First deal and what a deal it was!

*Disclaimer time again. I am changing the names of people in this story to “protect” the innocent. I would not want in anyway to embarrass them. With that said, I was transitioning from water aerobic instructor to Realtor when one of my aqua jog clients *Bob, told me he knew someone who wanted to sell their father’s condo who had passed away some seventeen years ago. I was given * Paul’s name and New York number to call and introduce myself.   This being my very first attempt at listing a home, I quickly read over the listing contract and preceded to tell him about who I worked for and what we charge and how we advertise. He agreed to all the terms (which I thought, that was easy) and I was going to mail out the forms to be signed. It was a small one bedroom, one bath on the second floor in a nice neighborhood.  

The next day after that conversation, I went to work at the pool and Bob said he knew someone that might want Paul’s condo. He then gave me *John’s name and told me to call him right away. I did. We set up a time to meet at the condo (which wasn’t even listed yet) and I had gotten a key from Bob, so  I was set.  I’ve never shown a property yet so this was to be the first time. I begged my broker to go with me and he said I had to learn sometime, so I was on my own. I met with John outside the condo and opened the door. To be honest, it was my first time in there! Did I mention it was a small condo (800 square feet?)  There were rusty appliances, mold, dust and spider webs everywhere. That didn’t stop me from becoming the “Vanna White” of Realtors saying as I am passing my arm through the air “here is the living room (duh), and here is the kitchen (duh), um..needs a bit of work done but a ton of potential! I actually said, here is the bathroom and bedroom. Not that the toilet or bed gave anything away,  I was just determined to do my best even if I looked like an idiot.  It took all of thirteen minutes and he said “I’ll take it.” I said “really? - oh, I mean, that’s great!” The big problem, I hadn’t even thought about a price. Thankfully John said he would call me back with a offer. That did give me time to really do a market analysis and speak with the owner Paul. Of course, Paul wanted to list it higher but I told him, “when was the last time you were in the condo?” He said “ten years ago.” “Well, it’s change a lot since then.”  We all agreed on a price and that it was going to be “as-is.” For those who don’t know what that means, in general, the seller does not repair items and it is agreed that the price of sale is final.  I strongly tried to get my buyer to do an inspection regardless of it being as-is. He did not. Having both sides of the deal which appears to be great (a bigger commission check) is double the work.   We had done a “walk-through” (walking through the property one last time before closing) to make sure it was to the buyers approval. Basically you are looking to make sure nothing was stolen, broken and it was to be as it was when going under contract.  We went to closing around one in the afternoon and my legs were shaking under the table. I had to appear to calm when all I wanted to do was throw up. We closed and the keys were passed to the new owners. Yippee! Everyone was happy! Right? 

No. At three o’clock, I got a frantic call from the buyer saying he was in the apartment and the air conditioner just broke. I was panicking. I told him I would call him right back. I called my broker who reminded me that the buyer chose not to do an inspection where that would have come up and something could have been negotiated but he did not have one. I then had to make the worst phone call to basically say - I told you to have an inspection and you didn’t! Well, I didn’t quite say it like that, but thankfully, Paul was very nice and agreed with me and told me he will never buy a property without having an inspection done first!  Lesson learned. 

So, cool first deal under my belt, now was the decision to do this full-time and leave the pool. The next few blogs are some of the wackier deals I’ve had over these past nine years. Will also include some tips as well as some advise from myself and my realtor friends! Ton o’ blessings to ya, until next time!