The Pig Almost Killed the Deal

A friend of mine is buying a condo and I am representing him. His offer was accepted and last Saturday was the inspection. After arriving at the condo, we let ourselves in and waited for the inspector to show. Upon the inspectors entry into the property, he stated "Get a load of the pig down the street".

Not sure what he meant by it, I stuck my head out the front door to see a woman in a pink bathrobe coming down her front steps. "Not the lady" the inspector added.....

I poked my head out further and saw the woman in the bathrobe walking a pet pig! Oh how i couldn't believe my eyes! My Buyer hurried to the front door and his mouth dropped open. He couldn't believe it. We laughed, but the Buyer didn't. Thoughts immediately started flying through his head about the type on condo complex he was buying into. If they allow pigs...........what else could they possibly allow? He stated that he was going to pull out! That's it, he's had enough!

After talking my Buyer down off the ledge, I convinced him to wait for the condo docs before pulling out of the deal. He was in agreement, but still not pleased about the pig. What an unusual pet for a condo.

The condo docs arrived a week later and interestingly enough, there is a "no dog" clause, but it does specify that you can have 2 pets per unit. So I guess the pig counts as one of those "pets". I am sure a tiger would also...

Seven Times? Can you be serious?

I have been working with a couple for the last 4 months. They are sweet and happy and ready to find a home and move out of their small condo. They are not limited to a certain town, as their are no children and school district is not a concern to them. I have showed them about 5 homes per week, during the last few months. That's a lot of houses! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I have put in seven offers, which have all fell through by means of becoming out bid or by other circumstances.

I can only imagine how frustrated they must be. I am lucky that they have decided to stick it out with me, in hopes of finding the right place for them eventually. I believe that everything happens for a reason, but this is getting ridiculous!

I have heard the horror stories, from other Agents, along similar lines. What my Client's can't believe is how the market is responding to them. In the media, its a buyers market, but at the same time, the mortgage industry has made it much harder to qualify for mortgages. My Client's interpret that as lots of homes and limited Buyers...........not so much, at least in my area.

My Clients have been outbid in at least 3 of the offers. They have been left out to dry on the homes owned by banks. It is not unusual for an offer to sit for 6 months on the door of an REO, or bank owned home. I believe that this kind of time line is ridiculous and it is not the way to sell a home. The Buyer's get frustrated and end up pulling their offer out, only to move onto another one, which is what my Buyer did. But they haven't exactly found their next one. Well, the did find 6, but the market has been competitive, despite what the media is telling everyone. It is a different kind of competition than it was four to six years ago. Folks are not competing for the junkers, the fixer uppers and the ones that need work. These are the ones with INSTANT EQUITY, where a Buyer can come in, revamp it and sell it later on for profit.