The Last Two Weeks in a Nutshell

The No Button. A must have for any real estate brokerage. 

My listing-that-would-never-sell(TM) finally got an outrageously low offer on it. My sellers countered to something where they would still loose money but at least get rid of the neighbors and this house. However, I made it perfectly clear the sellers will not make any repairs and don't ask for anything. The buyers agreed and a contract was born.

The home in question, and all of its internal parts, are TWO YEARS OLD. This is important because it makes the buyer's request so much more obnoxious.

You see, the buyer hired a home inspector, like any good buyer should do. The home inspector, who apparently knows little about home inspecting, told the buyers the air conditioners are not functioning. Of course the day the inspector was there, it was about 55 degrees. So, no, they wouldn't function. But the buyers didn't pay me for this nugget.

The buyers in turn brought in consultants to find out how much new air conditioners cost. None of the consultants actually checked to see if the air conditioners functioned. Why would they when they could sell these folks new air conditioning units? Instead, they just gave the buyers quotes on a new HVAC system. One quote was actually $15,000 per air conditioner (there are two of them).

"Was this a solid gold air conditioner?" I asked the buyer's agent.

She had no reply. Nor did the buyers want to bring in an HVAC expert. Also, they didn't "trust" the sellers to bring in an HVAC expert. But, they were willing to "split the cost" of a new HVAC system with my sellers. And they had the nerve to ask for a $15,000 reduction on the already low-ball price of a home they were getting. In fact, the price of this home is so low that there is no appraisal, because everyone can see they are buying it for thousands, upon thousands under market.

My seller did what I thought she should do under the circumstances: she said "No! Take it or leave it." She wasn't budging. I explained this again to the agent and said, "Nice working with you. Perhaps next time." I also suggested the home inspector had screwed up this deal royally. Because he did. She agreed.

But the other agent managed to get the buyers on track. She asked if the sellers would pay $6,700 for the buyer's closing costs for their trouble. Of course not! I replied. So, the buyer's agent is now paying $4,000 out of her own pocket to keep this transaction alive. She then asked if the sellers would pay $2,500, just a little something to make the buyers fell like they weren't getting ripped off (they aren't). That started a whirlwind set of text messages between her and me on what, "getting ripped off meant." For the record, this sales agent is awesome. She is doing her job.

However, I get it. The buyers feel they need to have a win here. After all, the home inspector said the ACs don't operate properly, which could be farthest from the truth. Anyway, I asked my seller if they would contribute the $2,500 to make the sale work out. They said yes and a lot of other ugly things I was already thinking. In the end, I told the agent they would only pay $1,500. The buyers took it.

With any luck, we close next week.