FSBO finagling

Ted Leuck helped the daughter of a past client find a home. She and her boyfriend had a baby on the way.

“When you’re in a rush buying your first home, you’re immediately at a disadvantage in negotiations,” says Leuck, a broker with Ruhl and Ruhl REALTORS® in Moline.

They ended up canceling their first contract and losing their earnest money after deciding the two-bedroom home would be too small in the future. Within two months, they were calling him again about a For Sale by Owner (FSBO). He jumped into action getting negotiations settled and terms all agreed upon.

“The Friday before the week of closing, the emails I was sending to her loan officer were bouncing back,” he says.

Turns out he retired without a notice to the client or Leuck. After countless calls and emails, Leuck was able to come up with a solution.

“I ended up agreeing to pay the sellers a per diem due to their buying side being delayed, but I do have two happy clients now which makes it all worth it.”

Divorcee dilemma

Dena May Turner’s hardest sale started off as one of her easiest.

From a few quick showings to writing that initial offer to negotiations, everything seemed smooth sailing for Turner, designated managing broker/owner of CENTURY 21 Affiliated in Galesburg.

“The seller was a single man moving down south, and my buyers were a newlywed couple excited to be buying their first home together,” she says.

But Turner was a rookie agent at the time, and things started to unravel.

The seller signed documents days before the closing and was on his way to his new home in Florida. The buyers signed everything on closing day and rushed out to meet movers.

But in the days between the seller moving out and signing, his estranged ex-wife moved in. The ex-husband had refinanced the house earlier, but had not removed her name from the deed. She still had ownership rights and had the locks changed.

“From there, it was a long road of attorney meetings with attempts at some kind of agreement,” Turner says.

But her buyers never did get the home and to this day, over 10 years later, the ex-wife still lives in that home.

Stimulus salvation

Earlier this year, Michael D. Oldenettel sold a home to a first-time homebuyer with limited down payment and closing funds. The pandemic had just begun. Loan processing became slow with interest rates dropping and a refinance craze setting in, he says.

The recently remodeled home came through with no inspection issues for the homebuyer. But a week before closing, the home under-appraised by $3,000. After days of exploring all avenues with the lender, the appraiser, and the seller, the last option became splitting the difference between the seller and buyer.

“I explained the option to my client, assuming we would not proceed, and she said, ‘I just got a check from the (U.S. Government). Let’s close!’”

With the $1,200, she was able to muster together the extra $300 for her side of the costs. The closing took place in the middle of April.

“We were all surprised the check arrived so quickly,” he says. “In my 31-year career, I don’t remember the government ever giving someone money, not on paper but a check, to buy a home.  If not for the pandemic stimulus check, we would not have closed.

Sentimental sale

Many years ago, Andrea Greenwalt represented a woman trying to sell the small home that the seller’s husband was remodeling when he passed away.

“The property was close to completion, but did not yet have a kitchen,” says Greenwalt, a broker at Janko Realty in Peru.

When the offer came in, the seller would only accept asking price. The buyer of the home wanted to buy it with a VA loan, but that required the kitchen to have cabinets and a working sink.

After some discussion, the seller agreed to install a minimal amount of cabinets and a sink.

“The seller could not bring herself to go back in the house, so I coordinated the repairs,” Greenwalt says. “The approval of the loan also required two door frames to be painted. In the end, I painted the doorways to get the deal done.”

This was one of her first experiences with such emotional attachment to a home.

“The experience helped me learn to better empathize with the seller’s situation while working towards solutions,” she says.

Integrity in place

Matt Silver spent many years crafting a reputation of integrity in the Chicago real estate market.

While serving as president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, he was chosen by a discerning couple to be their buyer’s broker. Silver, partner and senior broker at Corcoran Urban Real Estate in Chicago, offered the company’s limo service to pick them up and tour the showings.

One home they viewed had just hit the market at over $8 million. They weren’t happy with the style and flow in many of the offerings. Silver began discussing the possibility of building a new home.

He found a location in an expensive area, successfully negotiated the offer with 11 percent off asking price, helped the couple gain tax deductions by dismantling versus demolition, and introduced them to top builders.

“Very quickly, we became friends having dinners, being toasted on the great fortune of us meeting, and thanked repeatedly as I had proven my reputation and brought sage advice to this unique transaction,” Silver adds.

One day, he got a call from the man after a fantastic meal the night prior with these clients.

“The man is literally screaming at me on my cell, so loudly that others in my office came in to see what was happening,” Silver says.

Even though Silver had disclosed how he got paid, the man was miffed that Silver was earning a commission for all the services he had been providing for months.

“I was saddened, perplexed by the sudden turn, mad and personally offended,” Silver says.

COVID-19 chaos

Two weeks into the COVID-19 shut down, Jean Crosby lost an agent to non-COVID-19 related cardiac arrest.

Crosby, president and designated managing broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Crosby Starck Real Estate in Rockford, had to step in to notify that agent’s client and assist with a pending sale.

The owner of the property was moving to Michigan and closing on a newly purchased property May 31. His current home in Rockford was also sold and scheduled to close May 29. It sounded simple. Not true.

The seller of the Michigan home, which the Rockford client was buying, had flown to China during the first week of March. When the pandemic hit, U.S. borders closed to flights from China.

The Michigan seller could not get a flight back home via Canada or anywhere else. The earliest flight back here was June 1st. Upon arrival, the Michigan seller had to go straight into quarantine for two weeks.

“At the end of the day, our client closed as agreed upon his home in Rockford on May 29, and then he put everything in storage. The Michigan seller was released from quarantine June 15, packed up her home immediately, and the closing took place June 19,” Crosby says.