, I had to do a lot of work before we’ve listed it to get it ready, right? emptying it, having it painted having it stage new photos. I mean, we spent months working on this and I was really wanting to help her it was also a sad situation because her husband had passed away and this whole thing just needed to to end right. And that one, it was I learned so much in this transaction because I got a lot you know, I’m giving you the PowerPoint version, okay, here. I received a cancellation. And we were done with inspection done with appraisals, like we were right, the appraisal was good. You were out of the inspection period, the inspection period, and I got a cancellation kind of out of the blue from the buyer’s agent. And I said, Whoa, what do you mean because he checked the box that financing was not able to be obtained, right. Okay. I knew his clients had a lot of money. So I was like, what what is going on? The house had a separate, huge warehouse. House, that could be an apartment, that could be a bunch of different things. Okay. And they were going to use it for their business. Okay. Because of that they were getting somewhat of a resi mercial loan, where it’s like, yes, we’re going to be living in it, but this separate structure will be operated as a business. Okay? And come to find out, when we had the appraisal done, it did make value. So that was not the problem. The problem was that the bank required that the appraiser given estimated value of rent. Oh, and it said, he came back with like, 2400. Okay. And I just thought, well, and so did the lender, that that was too low. Right. And so in the event of, for whatever reason that that was important for this specific type of loan. Yeah, it got denied, okay, because they were like, Oh, you’re trying to operate a business, but the rent matters for some reason. Okay. So I said, Well, do we just need to get the appraiser to reconsider just as if the sale price came in low, right? And the agent was like, oh, man, I don’t? I don’t know. Like, I’ve never. I mean, I think that’s just is what it is. And so I said, in the lender wasn’t very kind to me, either. Rude. So I asked the lender, I said, what number would we need it to be right to make your ratio work for whatever it is y’all are trying to do? Yeah, I never still really understood, okay. And they were like, Oh, well, we would need it to be like, $5,000. So it was so far off. We just thought this isn’t going to work. And so I called the appraiser who I did not know. And I said, Hey, I said, I’m the listing agent on this house that you just said he’s like, Oh, the one with the warehouse. That was crazy. I’m like, yes. Thank you for doing the appraisal, right? Yeah, you did a great job way to hit that value ruining
Katy 7:03
my life.
Alissa 7:05
You probably don’t even know it. Right, right. It’s I said, Listen, on that appraisal. There was a rent section. And he was like, oh, yeah, I remember. And I’m like, okay, the loan is getting denied, because of that section. And he was like,
Katy 7:24
what he didn’t know he did. He said,
Alissa 7:26
I had, why? I said, I’m not really sure. I just know that they need a certain ratio to work. Okay. And we are way off, okay, on there. And he’s like, Well, what do they need it to be? And I was like, $5,000. And he was like, I don’t know. He said, I mean, I didn’t. He said, I did a very generic very quick. He didn’t really, yeah, but he didn’t do a commercial appraisal. No. He said, I just thought I was there. And I saw that they did say that that section was needed. So we just threw something. I just like, threw something together very quickly. I didn’t do a lot of research. I said, Well, look, how about this. I have done the research. I have done some digging. And I have found some homes that rented for $5,000. Some of them are similar, and some of them are not. But maybe we can just get it as high as we can. He’s like, Yeah, email it to me, and I’ll look at your comps. So I’m like, thank you so much. Okay. He revised it to 4700. It’s pretty close. And I was like, Okay, did it work? And then they were like, Y’all, we are so close. But we’re still like a little bit short. And the underwriter denied it again. And I said, Are there any other factors and the buyer’s agent has been in the, you know, fetal position this whole time crying,
Katy 8:52
okay, you’re like,
Alissa 8:53
I will fix it, right? I’m like, you just stay over there, I will figure out what we need to do. And I said, what other numbers go into this ratio? I can’t even tell you what the ratio is called. It’s not the debt to income, it has something to do with business, okay. And they said, well, the insurance needed for this type of loan was much higher, and we need it to be lower. Okay. I said okay, so I called the insurance agent that the buyer had already picked their insurance through and I told them the whole situation. And the insurance agents that will look why don’t we just get them a very high deductible? Yeah, policy so that we can close make it work, make it work, and then they can change it will change it later. And I was like, Oh, great. That’s it. Okay, good. So he sent a revised policy to the lender and boom, we came out clear to close and it appraised and we closed no back on the market needed no back on the market needed. It was a lot of you. It was a very stressful four days and everybody, what I loved most about it was that everybody involved was like on pins and needles with me looking back, like the guy at the title company. He was like, emotionally invested.
Katy 10:17
Can you make it work? Yeah, he’s
Alissa 10:18
like, Oh my gosh, like, because he was familiar with the house because he lived near it. So he kind of knew, and he knew how excited so the listing was, like, 800 or something. 850. Okay. I was very excited, because I don’t do a lot in that price point. And I was just so excited to get the listing and to get it under contract after it had been on the market. So long. Yeah, we did it. Yes. And then too. It was just like, I had people checking on me.
Katy 10:45
This is the house with all the garages. I know exactly what you’re talking about.
Alissa 10:50
Yes. And so it was an emotional. No nerve wracking transaction. But then when it did work out, I’m like, that was so worth it. So rewarding, because I learned so much. I really felt like I was the hero for my seller. Yeah.
Katy 11:07
Okay, that is a great story. And it’s perfect. Because the point of this is that you can’t just say, Oh, you send a cancellation. Okay, okay, shocks, darn it. Even sometimes agents will send a cancellation. And I’m specifically talking to the listing agents, but even the buyer’s agents who your buyer says, I want to cancel, ask them more questions. Why do you want to cancel? Well, the roof is all well, what if you got a new roof? Would you stick with it, then? Well, yeah, okay. Well, let? Yeah, there’s always something to negotiate unless they have discovered that the house is in the wrong school district.
Alissa 11:48
Let’s try right,
Katy 11:49
like, let’s try. So I think asking more questions is crucial. And this The other point I want to make while we’re talking about things around canceling before you’ve cancelled is, this is why it’s so important to take backup offers. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And your sellers, you have to set that expectation that your house is not sold when you take an offer. No, far from it. Far from it. So I think it’s important to get those backup offers in place as well.
Alissa 12:18
Yeah, you’re really good. You can get them get them. Yeah,
Katy 12:21
I know. Okay.
Alissa 12:23
I also like having a backup offer, just so I can tell offer number one, I have a backup offer. So don’t send me some crazy, crazy inspection. We’ll just say no. Thank you and move on to the next.
