Page 124 - Selling secrets 5 18 2023

It was like a holiday open house. Later, the brokerage
informed the agent that the proof-of-funds letter had a
forged signature. The would-be buyers vanished, but the
agent reported their extended family verbally abused her,
the sellers, and the buyers’ agent. The agent now makes sure
she verifies proof of funds and pre-qualification letters.

HOMES NOT RESEARCHED

In a transaction without the involvement of real estate
agents, a woman purchased a rural home. She found out
two years later, at the time she went to list the home, that it
had once belonged to a person who was in jail for
producing methamphetamine on-site! The revelation also
obligated the home owner to take the necessary steps of
decontaminating the home and ensuring it was fit for resale,
in the process costing her a whopping $16,000.

PRESSURE TO SELL FROM YOUR OWN AGENT

Homeowners were selling a starter home in Washington,
D.C.,, circa late 1990s. They were asking $235,000. When
they received a $226,000 offer with buyer demands that
they cover $6,000 in closing costs, their agent prodded
them into strongly considering the offer. Ultimately, they
sold for $228,000 while honoring the closing cost request at
the behest of their agent. Pre-housing crisis, homes in this
neighborhood were selling for between $650,000 and
$700,000. “In hindsight, I felt that [d been negotiating
against three people—the buyer, his agent, and our own
agent,” said the seller. This is no way for a seller to feel.

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