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Young Professionals
REALTOR® Emeritus |  | GOING FOR THE CLOSE | | ||
|  Keep the Transaction on Track Advanced Tip Advanced Tip Advanced Tip Broker Tip Getting to Close Advanced Tip Mortgage Basics Advanced Tip Advanced Tip Advanced Tip Inspections and Repairs Broker tip Closing Countdown Advanced Tip Going for the Close Advanced Tip Advanced Tip Advanced Tip Commission Disbursements Broker Tips Broker Tip Post-Closing Strategies Quiz: Contract to Close Bright Ideas: Contract to Close Code of Ethics: Contract to Close More Resources: Contract to Close | Narrow Saves—Pulling Victories From Closing Disasters Even when you do everything right, sometimes there’s a last-minute hitch that threatens to derail a deal. Here’s how some practitioners have averted disaster. Do It Yourself In the final stages of a closing, Alan Arkin was attending, the attorneys started the process of pro-rating the real estate taxes to date. The seller, who was a bit unstable and volatile, flew into a rage screaming, "No one told me about this. The sale is off," and ran out of the room. Arkin, CCIM, of the Equity Growth Group in Bettendorf, Iowa, followed his client out, calmed him down, and said he’d try to resolve it. He did. Arkin wrote a personal check for the seller’s share—a very small amount. The closing went off without a hitch, Arkin collected his commission, and the very happy seller had no idea how the problem was resolved. The Silver Lining On the day of a closing, Niel Thomas, CCIM, CRS®, of Coldwell Banker Fortune Residential and Commercial Real Estate Anchorage, recently made a good news-bad news call to a seller. Bad news: The buyers won’t be closing today because the husband decided to get divorced and move in with his girlfriend. Good news: The market is rising rapidly and we’re putting the property back on the market and raising the asking price by 5 percent. The property had a new offer almost immediately and the deal was closed—at a higher price—the following week. Illusion Vs. Reality Ron and Carol Pearce of Century 21 All Professionals in Glen Ellyn, Ill., were working with a buyer client. At the closing, the buyer's wife was asked to produce identification so that a "Waiver of Homestead Rights" could be notarized. She said she forgot her wallet in her other purse at home. When they were asked to get the ID, the couple left and returned about 45 minutes later and said the purse was locked in another car and they didn’t have the keys. Instead, the woman produced a tattered copy of a wedding license that the closing representative wouldn’t accept. It turns out that the buyer’s real wife was in Mexico, and the man’s girlfriend was trying to sign away the wife’s rights to the new home. The closing failed, the buyer forfeited the earnest money, and the Pearces sold the home to someone else within five days. Commission Disbursements > | |