(2010 was a year with lots of stories and cliffhanger endings in real estate. Columbia, S.C. real estate agent Viji Sashikant shares some personal anecdotes,)
by Viji Sashikant
Realtor.com
If you’ve been in real estate for more than two years, you have pretty much met most kinds of people. Columbia is the state capital of South Carolina, has a downtown university and is home to Fort Jackson where military newbies undergo basic training, so there is always a good mix of local idiosyncrasies and imported eccentricities.
These got accentuated in the economic downturn and with more sellers than buyers, buyers became positively aggressive. They wanted homes at rock-bottom prices and low-balled every offer. They demanded that sellers fix every little item they didn’t like. What they wanted was the deal of the year!
Sellers, for the most part, anxious to sell their homes, gave in to buyers’ demands...except for a few.
So here are my three most peculiar real estate happenings in 2010:
The first
Mr. & Mrs. Seller have a neat, well-maintained four-bedroom home in the suburbs. A two-story home, it has a large sun room, a nice level yard, and is in a good school district. It was new on the market.
My buyers (who had by now seen over 50 houses and were getting tired of house hunting) were really interested. It was perfect for their large family, the sun room was ideal for the kids to play in bad weather and schools and shopping were near. I pulled up some comps, the home seemed to be priced well, and so we made an offer.
Imagine our shock, when, instead of a counter offer, we were told that the sellers were raising the asking price! Could they do that? Apparently they could, and did. They blamed their listing agent for pricing their home too low!
We backed out of the deal. Eight months later, the home is still on the market!
The second
In these troubled times, when a lot of eager buyers are just not getting a loan, the lease-to-own option has become popular. How it works is that the buyers move into the home while they are repairing their credit, and close on the home when they are approved for a loan. The buyers and sellers enter into a contract with a definite closing date. The buyers pay a deposit upfront (to be adjusted against the sale price when they close on the home) and pay rent for the months that they are in the home. In the event the buyers renege on the contract, the sellers keep the deposit.
This deal seemed perfect. The buyers’ loan officer was confident that they could repair their credit in just three months. We gave them an additional three months... just in case.
The closing date stipulated by the buyers came and went. The buyers could not be reached by phone or e-mail, and doors were not opened for personal visits. Then the buyers moved out and started sending a spate of obnoxious emails.
The buyers had broken the contract. Could the sellers keep the deposit? Not so easy! Well, the buyers had not left the keys behind and could not be reached. The sellers had to go through the whole legal route before someone could even enter the home. When at last they could, they found that the buyers had changed all the locks - big hefty locks on all the doors!
The sellers own the home and can change the locks, right? Wrong! The sellers, who live in another town, have to go through more legal hassles and expense before they can change the locks, put the home back on the market, and get the deposit.
The third and best story
This home was going towards foreclosure. So we attempted a short sale - i.e. try and sell the home before the mortgage company foreclosed on it - something that neither the mortgage company nor the sellers wanted. The rationale is that a lowered price, approved by the mortgage company, would attract buyers and initiate a quick sale.
All went well. Buyers put in an offer, the price was negotiated, and a contract was drawn up. The buyers needed three months to close, which was okay by the sellers and the mortgage company. Meanwhile, as the sellers had not paid the homeowners association fees, the HOA started foreclosure proceedings.
The sellers were not worried - the first lien holder was the mortgage company. The mortgage company was not worried - they were the first lien holder. The buyers were not worried - they would close on the home before this HOA foreclosure threat. Well... the buyers took too long, the mortgage company didn’t do anything and the HOA foreclosed on the home! The new buyer not only bought the home for a ridiculous amount (my monthly grocery bill is more), they promptly registered the deed!
The original buyers received their earnest money check back but they still need to find another home. The mortgage company has a large unpaid debt on their books. The sellers are in limbo - is their debt to the mortgage company wiped out? No one knows.
Can’t wait for 2011!