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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Well that was fun... NOT Beware of overly emotional Real Estate Agents

Today is the 15th.  Today, after several unreturned phone calls on Sunday and Monday from our agent (Donna Roberts ) to their real estate agent (Tesha J. Perry).. we magically received a Recission form.  At this point... "whatever" was our reaction.

They rescinded their offer, but only after their agent had to be schooled by ours as to the fact that they had a signed contract with us and couldn't just "pass" on our property over the phone or in an email. Like we asked them to prom or something and they got a better offer so they tried breaking up with us over a text.  Stupid.. Tesha at several points, got personally upset (at least that was what her tone said in her emails that I read) at the negotiations and then she stopped answering her phone and ignored our agents attempts to work through the sticking points.  I haven't been around a lot of agents but the unprofessional attitude of their agent was a real turnoff for us.  Tesha doesn't seem to have a website in which I can post a review, so I decided to put one here on my blog.

This experience has made me rethink selling this property at all and that's too bad because we have to sell it in order to build our house.  Here's what went down from our side:

Our property went on the market for $97,500 with a full disclosure already filled out by us.  These people (The Mitchells) called our agent and were very excited. They went to see the land and were still excited so they found themselves an agent. Our agent spoke to the lady (Mrs. Mitchell) and was told that they understood that there had been no PERC and that we weren't sure about the well. "They budgeted for it" our agent told us.  Then came their offer.  I can't find the form because there was a lot of mail but I believe their initial offer was $85,000.  Almost $13,000 below our listing price of $97,500.  We countered with $93,500. THEN it was revealed that the buyers "forgot" to add in their offer that they had wanted us to pay both sides of the closing costs and their agent wanted to put that in there... too late.  At that point I was kind of over it with these "Mitchells".  Offer $3,000 less than appraised value and for the privilege of getting their offer, we should be thrilled to pay for their closing costs as well??  Nice.

We held firm at $93,500 and figured they would probably say "No Thanks". They accepted and there started 20 days of Due Dilligence.  Our eyes and ears on the ground (Hi Mike) didn't report seeing any activity on the property which we found kind of weird since they seemed to be in this major rush to get started.  12 days into their 20 days of Feasibility, Ryan and I got an email from Donna. The day before (??) she had received a demand from the buyer that we pay for a PERC test to be done on the property. We received this information and literally 15 minutes later we were on the phone with Donna and agreed to do this. We drove to her office and signed the form and met with her. We received some advice about how to protect ourselves.  Since the buyer knew even before they got their agent that there was no PERC test, this was a surprise.  Ryan and I have purchased two land parcels in the last 3 years and neither of them had PERC tests, so we were not aware that this was something that we had to have done. It certainly wasn't omitted just to piss off our buyers or their overly emotional agent. We hadn't gotten around to doing one before we decided to build our house elsewhere. No offense. It's kind of funny how offended their agent got. Tesha, maybe you should start taking tranquilizers if you can't control yourself. seriously gal... not cool.

Why did Tesha get so upset?  Well... the buyer never put down a single cent of earnest $.  Ryan and I, in our two land deals, put down earnest $ when we made the offer. The Mitchells didn't want to risk their money and, at our realtors suggestion, our response to their demand that we have a PERC test done AND to extend the feasibility period to accommodate the PERC results... we asked them to put their earnest money down and to release it when the PERC passed.  Oh boy, Tesha got her panties in a wad over that one.

What we didn't understand is that apparently "The Mitchells" were in over their heads and their realtor wasn't very good at hiding it.  Day one, we would have been happy to pay for the PERC test. Day 12, it seemed like they were looking for ways to delay the process.  Day 14, with Tesha's "emotional" response and then outright avoiding our realtor to negotiate the release of the earnest money it became obvious that for whatever reason they didn't want the property anymore.  Maybe they couldn't borrow enough money. Maybe they didn't like our agent. Maybe they changed their minds. Whatever the reason.. they didn't have to get weird. They had 20 days and there was no reason to start making demands and then become outraged that we had a counter demand.  Too much drama. Too much childish emotion. I put in a call to Mrs. Mitchell today to try and just talk to her without the drama of her agent clouding the waters. Unreturned. At least I tried to treat her like a person. It seems clear that some wires may have gotten crossed this week. Lesson learned... maybe you get the agent that you deserve.

Good luck "Mitchells"  Good riddance Tesha J. Perry.  We did everything that you asked of us and were happy to do so. I am sorry that we expected your "clients" to be serious and whatever that was, it seemed like if it wasn't the PERC test, it would have been something else, something minor,  The fact remains that our property is really nice and we wish that my job hadn't taken us elsewhere but it did. Sorry.  I hope that your unprofessional actions catch up with you Tesha J. Perry. Your profession is largely based on reputation and as far as I saw from your own emails... maybe being a real estate agent isn't your calling.

That said.. the PERC was done today and it's looking like it will approve with no hiccups.  I got a solid answer about our well.  It is a typical well found in the rural areas of Clark County.  Chances are that current codes won't allow it to be used. So our property doesn't have a well. We bought it that way and Ryan is pretty adamant that we aren't drilling a well just to sell it. That could change but that's how it is for now.




Wednesday, May 1, 2013

SOLD!! (?) We'll know in 18 days

After two weeks listed and a tough, nail biting negotiation... we have accepted an offer for the property.

The money will put us dead even for what we paid and money we spent on the parcel.  We will be able to zero out our line of credit and have enough money to start building Phase I of the house next spring in Kalama.

Cross your fingers that their DD finishes.  We have been very transparent in regards to everything we know about the property. It is as we bought it, with a lot more sunlight and a lot less blackberries.

Have a great day everyone!!