Katy 12:37
Exactly. And you don’t even technically go back on the market, then. No, it just you’re just still under contract goes right on through. Okay, let’s talk about setting seller expectations. And what happens in the event something is back on the market. So first of all, do not lie to your seller, your house isn’t sold until people sign right. Your listing is not fresh anymore. People are going to be like, what happen? If there was stuff that came up in the inspection? Are they going to have to disclose that? Are they going to have to make a repair? I mean, I think this is the point when it’s like if there’s buyers asking for something and the sellers like I don’t want to let them cancel, I don’t care, then you got to talk to your seller. Well, maybe you don’t want them to cancel. These are the ramifications of letting them cancel and not trying to work this out. I think sometimes we’re just like, oh well, seller doesn’t care buyer wants to walk the end. Sure. But then you open up this back on the market can of worms. So I think that the seller needs to be aware that their listing is going to be judged more harshly when it goes back on the market.
Alissa 13:42
I also had an interesting situation where just last week a buyer sent me a house and said I noticed it has come back on the market several times. Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Can you check on that? And I thought sure. So I call it the listing agent. She said Well, we were never pending but my sellers had to buy we’re buying something okay. And every time we found something that they liked, we would quickly put the house active and then if it didn’t work out we would just take it withdrawn Oh my and so the listing status matters and
Katy 14:17
it had that days when the market continuous it did
Alissa 14:21
it did and so oh my word it looked like it had been on off on off and it was but not because of contract now just because the sellers were in transition and trying to figure it out but it gave the public a negative perspective perception of one yeah,
Katy 14:38
they don’t know what’s happening. Well that’s a great point like
Alissa 14:41
the anytime I enter an address in MLS, if I put the full address in it says like eight records found I’m thinking Oh, no. Right what has happened? Why has this house been listed and sold so many times or oh, you know in So I don’t think status is
Katy 15:02
so important. I agree. Very important. Do you? Do you want to tell us or let’s just say cancellation has happened? Okay, there’s no way for us to work it out. We’re moving on, we have to put the house back on the market. This also goes back to letting your sellers know, not to pack up too soon. Correct. Don’t pack it up, don’t move away. Don’t D stage your home. I mean, you got to at least get through inspection, I would say appraisal right?
Alissa 15:32
And I feel like our it is you’re under contract. Now one email does a pretty good job of saying congrats. But remember, right? This time is very fragile. Anything can happen during this time, where if the buyer cancels, you know, we could be having to get the house show ready within an hour.
Katy 15:53
And the problem with a nicely staged home versus a vacant home is that there’s nowhere to hide in a vacant home unless it’s brand new. And even then, every Nick every scratch, every you know, wear and tear item is going to show in a vacant home. And I mean, things just start to break when a house is vacant, like Yeah, things stop working or not and regularly use. It’s just not you don’t want to show a vacant house. Not to mention the carrying cost of having two places to live. Yeah. So you definitely don’t want to pack it up too soon. Okay, but let’s say you went back on the market and you hadn’t packed up. Okay. House is as it was when you first listed it. What what are some of your what’s your plan?
Alissa 16:36
I like to be pretty transparent with the public about what’s going on. Instead of just saying, oh, buy or cancel their losses your game. You know, people do that all the time all the time. But it’s like, but why right? I need more kind of like when people post, like an obituary, but don’t say what happened. But you’re curious. Like, what they tend? Yes. What happens and you’re like stalking and trying to figure it out? Anybody else? Nope, just me. Okay. Oh, no, I
Katy 17:06
think that’s normal. I think that’s
Alissa 17:08
name. I did this deal die, right? I will put, you know, we were under contract buyer lost their job. We were under contract buyer got cold feet, roof is 20 years old. Whatever. What is it? What happened? So that way people are like, Oh, well, okay.
Katy 17:29
Do you give more of that in the realtor remarks? Do you put it in the public remarks? What’s your take on the
Alissa 17:35
pending on what it is? I do put some information in the public remarks. And then I usually put all the information in the realtor remark. Right, right, whatever they would want you to know. Yeah, let’s just let’s just let you know, nothing to hide. And then for the public, it more depends on because the buyer that cancelled is going to see it. Right. So yeah, disclose their financial ratios. mash them, but you know, I love the one that said back when the market lender is a liar. Oh, my God. That’s pretty good. Thank you. Thank you, you know, right.
Katy 18:14
I’m not my sellers
Alissa 18:15
fault. Yes. So I think that I always tried to update that. I also tried to put the same realtor remarks copy and pasted into showing time. Oh, so every time somebody schedules a showing, they get the they also are told, and I always like, it doesn’t happen often, right? But I got a showing confirmation the other day, and it had great information. Oh, it was like seller is selling because her husband is having some health issues and they really need to sell. Please let your buyers know that money during the repair time would be better than asking for repairs. It was just as lengthy. Thanks. And now I have all of this stuff to tell my buyer right sort of behind the scenes scoop that they always want to know. Yeah. And I know sometimes we’re limited on what we can share. But some information is helpful. Yeah. Why? Why are you selling? That’s always the question. Why didn’t the deal work out? Yeah. So I find just writing in a very candid, straightforward manner, which is my writing style anyway.
Katy 19:27
Right, no matter how hard you try,
Alissa 19:30
is this key? Yeah, it just seems to be very helpful. Love that to soften the blow of being back on the market. Okay.
Katy 19:39
I have some thoughts on this. Okay. When you hit the button to go back on the market, you have to treat it sort of like a new listing, right. Yeah, you have one chance to make what we’ll call a second impression, right? Yeah, one chance. Don’t run and put it back on the market right away and then go take care of a staging issue or a foto issue or repairs that you’re going to do. Let’s think about it, figure out what we have to do and get it all done. Because when you hit the back on the market button, I think that you should have a different price. Whether it’s up or down. So down is typical. Right, right. Oh, well, there was something that came up an inspection. Maybe we lowered the price our roof. Yeah, but what if during the inspection, I had to do a major repair, or I painted something, if, or I just want it to look like it has the green arrow and be like, Huh, that’s interesting. Oh, raise the price. 500 bucks. Sure. Why not? Why not? Why not? You can raise it just like you can lower it. But if certainly if they replaced a whole roof, but the deal still didn’t happen. You got to change the price. Right? Not the price that the roof was no, just some amount, you know, so there’s a new price. I would reorder the photos, for sure, at least the front photo, make it different. I would try to do some staging changes just so that it looks different. So staging, the photo, the price, and then I think you can hit the button. Yeah. And your comments, obviously, that you’re putting in there. Now, maybe the buyers that saw it before didn’t see it before. don’t realize it’s that same house. Do you know what I mean? Like it’s just fresh, fresh. We need it to be as fresh as possible. Yeah, give
Alissa 21:26
it a little spruce up. Gotta
Katy 21:27
be super fresh. Okay, do you have any other thoughts on this?
