Buying your first home is truly a wonderful feeling
And it’s a wonderful feeling to be the agent assisting the first-time home buyer. For me, it’s a very rewarding experience.
Today’s story unfolds with two very special people, Malcolm and Sandra. They work hard each day at multiple jobs – living their version of the American dream.
They understand this dream, though they were not born in America… and this dream has been with them for many years. A big part of that dream has been to purchase their own home.
They scouted out a small neighborhood that they liked where four homes were available. Each of the four homes was somewhat similar – two were foreclosures; one was vacant; and one was about to be vacant.
The first home they visited without me. Anxious to get started, they called the listing agent of the home soon to be vacant and immediately went out to see it.
Of course, I told them that they needed to stop that practice and explained the listing agent’s job is to represent the seller.
I then showed them the remaining three homes.
We placed an offer on the vacant one that was not in foreclosure. The home was in very good shape and in move-in condition.
I ran the numbers, and formulated an offer that I felt was aggressive – yet reasonable considering local market conditions.
I submitted the offer to the listing agent by fax on a Saturday afternoon – and backed it up with a voicemail to let her know that the offer was submitted.
Late Sunday night I received an email indicating that she just received the offer, and would refer it to a co-agent in her office to submit to the seller. I called this co-agent several times on Monday, but could never reach her.
So I called the original agent and left her a voicemail reminding her that the offer was only good until 4PM on Monday. At this point, I was starting to get a little frustrated with this listing agent duo.
When I finally got to talk to this other agent, she told me that our offer had been rejected. No counter-offer.
Maybe it’s in the water in Winder – but two other houses we went to see had Appliance Realtors, too. Neither agent ever called us back – and when we went out to see them, one was already sold – and the other had been rented out.
Let me take you on a sidebar for a moment. When I researched the second listing agent, I realized that she just received her real estate license. Now this can be good or bad news to me – good in that I can maneuver around her inexperience… but also bad in that I can not maneuver around her incompetence.
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