It is not easy to close a transaction, and an REO is no exception. In my area we do not have a lot of bank owned properties for sale. Even in 2009, when San Jose had a good number, the northern part of Santa Clara County had very few foreclosed homes as a percentage of listings, and newer, nice homes were even harder to find. In 2010 the REO inventory has been few and far between, so when a 4 year old home in the western part of Sunnyvale came on the market I had a buyer who jumped on it right away, and managed to get his offer accepted in a multiple offer situation. The home was foreclosed by Chase, and they wanted a pre-approval from Chase, so the listing agent told everyone to go through Long Nguyen, a very nice and competent loan officer from Willow Glen. My client was very impressed with Long, and decided to use him to get the loan for the property, not just for the pre-approval. Well, nothing was particularly easy. The appraiser took 14 days to submit her report, and on a 17 day contingency that does not work out too well. The underwriter also declared the property a second home instead of a primary residence, so that took time to fix. Last week it was apparent that not only would we not meet the contingency removal deadline, but the closing date was also not going to be possible. Long tried to pull strings and got his wrist slapped, but kept persevering. My client was a little perplexed about how innefficient everything was, but did not blow a gasket. In the middle of a bad conversation about things not going right I stopped and thanked Long for doing so a great job and working so hard for us. He acted as if I had just handed him a million dollars. I guess a thank-you goes a long way, especially in these tense times.
The great news is that loan docs were finally drawn, my client signed today, and hopefully we close by Wed, only 2 days late. Chase gets their money and a new loan, my buyer gets a 4 year new home with great schools and only a little cosmetic damage, Long, the listing agent and I get our commission, and no one was yelled at, belittled, or made to feel like they were not wroking as hard as possible. It really makes for a more pleasant transaction if you just say a few thank-yous.
Comments
And it just seams like when we do get a ready buyer, the whole system just wants to work against us to get it done! Congrats on the closing and a Happy Client!