Alissa 21:33
I do. I was reading in the blueprint, you know, our friend James Harris. Yes. And he has the blueprint newsletter, right? Just this week, which was perfect for this episode. They were saying that while many of us consider 2021 2022 to be like the glory days of real estate, because you’re just slinging contracts and like, right closes the house. Yeah, you couldn’t keep a listing on the market. But at that time, cancellations were the highest they had ever spiked to all the way up to 32%. That’s a lot of back on the market. It’s a lot of back on the market. Now. If you went back on the market, you probably got multiple offers. But that was a lot of work. I mean, I remember sorting offers that had you know, 12 and I know you hear about other markets outside of ours that get 5050 100 errors. Yes. And you’re just like sorting everything and so cancellations had spiked to 230 2% as an average an average. That’s a lot that is a lot of cancellations. Man, they interviewed two builders, two national builders. I know one of them was Dr. Horton. I don’t remember the name of the other one. It wasn’t one I was familiar with. But they each builder gave their two statistics from quarter one of 2022. Okay, to quarter one of 2023. Okay, so that builder number one said in quarter one, their cancellations were 32%. Last year. This year for quarter one. It was 13%. Yeah. Wow, huge drop, huge drop. And then the second builders said last year, quarter one, they had 27% cancellations. And now they’re at 18%. So it’s, that’s the only good news is when the chaos stops and buyers aren’t feeling so completely frantic.
Katy 23:26
Then they they’re thinking it through on the front end, as opposed to rethinking it during the inspection. Right. They’re
Alissa 23:32
making wise decisions, they have no time to understand their numbers, even though interest rates are higher. Buyers are really looking at their numbers before writing an offer to make sure that they’re comfortable. Well, that’s good. Good news. Yeah, there is some good news that at least we’re not encountering this quite as much
Katy 23:53
right now. The bad news would be back then when 32% went back on the market, it was under sell it again. Now that the 13% that go back on the market, it might be a little bit more of a struggle, right. Like we’ve got to do some we have to use some strategies. I have a couple of other strategies. Okay. Okay. You’re putting the house back on the market. We thought about our second impression. And we we put it on, we’ve got it like ready to go. You got the public remarks and the realtor remarks. Now we’re going to call you heard me on the telephone, we’re going to call all of the previous showing agents. And we’re going to be like, Hey, you showed the house and I don’t even care if the feedback was my buyer hated it. Sure. Just call them at least email those. Hey, the house is going back on the market. This is why is your buyer still looking? Do you think they’d want to come back around? I’ve had buyers who said they didn’t like it come back around because they realized there was nothing better. Yeah, they keep looking. And then they’re like, Well, okay,
Alissa 24:51
that was pretty nice actually compared. So
Katy 24:52
call those showing agents and let them know that it’s back on the market or it’s going back on the market. Sometimes I’ll be like, Hey, I’m giving You have a day or two heads up, it’s going back on the market, you’ve shown it before, if you want to make another make an offer or come back again, I’ll let you go before the public knows. So that’s one. And then you need to go back to any of your signed calls. Did any and that’s why you have to keep those Yes, I like maybe put a sticky in my folder and be like sign call date, name, number, call them back, be like, hey, house is back on the market. Right? Are you interested? And the last little strategy on this front is called the listing agents that are nearby that listing, especially if their property is already under contract, because then you could be like, Hey, are you getting any sign calls? Or have you had any buyers that couldn’t get that house? Well, this one’s going back on the market. Sure. So source those listing agents nearby and let them know that that house is going back on the market. They may have a buyer, they may have had assigned call, they can work again. I just I think that’s a smart way to handle it. Also, those things that you’re doing, you can do right away one at a time. But you can tell your seller, yeah, this is what I’m doing. Right? You better be doing something because there your seller is already mad, they’re stressing, they’re anxious. They’re upset, stressful, they are looking at you with this space, like, what are we going to do? So you better be doing something? Right. So those are some of my things you can do? Do you have any stories you want to share? Do I? I can I can email me?
Alissa 26:39
Well, I did go through some of my cancellations and made notes on why they canceled okay. And this was I wrote ones that were outside of inspection. Well, most of them were outside of inspections.
Katy 26:53
Oh, that you because you don’t see that coming? You don’t and legally kind of loud, right? Unless it’s a lender. Alright, so let’s hear what the lender
Alissa 27:00
was a liar. A lender was Okay, so in this one house, it was a fixer upper. I was the listing agent, I got an offer from the buyer’s agent and her client. It said cash sale, not a cash sale. It ended up not being a cash sale and they cancelled on day 10 of the inspection period. But it wasn’t because of inspections. Come to find out that on unbeknownst to the buyer’s agent, the buyer was a wholesaler. And what what I learned shop it right. So what I learned through this process is that sometimes they will buy a home see if they can get a contract for it somewhere else and then sell it for more I don’t understand how this method works. Enough.
Katy 28:00
My my my very rudimentary understanding of wholesaling is that wholesaler found your listing? Yes, it was a fixer upper negotiated a deal. Yes. Made a contract. Yes. Then they were planning to sell the contract. Basically, they’re going to assign it to an investor and take a fee. Okay. Okay. But that didn’t work out. They could not find someone who wanted who wanted to had that price at that price. So they cancelled and I had to tell the agent, this was not a cash sale, right? They weren’t even going to buy right. Yeah, it was a lie. Did the agent understand?
Alissa 28:41
She said it was a zillo lead. And she didn’t know them super well. And they had a proof of funds like I had asked for proof of funds so they had a bank and
Katy 28:51
maybe the actual wholesaler what cuz sometimes what happens they do then buy the house but they need to know who they’re selling to who’s buying it from them. Right so maybe when they couldn’t find someone they were like yeah, cancel right but maybe they will Yeah, they did have the money they had the the letter
Alissa 29:09
they technically had the cash because I asked for proof of funds.
