Did Karma Close This Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale?

Do you believe in karma? You might be surprised. My husband and I had dinner last night at one of our favorite restaurants in Midtown Sacramento: The Waterboy. When the bill arrived, my husband whipped out a gift certificate. Who sent us that? Turns out it was a gift from a client. A husband and wife for whom I had done a Bank of America Cooperative Short Sale. They were a couple another Sacramento real estate agent might refer to as high maintenance. Agents call clients “high maintenance” if clients behave outside the norm or require more work, reassurance, or explanations than other clients.

I call it business. I’ve been around the block.

This couple had asked me to come into the office on a Saturday to talk with them. I ordinarily do not consult with clients about a short sale because I am not a lawyer. I don’t really give in-office consultations nor do I charge an hourly fee. I get paid on commission. Believe it or not, I do most of my real estate business via phone and email. Very little of it is in person. I am not high pressure nor would I ever try to force a seller into doing a short sale. Sellers typically need to come to that decision on their own, but I’m happy to help walk them through the pros and cons of their particular situation on the phone.

Although I do sell real estate on the weekends, I don’t do it in person. I don’t get dressed up, put on makeup and drive down to the office. I paid that price years ago, and I don’t do it today. If a client wants to meet with me in person, we meet during the week in daylight hours, like any other business person. It’s a misnomer that an agent must be on call 24 / 7. I am not ashamed to say that I have over $20 million in closed and pending sales so far this year, so if I’m telling you that I don’t have to go into the office on the weekends to be successful, it’s the truth.

Yet, this client desperately needed to meet on a Saturday. She and her husband lived out of the area and they could not meet any other day in Sacramento. So, I made an exception for them. It wasn’t a big transaction, either. It was a small short sale in Antelope. Around $125,000. I might have grumbled a little to my husband, but I went. You know why? Because these people needed my expertise. Who else would do a Bank of America Cooperative short sale for them? There aren’t very many short sale agents in Sacramento who know how to do this kind of transaction; in fact, I don’t know of any. I specialize in Cooperative short sales. They needed help. They were also really nice people. I like working with nice people.

Every client is different. They don’t always fit the mold we agents set. Some need a little bit more help and explanations than other clients. I certainly wasn’t expecting a gift certificate from them to The Waterboy, though. That was a surprise. See, karma has a way of coming around.