I had something happen last week that caught me off guard. An agent from another company had written an offer on one of my new construction listings. The offer was contingent on the sale of the buyer's current home. Needless to say, the builder would not accept the contingency, marked it out in a counteroffer and we returned it to the other agent. I was totally surprised when I got the contract back fully executed, with the buyer agreeing to purchase with no contingency. I called the other agent up, asked him point blank - "Can your buyer qualify to purchase without selling their current home" and he said "yes, no problem they have excellent credit and are ready to close". WELL... I didn't quite believe it, so I called the very conservative local lender and the lender said the same thing. So we moved on, the builder installed some upgrades for the buyer at his expense, AND the buyer PAID THE BUILDER $750 cash to do some additional upgrades, and we were going to closing! As I'm sure you've figured out, this transaction never closed. At the walk thru, the buyer giggled and said "well, we can't buy this house until our other house sells". I think the builder and I both had a mini stroke and our eyes rolled back in our heads. We stayed calm and professional, while inside we were FUMING. I excused myself and went out to call their lender AND their agent (who didn't bother to come to the walk-thru), and the lender said "oh yeah, they have to sell or lease their house". WELL, DUH.. anyway, long story short, the house is back on the market with the upgrades added to the price.
The point of all this rambling is a question. Did this happen because the other agent was desperate for a closing and failed to disclose the actual situation? Did the same thing happen with the loan officer who failed to disclose it to us in the prequalification letter? I believe so. They both were having one of those "let's throw this deal against the wall and see if it sticks" moments. Their unprofessional actions affected everyone, in that it cost the builder a significant amount of money, it damaged my relationship with the other agent and the loan officer, AND it damaged the buyer in that it cost them a significant amount of money with their lost earnest money and what they paid for upgrades. Their agent had not advised them what a contingency meant.
If you are tempted to take a risk with a client to see if you can get it closed, think again. Don't become less professional just because you need a closing. If you maintain your professional standards, business will come to you. That's the truth.