Katy 29:13
Oh by no good any hear about I had one with no money. Oh, no, there’s so common. Alright, so I had my big listing. The big one, the biggie, the big fish over $2 million. Not a lot of those in our market. I mean, it literally hit a most expensive top 10 Most Expensive listings in Baton Rouge that year. Like it was up there. It had been on the market like a year. I had to be there to show it we’ve talked about this before, you know I had finally we get a buyer with an agent not not not my buyer with a you know, pre approval proof of funds. I don’t remember what it was a pre approval I think letter and the agent who seemed like she knew who he was and they see it and they didn’t inspect exception. And that’s a
Alissa 30:02
big bill for a home inspection,
Katy 30:05
inspection that we negotiated repairs were all good. And then here comes closing day and I’m like, when are you doing the walkthrough? And they’re like, oh, no, something came up with this deal that he was doing. And he doesn’t have the whole downpayment right now. And it just needs another couple of weeks, had your seller moved out, or they already moved. They already had moved out, okay, didn’t live there. And waiting. Well, after a year on the market and no bites, you’re just kind of like, Fine. We’ll give you a couple of weeks. Well, that was Pandora’s box, because at some point, it had dragged on so long that the buyer’s agent gave me the buyers phone number and says, you deal with it. Yeah, I don’t. I don’t have time to follow up with him. Were they a scam? Who knows? They they never bought the house? Do you know how long we were under contract? How long? One year, almost a year. It was many, many, many, many months ago, so long. We had no other prospects. It was not, you know, all the feedback we had had was like this house, I’m not sure if it’s going to sell.
Alissa 31:07
Did you change the status? Do you remember? It was pending? I know, but when in this year waiting period? Did you change the status at all? No, he
Katy 31:17
was bending the whole time. And he would always the story was so real. And he’d have paperwork and this and that, like, just enough to keep you it was just enough for the seller was deciding to it wasn’t just me, I’d be like, Here’s what he told me. You tell me and he’d be like, that’s fine. We’ll wait. And then the next month would go by and be like, Here’s what he told me. You decide. And then we would wait. Finally, that’s what’s hard about those kinds of deals, like when do you cut, like when you cut bait when you’re you like,
Alissa 31:47
so I did something recently that might have helped you back in the day. And it’s also just a reminder that you can get a little creative. And as long as everybody agrees and signs off on it, you can do anything, right. For example, let’s hear it. We were facing our third extension with this buyer. And I felt like you did you know, like, we’re just getting drug along, but we don’t have any other options right now. So
Katy 32:16
if you’re not on the market, how do you know what your other options are?
Alissa 32:19
Right? That’s where I was oh, I said, we will give you this final extension, but we want to change it to contingent, because it is contingent on you figuring this out. And we will have, you will have a 72 hour right of refusal without get another offer. And the buyer agreed. Okay. And so we change the status from pending to contingent. Okay. And in realtor Mark’s remarks, I think I had put it is not contingent on the sale of another home, it is contingent on the buyer working out something with their financing. All parties are in agreement, please bring your offers. And I had put in the public remarks. This home is contingent, please bring your offers to let the public know. Right. Okay. And the buyer agreed. And ultimately, they did end up like figuring it out. But we had some other showings during that time, that would at least helped my seller. Yeah, feel like well, those people didn’t want it. His holding
Katy 33:19
it off. The market is not good. No, it was a man can’t sell if it’s off the market. Well, we didn’t sell. And now I would say my advice
Alissa 33:29
to someone else, but not to that person. Yeah, after four
Katy 33:31
years of a listing, that that was one year two, let’s call it four, four years. So when did buy it eventually. But I think I just would have been more confident in telling the seller hey, look, even if there are no other prospects, let’s put it back on the market. This guy can come back. Right? When he gets his act together.
Alissa 33:53
If you’re that serious about the house, back,
Katy 33:56
get your money and come back. That’s a good point. Right? So that’s how I probably would handle it now. But at the time, I was just like, oh, yeah, we finally got a bite in the fire. And just, he was nice. And he would just charm you and tell you everything that you needed to hear.
Alissa 34:12
And do you remember what the final straw was? Like? How did it end?
Katy 34:17
Maybe he stopped responding. But it was a long time. Yeah. And as it turned out, it was that he was basically contingent on selling another very large property that he had in the works. And then it just that deal I think kept getting drugged out. Yes. So truly, I should have just changed it to contingent. Yeah, but you didn’t know. Oh, anyway. Okay. Here’s another good story for you. In I don’t remember what year I’ve told the story before. I took a listing that was previously on the market with a different agent. They got under contract, my client and finally the seller. At the time difference agent, packed it all up and moved out of state. Then something happened with the buyer’s financing deal fell through, they put the house back on the market, the agent just kept ignoring my seller who’s now living at a state and in distress about it. And then eventually the listing just expired. And that’s when I got the call to be like, Hey, you helped they were referral you helped my brother sell his house. Can you come take a look? I go over the house. First of all, when she called me she was nearly in tears. They had come back to town only to discover the house was tall grass, weeds all over the flower beds, dust cobwebs, it looked it just looked like a vacant house, right? Because it had gone on for a couple of months in the summer. And she was just like, I can’t believe the agent didn’t tell me like, I thought she would be checking and would let me know if there was feedback about it. Like looking back. She just basically ignored me. Basically, the deal fell through these people were upset. Obviously, the agent felt bad or didn’t feel bad, but just hid. They just went, am I. So I went over there. I’m like, Well, you gotta paint. You gotta paint the inside of this house. It’s these colors aren’t going to work. We changed a few light fixtures, we did choose to do $2,500 of yard work. Because the weeds were so bad. There were the big patio where weeds have grown, grown up and fine. She did oh, she was like I had it wasn’t that she didn’t have the money or the will. She was like no one told me I needed to do this. And I’m like, you gotta do all this. Right? She gets it all done. We listed it immediately gets multiple offers sells no problem.
Alissa 36:38
Oh my gosh, what a relief.
Katy 36:40
So there’s a there’s a if you’re back on the market, and you don’t do anything. Yeah, all that agent would have had to say to them was listen, I know we didn’t do it the first time. But now that it’s begun, you know, unfortunately, these are the things we need to do to make it sellable. Yeah. So it’s
Alissa 36:58
sad. But I also whenever I’m the second listing agent, I just went on a listing appointment where they had it listed with a previous agent couldn’t sell it. So I’m coming in. And it’s probably the same script that I would use for back on the market. Like I said, Listen, I am the second listing agent. So I’m being extra picky on condition. Yeah, if I think the little trinkets need to be packed, or if the drapes need to come down or if we need a new bedspread. As silly as some of those and frivolous as those things may seem, I need you to just trust me, because every little thing counts when you’re in this situation.
