TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

Could also be titled: Buyer quirks and quarks. Remember the old adage if it’s too good to be true it probably is? That pretty much sums up some of the potential clients you meet in the wonderful wacky world of real estate. If they run in the door waving a check-book saying we’re buying a house today chances are you’ll never see them again. Any realtors reading this will be smiling and thinking ya pretty much. That’s the nature of this business and really, pretty much any business that requires the exchange of dollars for goods and services. Many years ago I had a business selling comic books and trading cards. I was living the collector’s dream. Used to have clients come in all the time talking big about just what the were going to buy and how much (A LOT) they were going to spend. After spending an hour wandering around the store and asking many questions about goofy stuff they just ambled out the door. Nice. But, undaunted I refused to believe ALL potential buyers were full of crap. And sure enough, one Sunday afternoon while I was closing up after the door was locked I had a person banging on the door. I opened and asked what I could do for him. He said he had travelled all the way from Brantford because he had heard I had a good stash of Wayne Gretzky stuff. I let him in fully expecting a browsarama with no purchase but guess what? He bought over $400 dollars worth of goodies in just under an hour. My faith was restored because that was the best sale I’d had in a month. Fast forward to the world of Real Estate. I had a couple that were interested in buying a home in the Northumberland area. Extremely forthright in their intentions. They wanted, no NEEDED, to buy a home ASAP. Off we went. I would pick them up and would head east and usually look at 5 or 6 homes. Stopped for lunch (on me) and at the end of day I would return them to their home in Oshawa and we’d set up next appointments and schedule. This went on for 2 or 3 months and I was starting to wonder just how serious they were about buying. Then they just disappeared. I mean disappeared, like they had moved to Australia. I called a few times just to see how they were doing and got no reply. I can be thick as a brick sometimes (I HAVE been called worse) but I took these people at face value and believed them. Until I didn’t. Got a call one day from them. Seems they were passing an open house, went in, loved the place, put in an offer on the spot with the listing agent. Done deal. Just like that. They did, however want to thank me for my time. Really? Cab services and house showings AND free meals. Thanks? I learned three valuable lessons I have never forgotten. Don’t believe what they say until the ink dries on a deal. Always get a Buyer Rep Agreement signed. And don’t provide free taxi service. Once burned, twice shy.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site at: https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more