I Need a New Job

I had buyers this week. They came from the Midwest. I spent three days preparing for our meeting on Wednesday. There were extensive phone calls with them and Bulldog (their kick-ass loan officer) about how to make a sale work. Because of weird circumstances--an open chapter 13 bankruptcy--there was a lot of back and forth with their lawyer's paralegal too (their lawyer was too busy to take our calls). I made arrangements for Buckaroo to be picked up at school while I would be out. And, I changed my dental appointment because it was inline with the 48 hours they were here and would only be available to see homes.

I ran comps on every home they wanted to see. I called every agent whose home we were showing upfront and explained the chapter 13 bankruptcy and what we would need if my buyer wanted their client's home and what a contract would need to look like. I got buy-off from six different agents--in this hot real estate market--they would cooperate and be amenable to the strange circumstances my buyers would need. SIX agents agreed to go to bat to make a sale work under these conditions. This was all before I even met them in person.

Six agents. 

It was my intention from the beginning to make their marathon home-buying circumstances pleasant. I hope I did so. I wish they would have afforded me the same courtesy. Instead they misrepresented themselves. They changed their story a few times. They distorted the truth. Their idea of reality and the bankruptcy court's were not in sync. In fact, when the smell test started turning sour Wednesday afternoon, I stepped away and called Bulldog, asking her to hunt down their attorney--not the paralegal--with a few questions I had. She did. Now armed with more facts, the attorney's answers looked nothing like the picture my folks had been painting. If instinct hadn't kicked in, I might have actually written a contract, allowing them to commit fraud. But the attorney explained this wasn't happening. No matter what they said.

By the way, one can purchase a home when one is in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. My folks can't because, well, they omitted a few major facts to their attorney, Bulldog and me.

After all that, Yesterday, I offered to show them rentals. What the heck! A few bucks here and there still wouldn't hurt. They declined, saying they would be getting an apartment instead. But thanks.

Today I found out from the woman who referred them to me that they went out with a different agent and got a rental home yesterday. Of course they did! I couldn't perform miracles so they sold some other agent on their plight and went with them.  I wonder if they mentioned their open bankruptcy before they put the application in. Probably not.