Katy 37:37
And they agree. Yeah, I mean, I think being honest, you can’t be a listing agent a good one and not be honest.
Alissa 37:44
You have to be able to tell them what they need to do. Yeah,
Katy 37:47
they want that they need that. And that works when it’s back on the original on the on the market or back on the market, you know, right. Okay, what about let’s just talk and then I’ll, I’ll do another story. What about the legal ramifications? If you got through the inspection inspection report came back. And there’s some major stuff that your seller doesn’t want to fix and the deal falls through? Then you have this property disclosure, right?
Alissa 38:17
Yeah.
Katy 38:19
Legal, legally speaking, shouldn’t the seller be updating that disclosure, they now know that XYZ is going on? They can’t say I don’t know, now. So you have to take that into consideration. And you have to when you’re negotiating those repairs, you have to tell the seller that to Hey, unfortunately, now that we know about this thing, we’ve got to disclose it to the next buyer. So this problem isn’t going to go away? No, it’s still there, you’re now you’re talking about trying to find a buyer who will live with your problem if you’re not going to fix it. And the other thing I see agents do when things go back on the market that you need to be really careful of is you don’t own the inspection. So if you’re the listing agent, buyer gets an inspection done, the agent sends you a repair request and the full inspection and then it cancels for whatever reason. You can’t just go give that inspection to the next buyer. You have to get permission from the person who purchased the inspection. It couldn’t be helpful. I mean, you can or you could pay for it like, but you’ve got to talk to the agent or the buyer and ask them if it’s okay for you to share this with others. Usually they will say, Yeah, whatever. I don’t care. Yeah, like but you can’t, it’s not yours. And it says it very clearly on the inspection.
Alissa 39:41
And I had a buyer one time send a cancellation on my listing and when I asked for a copy of the Inspect because they didn’t they never even gave us an opportunity to make a repair repairs, right. I said can we at least have a copy of the inspection report and she was like they want them to pay what they paid for it. So if they paid 400 bucks, they want 400 bucks if you want it. I was like, Well, I mean, that’s a good point. But no, no, we don’t want it that bad. Yeah. And then we like do you know you keep it?
Katy 40:10
Well, I mean, it’s important to think about but it is considered
Alissa 40:13
private property. Yeah. Yeah.
Katy 40:17
It’d be the same thing. This is totally a tangent is when agents use your professional photos on the next listing. They’re not
Alissa 40:27
current. They’re not public property. Right.
Katy 40:30
You have to ask for permission. Okay, well, moving on. Do you have any other stories you’d like to share? Come on, give us one.
Alissa 40:40
I can give you one on my buyer that cancelled and I felt terrible. I had to be the doer of putting a house back on the market. It happens. It was a really sweet buyer. She was young. She was buying her first home on her own. Okay. budget was he evening, you know, but this unicorn came on the market. This is this is the one. It was perfect. It was so close to where she worked. The perfect location. I felt so at peace. Finally, because a lot of what we have been looking at I did not feel right. Dad was very nervous this whole time often attended showings with us. Okay. Dad never liked anything I showed. Neither did we. And there was a few times where I said, Well, Dad, this is her budget, right? Are you helping with the budget? No. Okay, well, let’s keep to ourselves. So after a few of those conversations, we are under contract on what I think is a precious option. Bathroom was a little quirky, nothing that can’t be fixed, right. But overall, the inspection went really well. And we had a very reasonable seller. So I typed a draft repair request and said, Hey, buyer, here is the repair request based on the inspection. Right? I think we should ask them to do these items. Please let me know if you have any edits you would like me to make. She calls me. Oh my gosh, I don’t know what to do. Like, tell me she’s like my dad said if I don’t buy this house. I know where this is going and I’m dying. He will gift me $50,000 to increase my price range. If I don’t
Katy 42:31
buy this house. My dad is gonna give me
Alissa 42:35
$50,000 She was like, I mean, I can’t pass that up. I said I know that’s a lot of money. It’s a lot I’m so you cancel and so I cancel what did you tell the listing agent, the listing agent the truth that my buyer was very excited that the inspection went very well. I did share with her like a repair that needed to be done that I had already gotten an estimate on it was like $1,700. But they were willing to do it fixable. Yeah, totally fixable. I shared that with her. I was like if there’s anything else I can do to help you. So that people don’t wonder what’s wrong. I mean, she was very appreciative. But I just I hate making that phone call. I hate when it’s my fault. Yeah,
Katy 43:21
no, I wasn’t your fault. Yeah. When you have to be the bearer of that bad news. It is the worse
Alissa 43:27
I pride myself on not being the agent that canceled Right? Like we’re gonna I’m going to talk with my buyers unless there’s something that just cannot be fixed.
Katy 43:36
Right. But you can’t also be held accountable. Like, you can’t control what your buyer does. And you certainly couldn’t have control that you couldn’t even see that coming.
Alissa 43:47
No, I did not see that coming. I’m like, Is this my fault that I plant this idea? By saying right, this is her budget. Are you helping right?
Katy 43:58
You don’t like the idea? Maybe it was you know, it’s not your
Alissa 44:02
will say she did buy a nicer home. That is probably a better fit for her. Okay, good. So it did work a happy ending.
Katy 44:10
Did the house sell the old mother did? Okay, great. Everyone’s okay. I
Alissa 44:14
followed up on it. Okay, in the moment, I was like, Gosh, darn it, but it did work out for everybody. Thank
Katy 44:20
goodness. All right. I have one. I had a my seller. You know, there really are many reasons why the seller can cancel, right? Well, this was a new one for me. Oh no. The seller decides he wants to cancel. It is a builder. My Seller is a builder. He is building a custom home for a client during 2020 In from like he had a lot that I had listed basically. Like I’ll do a build package if they want but whatever, just sell the lot. That’s all I had listed. But but when they the buyer approached, said she wanted to buy it but I needed a builder and I’m like, well, he said he’d build have you on? Yeah, I, you know, ended up being part of the whole thing, right? Well, it took a while for her, like full custom get plans, do this data it up, you know, work out on your financing, blah, blah, blah. By the time it came down to actually building a house, he said, oh, sorry, the price that I quoted is no longer able to be built for that price. Okay. And I was like, but you sign a contract. It’s a purchase agreement with the number on it. It’s not a fluctuating you are representing your seller. Yeah, the one who was down yeah, very bad behavior. And I’m like, that’s not how this works. He am like, they, you can’t cancel, there’s no cancel. You have to build a house for this price. It’s like, well, I can’t, and I don’t have the money to go over. And I
Alissa 45:50
was like, so his financing fell through. I was like,
Katy 45:53
okay, and I’m like, what he’s like, so weird to cancel me, they can sue you. And he’s like, I’ll take my chances. Because he’s like, I don’t have the money to build for what it is gonna cost now. Because in 2020, everything like spiked, suddenly, I would say, and I’m like, okay, then I have to just apologize to the buyer and their agent and explain what happened. And then I stopped working with that seller.
