Deals Moving Slowly

I have buyers under contract. Two got under contract in February and one got under contract in March. None of them will be closing in April. ("Under contract" is when the buyer and seller have accepted each others' offers, counteroffers, and terms of the contract.  A "closing" is when the buyer and seller get together and sign lots of paperwork. At the end of the closing, the title of the property has been transferred from the seller to the buyer.)

None of these deals are simple. One is a HUD property that needs a 203K loan to fix the plumbing and other parts of the house. These deals can take 60-90 days. One is a short sale property with 2 lien holders that need to decide how much money is acceptable for each lien holder to lose. These deals can stretch until the buyer gives up or the property goes into foreclosure. One is a property that  Fannie Mae put on the market for sale, but doesn't officially have the title yet. These deals are dependent on who actually has the title to the property.

These 3 are good examples of the real estate market these days. When there is a simple transaction between a seller and buyer, and the house has been occupied (so that you know the utilities all work), and the seller has the title, and the buyer is paying cash or can get a good loan, the time from being under contract to closing can have a length of 3-6 weeks. When there is a complicated transaction between a seller and buyer, and the house may or may not have been winterized properly (so that you don't know if the utilities work), or a bank or the government has title to the property, or the buyer has more and more papers and tasks to provide before getting loan approval, the time from being under contract to closing can stretch out for several months.

I'm hoping that all 3 of these deals go through to closings because these people want these properties and want to make them good owner-occupied homes.

Working with Buyers versus Working with Sellers

Usually I have been working with buyers & helping them find a new home. The past 2 weeks I have been working more with sellers. The goals are very different. Buyers are happy about getting something new. Sellers are worried about getting enough value.

Why Do I Leave a Card at the House When I See a Property

Okay, I give up. I have tried to block time to write page-length relevant articles & I haven't made it work. Today I exercised, did dishes, got my hair done, showed 1 property, helped 5 colleagues at Bray with some technical stuff, made phone calls, & wrote a CMA (comparative market analysis) on a property I'm going to do a listing presentation on tomorrow. So I'm beginning to understand that blocks of time that go to thoughts involving my career sometimes go for client work first.

So, rather than just wimping out, I've decided that I need to write paragraph-length relevant articles. Someone once asked me, after I had shown him at least 15 properties, why I left a business card at each house.

I have a business card. Most realtors have business cards. We give them to people; we include them in hand-written notes; we include them with presentations. When we show a property to a potential buyer, we leave a business card in a prominent place. Sometimes it's on the kitchen counter or the dining room table. We do this as a courtesy to let the seller & the seller's agent know that we stopped by. The seller doesn't have to wonder if we are running late & we are still coming. The seller also knows who is responsible if something is "different" when they come back. The seller's agent knows that, since we have shown the property, he or she can find out what the buyer thought.

Sometimes, when a house is vacant, there will be lots of business cards on the kitchen counter. Like a dozen. Then it is interesting for the buyer's agent to see who has shown the property. Or how many people have looked at the property. Although seller's agents try to pick up cards & check vacant properties weekly, that isn't always possible. So a dozen cards in a week may be a lot, but a dozen cards over 3 months is not a lot.

To summarize: I put out a business card when I show a property to a buyer to let the seller & seller's agent know that I really came into the house & showed the property, & when the seller comes back to the house, I'm done. I also put out a business card to let other realtors know that I have shown this property to a potential buyer. And I notice whose cards are there.

Thanks for reading this. Let me know if you have questions I can answer about real estate in Grand Junction or in general.