I just completely one of the worst transactions EVER! I can't believe we even made it to closing on Tuesday. (Yes, this is the one with 3 pregnant women in the same room) This is a little long, and I've also cut a lot out as below isn't everything that happened... worth the read!
At the beginning of October, I received a low-ball offer on a listing. I received no call or email telling me to expect this offer, and I also received no approval letter to go along with the offer. I called the buyer's agent to try to get more information... left a message. The next day, left a message. Two days later, left a message...
The next Tuesday, I left a message saying, "Does your buyer want this house or not? Why would you submit an offer and not return calls?" I received a call back within 30 minutes. The agent tells me he's been in Cancun. Yes, he submitted an offer, and immediately left town and left no one to follow up for him.
I get the approval letter, and guess who is the loan officer? Yes, the buyer's agent is also the mortgage person, as he OWNS the real estate company and the mortgage company. Also, he is a builder and does 99.995% new homes, and hasn't done a pre-owned home in ages, and didn't even know the correct forms to submit through the rest of the transaction.
So, we counter the offer, and it takes over 2 weeks to get an executed contract signed by the buyer which also meant we had to change the closing date because they put Oct 15 as closing date, but when you don't execute until after that date, no chance in it closing. 
But wait, it gets better! Three days before I get the executed contract, the buyer's agent LEAVES TOWN AGAIN! This time, he leaves for 2 weeks! Again, he leaves no one in charge who knows anything, and there is no one at his office who is licensed!!! My only contact was a loan processor who had no idea who the buyer was, but she did help get the contract from the buyer after I gave her his contact information.
While the agent is out of town, the buyer is supposed to have his inspections. Does he do his inspections?? NO! He waits 2 weeks to run his inspections! And then, he thinks he still had a leg to stand on when he came back and asked for 15 repairs!! Whatever!! The buyer's agent is responding to emails every 3-4 days while in Hawaii, but that's doing no good. The agent, as he's also the mortgage guy, threatened to deny the loan if repairs weren't done. Silly silly man... he is not familiar with our new Financing Addendum that states that if the buyer doesn't give WRITTEN notice of loan approval within a certain amount of days, he cannot cancel the contract due to financing and expect to receive his earnest money back... boy was he mad!!
In the mean time, the BUYER was at the house, and actually told MY SELLERS that they needed to talk with me and tell me to stop representing them to the tee and give him a break since his agent is out of town. YES, he told my sellers I was representing them too much. Can you believe this!!
Fast forward to the agent getting back in town... we agreed to 4 repairs even though we didn't need to, but we weren't going to throw things away because of $750 worth of repairs. Then, the buyer asked for MORE repairs!! You've got to be kidding me!!
I'm this |--| close to reporting this guy to TREC as he did so many things wrong. We got to closing on Tuesday, and this guy even threatened to hold up funding so my sellers couldn't buy their new house the same day, all because he demanded a key to the property right then and there though it hadn't funded yet, and my sellers also have a 10 day lease back.
Check is CASHED!! And I can't believe the stress of this didn't put me into labor!!!
Close to the same thing happened to me last December only the buyers agent on my deal took off to Zimbabwe for 3 weeks with no warning, no inspections, no back-up. He left the 3rd day of option. I was pretty sure we were going to have problems earlier on when it took him 4 days to deposit earnest money because he was replacing a dishwasher in one of his investment properties and didn't even bother and declined when I offered to pick it up. That deal didn't close but as soon as we are able to put the house back on the market (which required giving the buyer the earnest money), we did recieve another offer within hours that eventually did close. I was so frustrated on that particular deal I nearly quit real estate altogether.
Christina, Thanks, and these are the agents that need to get out of the business not try to stay in business!
Brian, I'm thinking really hard about it. One of the things I'll look into during my maternity leave, if that ever happens!
Charlie, Actually, I did ask for the commission a couple of times. He wanted me to do the amendment and other things while he was out of town, and I told him I would gladly do it for a 75% referral fee back from his commission since that's me doing both sides. He refused, so I refused.
Cheryl, Yes, unfortunately, we have idiots around every corner.
Amanda, Zimbabwe? WOW! That's great you were able to get another offer so quickly.
Nancy, The post was actually much longer, but I had to delete it as I know I hate reading long posts from people... I probably will report him. And actually, the guy said the buyer tried to fire him a couple of times, so I don't think his clients like him very much.
Al, Quick and Easy?? I wish! I get those once in a blue moon.
Tammy, Thanks! I wish there were more agents who look at this as a career and not a hobby.
Wow, unbelievable!!! That's a good one, Your Over Representing Your Client!!! LOL
At least it closed and you can put it behind you! Very unprofessional of the other agent.
I had a realtor hand me a contract to close in two weeks.... I said: "No problem, let me get with borrower and get the ball rolling".
He said: "You better hurry, borrower is leaving town. Is that going to be a problem?" <= are you kidding?
I called borrower and he was on the road. I fedex'd docs to Disney World for him to sign, but he didn't have anything with him.... pay stubs, bank statements, ect.
It closed. But not on time..... but at least the borrower was back in time to sign the amendment. The realtor kept questioning why we were going to be late.... I told him that he needs to talk to the client about that.... I couldn't believe that he was even questioning me. After the little heart to heart talk we had, I think I actually gained a fan. He now realizes that it wasn't my fault that the borrower left town the day he signed a '2 weeks to close' contract.
Mike, Thanks! Yes, it was very unbelievable when my sellers called to tell me what the buyer said. My jaw was on the ground.
Tom, They put an offer to close in two weeks and left for Disney World? What idiots!! What were they expecting??
Donna,
You poor thing....that is just nuts!!!
Regarding your last sentence....I was thinking the same thing as I was reading that. Stress is really bad -even if you are not pregnant. You have to take care of yourself!
I agree with Al Maxwell. The bad transactions tend to balance out the easy ones, so you can't take these things too personally. I think we've all been there. The last really awful agent I dealt with actually asked me to lunch after the transaction closed. That's because I refrained from biting off her head during escrow. It was apparent to me she was as clueless after it closed as she was during the escrow period. Asking me to lunch was a bit much, and at that point I told her exactly what I AND the sellers thought of her. I think her buyer was in the process of suing her, too.
Patricia, Good for you for working while out of town. I've done that as well! As for this little girl, contractions are still very strong, and I'm going in at 10am to see the doctor and hopefully she'll be here tomorrow evening or Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
Jeannette, I'm taking care of myself as much as possible, but I'm also a workaholic. Hi, I'm Donna, and I'll be blogging while I'm in Labor!
Elizabeth, WOW! I've been asked to lunch by the other side several times, and a girl's gotta eat, so I go. Most of them are trying to recruit me to their offices. I just take my free lunch and run!
I see I'm not the only one who's had to deal with lender-agents! I'm always amazed by agents who aren't champing at the bit to hear from you when you're IN THE MIDDLE OF NEGOTIATIONS!
Congrats on a great closing. Some of the agents I've used in the past would have given up long ago!
Cassidy
http://dfwinvestors.net
Donna, doesn't it feel great when one like that finally closes and is out of your hair? I had one close today and I have been smiling all day because I am so glad IT IS OVER!! The fat lady has sung and the check is in the bank.
By the way I noticed the post after this says you are in the hospital in labor; you mentioned in this one you were surprised the stress had not started your labor and since these were posted on the same day I'm thinking it worked.