Alissa 46:19
Yeah. Did they? Do you know how it played out? Were they upset when you called?
Katy 46:24
I mean, I don’t really. Yeah. I mean, I don’t really know what the Yeah, they were upset for sure. Yeah. But at that point, I’m like, well, he doesn’t seem to care. Yeah, they had a large deposit. And like, you get, you get the whole, he wanted to keep the money for the plans. And I said, No, no, no, no. False. They had a very large deposit. And if you’re going to behave like this, they need to get it all back.
Alissa 46:48
Right. They’re still pursuing this. This is not their choice. Right.
Katy 46:51
So that was a really bad one. That is bad, but it didn’t technically go back on the market. Well, not with me. Anyway, I was like, I’m out. This isn’t gonna work. Yeah. Okay, you
Alissa 47:02
got another one. Another one where I went back I call I had the buyer. It was a very young couple, very young couple. And I was actually surprised. I’m like, Wow, I’ve never had such a young couple like 20s like 2020 20, not 20. Not 20 to zero, like buying home. First home, I’m like, wow, you’re expediting life, you know, making it happen or making it happen. So they were also very excited about everything in life in life. They’re 20. Yes. And so it’s also the first time where I was like, Wow, I feel old. Yeah, that didn’t happen with you, but doesn’t happen with me much. But in this one, it did. And so we had the home inspection. It was okay. There was a few things nothing, I didn’t think we could negotiate our way through. But while we were there for the inspection, there was like
Katy 48:03
dying because you’re just laughing and I don’t know what it is.
Alissa 48:06
There was this man that was just walking around the complex, okay, the whole time. Okay. He like, didn’t have a shirt on. And he was just like, there was a shirtless man, a shirtless man, it was in a condo community, a gate, a gate, and
Katy 48:24
he lived there. And we believe
Alissa 48:26
we weren’t sure. We weren’t sure. And so he was just not giving them good vibes. And they really just like, fixated on who may is a man’s man. And then he went into like this building and came anyway, they were, they were being a little dramatic. I agree that it didn’t sit well with me either of man, the man the man bothered you? Yeah. I mean, you’re like, This is wrong. I’m like, I wish you weren’t here during our inspection. Can you go? Yeah, like two hours, but you do and come to find out. He was like the maintenance man for the complex shirtless. So I told I called the HOA. And like, I will I call the HOA because my buyers were kind of like, after two hours of being fixated on this. I said, let me just call the HOA. And I said, Listen, I have some new homeowners. They’re kind of you know, worried about this man that has been circling the complex. And safety was very important to them. That’s why we were in a gated community. And she was like, Oh my gosh, that’s a making up a name. Joe. He’s our handyman for the complex. He’s always like fixing things out and about, He’s great. He’s been with us. So I’m feeling a little bit better. Okay, that he’s so great and that they spoke so highly of Joe. But when I called the young couple, they didn’t feel the same. They’re like no, no, no. Joe if he is going to be here all the time leaving that’s for sure right that was the problem he might have been might have gotten worse would have been like maybe he won’t be around no Joe was always going to be there Yeah, so they were not relieved like I was to hear he was the maintenance man so
Katy 50:17
you cancelled we can’t did you tell the agent it was because of Joe I can’t even with his story.
Alissa 50:25
Oh gosh, it was such a mess. Luckily I did not feel much obligation to the listing agent because it was like a limited service thing. And so
Katy 50:37
you were just like we’re canceling Yes.
Alissa 50:40
Yeah, yeah. You don’t want a lot of help here and guidance okay,
Katy 50:44
you don’t care i But so right my
Alissa 50:47
work like Thanks, Joe. Could you wear a shirt and smile you know I wash your hair I’ll quick
Katy 50:55
because I have another back on the market story but I do have a short list so my big listing only because we just talked about it I’ll tell this really quickly. My big listing I had to go for showings turn on the 72 lights and prep you know the house for the showing blah blah blah. One day I go to do a showing and when I get there there’s a you know pool guys they have a pool there they get monthly maintenance it’s vacant someone’s got to maintain the pool pool guy truck in the driveway. I thought very little of it. The gate was open I could see obviously the pool man went back there. I’m getting ready to go let in these buyers and I look outside and here’s the pool man shirtless. Just like Jean cut offs just just cleaning the pool of my $2 million betta why don’t ya I was just like, oh my god, please finish like,
Alissa 51:49
yes, you have got here. Oh, no.
Katy 51:53
So I guess shirtless, shirtless men hunch on showing
Alissa 51:56
a good backdrop scenery for
Katy 52:01
for a little condo or whatever. But for a $2 billion listing where I’m like going to be escorting the buyers through the property luxury look at your Yeah, you know, okay, here is another back on the market story. I had a listing my listing, multiple offers great listing, great location, the the buyers that ended up getting it are a couple, they’re going to do an inspection, blah, blah, blah, I put a backup offer in place, you’re gonna find out in a minute about the backup offer. They go to do their inspection and discover that the House has, I think aluminum wiring, okay, okay, because it’s a very old home. Yes. And they are like, we would like all of the wiring replaced and it is $15,000. And my seller was like, I don’t want to do that. And I’m like, Well, hold on, we had a backup offer in place. And guess what the backup offer was with a investor who was going to rent it. That happened to be a very well known and very competent local home inspector. Oh, so I quit got on the phone with the backup, you know, agent and was like, Hey, I know who the buyer is. Did they really do a good once over because this is what’s going on with our first buyer. And if your inspector client already knows about the wiring, I’m assuming he’s okay with it at this price. Right? And she was like, yeah, totally. Great. So I’m like, fine. So we go back to current contract, and I’m like, we’re doing No, no repairs. No. It’s okay. If you don’t feel comfortable here. But if you’re just not comfortable, just cancel. And they did. We did not okay, we go back on the market because we just took our backup offer. Everything was great. So and he was going to rent it and I had the sign in the yard and because of the location, I would get a couple of calls here and there for people wanting to read. Yeah, I got him a tenant. Oh, just off of my For Sale sign. Yeah. We’re getting to closing.
Alissa 54:02
That’s how knee worked out. Great. What a great story. Yep. Okay, I have another one. Great. I’m the listing agent now.
Katy 54:08
Okay. Hi. It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me. Yes.
Alissa 54:12
So I was the listing agent. I was I listed a condo for sale, okay, this agent brings me a contract and it says, conventional 20% down. And I’m like, okay, great. Because it’s a condo, you need that. That’s what we have to do. It can’t go FHA it can’t go anything else. Okay. So I see that and then they had their inspection and also so this was on a Friday that we went under contract. I was feeling nervous, always with the condo. So when I sent the email template for the buyer’s agent and the lender, I put in the email, Hey, I’m so excited to work with you all you know, whatever the template says and but then I added I have attached all of the condo documents and HOA information, I see that the buyer is putting 20% down, I just wanted to make sure that everything looked good. The buyer had their I sent that on Friday. It was kind of late in the day Friday. So this particular lender did not work on the weekends. Buyer had their home inspection Monday morning 9am had their home inspection buyer paid for their home inspection, it went fine. Tuesday, lender responds to my email and says the buyer is not putting 20% down. The buyer is putting 5% down. I said well, that’s I don’t know that that would work for this condo, because I know that several others have had trouble with financing. And so I called the buyer’s agent who was she was on a team and she was a little bit newer. And she was like, I just thought if you were going conventional, that meant you were putting 20% down. Oh, I said no. Conventional can be anywhere from 3% Down 5% Down and any number you pick after that, right? Oh, I didn’t realize that. I’m like, Yeah, and so the lender was like, Well, unless they can put 20% down, it’s not going to work. And so everybody canceled. It made me wonder though, if I hadn’t sent that email, how far would it go? Or how far the buyer already lost money and the buyer was like upset with their agent. Yeah. buyer said I had no idea that buying a condo was any different than a townhome. Like you didn’t tell me right, we had to just look at townhomes. Yeah. So because the agent didn’t know, they didn’t know. And then the agent wrote an offer made the buyer lose $400 on a home inspection, not good could have lost more money on an appraisal, right? Luckily, we went back under contract pretty quickly after that. But the financing section was not correct. And it came with a pre approval letter. But the pre approval letter just said conventional. It didn’t say how much the buyer was putting down. I was just going off of what the agent put in the purchase agreement. You want to hear something else though, I forgot about this. My seller when I explained that it was an error. wanted an apology from the buyer’s agent. And I was like, Oh God, like how do I What do you like what kind of apology? Right? I was thinking, Can I write an email and say it’s from the buyer’s agent? Nope. Wanting to talk to the team leader. Oh, and be like, hey, train your people because I’m very yet that conversation happened. It did. And I will say I was nervous to make that call to the team leader. I just bypass new agent. Yeah. I mean, I knew the team leader. I said, Listen, team leader. I just had a situation. That agent did not realize the difference between a townhome in a condo, it is canceled. My seller is very upset about it. And the team leaders rightfully so. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was like, Thank you, team leader for being kind and understanding I said, I said and my say was like a horrible apology with you formal apology. Absolutely. Please send me their contact information. I was like, Why are you so wonderful right now? Thank you for handling like a professional, right? Like an like they did a leader called Team Leader college or seller happy.
He was satisfied, fine. She was satisfied. She’s a big advocate micellar for like, all sorts of things. And so she just believes that justice should be served and people should be held accountable. Okay, great. Well, and the team leader
Katy 58:56
there, the team leader may never have known what had happened if that apology wasn’t required. And she thanked
Alissa 59:01
my seller for letting her know. I was just so impressed by the whole thing. Great. Yeah. It also made me evaluate how I would have handled that. Right. And that I would aspire to be that way.
Katy 59:13
Yeah. Oh my okay. Yes. Great. I got one last story on my end. Okay. Okay. I had a listing my listing and we went under contract, there was a pre approval letter, there was a you know, the buyer’s agent was related to the buyer. Okay, so intimate knowledge of the buyer, but there was a pre approval. They were behavior though the whole time. Like I just don’t think the agent was very experienced. off air, I’ll tell you it was because you had the same problem. Anyway, so the the, they do an inspection but they don’t have an inspector as far as I could tell. Like they just did it themselves. out of the house, in my opinion, even as the listing agent and even probably in the seller’s opinion, needed repairs, right? It was not in perfect condition. Okay, after there, I’m doing air quotes inspection, they asked for no repairs. I’m like, this is going fantastically wow, I cannot believe that you don’t say I’m so happy. I’m like, wow, smooth, smooth going great. Okay, then, um, I don’t remember how close to closing it was, but let’s just say, a week or so had gone by I feel like even an appraiser had been. And then I get a call from the buyer’s agent saying, Oh, we’re going to have to cancel. And I’m like, why? You didn’t ask for repairs, everything is going fine. The lender exist, I’ve talked to them. Well, loan isn’t gonna work out. And I’m like, why? Well, because the buyer isn’t contingent. But they’re selling a house somewhere else like out of the city. And it was under contract. And while it was under contract, the buyer of my listing didn’t pay their mortgage, and the contract and so had it closed when it was supposed to, that would have been fine. But his deal fell through. And his mortgage was then 30 days late. And once you have one late payment on your mortgage, you might not know this listener, but you can’t get a mortgage for a year,
Alissa 1:01:35
you have to have a 12 month history of paying your mortgage on time to get a mortgage. So this fella
Katy 1:01:42
could not his lender was like, I eat him. He’s late right now. Like it’s on his credit, not approved had to cancel like there was not even a workaround. I
Alissa 1:01:55
could there’s nothing you can do in that situation. It’s the law. And then I had to tell my seller
Katy 1:01:59
because we were beyond the hurdles part. You know, my sorry, this dummy didn’t pay his mortgage. And honestly, I don’t know who if his if his relative also had his home listed. If it was another listing agent, someone somewhere did not tell this guy. pay your mortgage. Right? Don’t stop paying your mortgage. Don’t be late. And that’s what happened. And I had to go back on the market. So sad. Yeah, it was very sad. It did in upselling. Okay, good. For less than they were going to pay with repairs. And remember this, these people know. So it was hard for my seller, to you know, deal with
Alissa 1:02:42
that. Yeah.
Katy 1:02:44
But that’s what happened. Okay, I
Alissa 1:02:45
have another one. Okay. I was selling Uh huh.
Katy 1:02:49
I liked that all of your start with you try to tell us crack up laughing because
Alissa 1:02:53
they’re all experiences that I have blocked out for so many years. Like, I don’t want to bring this back. I just have to if you don’t laugh, you cry. So I had this, this really sweet, older couple much older couple buying home. They were downsizing. Okay. We were kind of having trouble finding something. And I think that she picked something. Because she felt like, this was as good as it was going to get Oh, yeah. And I thought it was cute. You know, it was a cute home. I was excited about it. She was excited about it. He was excited about everyone’s happy or at the home inspection. And the roof is old, okay, way older than what the property disclosure said. Okay, we do come to find out that it was a defective shingle. But and that was covered because it was a little bit older anyway, but it was so defective that anyway. So we were deciding, you know, the inspector is telling us about the roof, and that that’s going to be the biggest thing on the inspection report. It has to be replaced, like, pretty immediately. And he said, this may be news to the seller, because they don’t think their roof is that old. They don’t realize that this is happening with their shingles, but I have all these photos for you. Okay, so I can see her like deflating. And I’m like, Don’t worry, we’ll, they’re going to have to replace it, you know, for whoever buys the home. So let’s just see if we can negotiate our way through it. And she’s like, Okay, well, then the inspectors going through the other things briefly. And he’s like, you know, these light switches aren’t working several light switches throughout the home. I’m sure it’s an easy fix, but they’re just not working. And I was already talking to the listing agent about something because she had asked me she had texted me during the inspection asking me if I need anything. I said no. So I just texted her back and said, in a trick on the light bulbs, okay. All of a sudden, like 10 minutes after I sent that text, the seller shows up. And he’s like, I have to show you this. It’s so cool. I’m like, oh god. So he gets out this app. And he’s like, it’s a smart home. I can control the thermostat, and every single lamp and light bulb and the oven and the speakers. And he’s showing them all these things. And he’s like making it damn and go up and down and on and off. And sometimes it took a minute to work. And then he was like, oh, yeah, I forgot that the switches have to be up and, and then you can go in your app, and it’ll work and this and that. And then the seller leaves. And the husband was like, we’re gonna walk away. Like, this house is too smart for us. I can’t do it. This husband, who has just sat there with a little grin on his face for the last two hours, not saying a word, he even brought his own fold out chair to the inspection. Oh, and he just sat there and let the inspection happen and let the wife measure and you know, get her nervous energy out. And then he just looked at me and said, We’re gonna walk away now. And I was like, Okay, here’s like, Amin, the roof. I don’t want a smart house. I don’t regular regular light switch. I can switch the light. I said, I know. I understand. I understand. I couldn’t even you’re like, No, I can’t I just, I just I didn’t even want to fight it. Because I could feel that it wasn’t the right thing for them. Oh, my I know that it could have been fixed. But did
Katy 1:06:29
you tell the listing agent I did. The smart home.
Alissa 1:06:33
She was like, Oh, my, I’m sorry. I did not know he was going to come. He apparently had just moved down the street. And so it was there. Right there. He thought it was helpful. It wasn’t helpful. Just a few bullet points on a few other cancellations I had when I was looking through my file, because we could probably do this all day. Yes. Just very quick. Okay. One was that the flood quote came back way too high for the buyer and actually kicked them out of financing. Okay. It was not the same quote that my seller had. Okay, it had changed since my sellers quote, but my seller was like grandfathered in. But it was not transferable. Okay, so it was a surprise. Got it. One was over a deck. And the buyer was insistent upon knowing what was underneath the deck and wanted us to rip up the deck. And we weren’t going to do that. So that that was that. I had two situations where a husband and wife were not on the same page. One was my buyers, husband and wife weren’t on the same page. And she basically was like, I was like, Is there anything I can do to help you move forward, so I don’t have to write a cancellation. And she was like, for the sake of my marriage, I have to just like, put this to rest and we just have to walk away. I was like,
Katy 1:07:47
Okay, did they buy something else? Nope, nope. Okay. And we won cold feet
Alissa 1:07:51
after a bidding war. Oh, yeah, they went really high over I was the listing agent, and they just really like nothing did everything that I did. Okay. And then the last one that I had written down was that the buyer’s agent had let the lender get a hold of the inspection report. And they literally, it was like a FHA loan to God, it was a worst case scenario. So if you’re a new agent out there, and you don’t know, never, ever let your lender see the home inspection, no matter where there’s hyper hair requests, no repair requests, the lender is not a party to that no lenders are not involved in a repair request or inspections at all, ever. They don’t need to know anything that was on that
Katy 1:08:43
thing about repairs they’ll ever need to know is that which the appraiser documents for their loan type.
Alissa 1:08:49
Yes, that’s it. That’s it. That’s that’s all my notes. I could have gone on and on well, and on right. And at this point, I just need a cocktail.
Katy 1:09:01
I know. Let’s Let’s go. Let’s go. Okay. First, first, let’s
Alissa 1:09:06
toast Let’s toast. Okay, today,
Katy 1:09:09
Catherine Keplinger is going to toast to Brittany Richards and they are in Tennessee. Great. Okay, Catherine says I want to toast to Brittany from town and Lake Realty in Smithville, Tennessee. Since I have been with the company Britney has always gone out of her way to make me and everyone else feel included and is always so willing to share knowledge. She is truly one of the sweetest souls ever and deserves so much recognition for all she does.
Alissa 1:09:41
That’s real sweet. I love that. I like the name of that company.
Katy 1:09:45
Oh town and Lake town and Lake makes you want to live there. Yeah, yeah. Live a simpler life. Yeah. Or fancy your life. Beautiful, right? Yeah, right. Okay. So thank you to Catherine and cheers to Brittany. Beautiful. Okay, goodbye. And I hope that all of your deals don’t go back on
Alissa 1:10:04
the mark. Yeah, but if they do, we’re here for you. You’re not alone.
Katy 1:10:07
You’re never alone. You’re never alone like
Alissa 1:10:09
us therapy. Hi. Thank you so much for tuning in to the hustle humbly podcast.
Katy 1:10:15
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to rate this podcast.com/hustle humbly and leave us a review or drop a comment if you’re listening on Spotify.
Alissa 1:10:23
If you have an episode topic or someone you’d like to toast on the show, please email us at team at hustle humbly podcast.com
Katy 1:10:30
Find us on social media at hustle humbly podcast. Don’t forget to find all of the free resources at hustle humbly podcast.com/resources See you next week. This is the goodbye
