Don’t Burn Bridges During Escrow

Your first instinct is not always reliable. I’ve learned that over the years. While I often rely on my intuition, I don’t always grab the first instinct that pops up. For example, when I put on my reading glasses this morning to peer at my monitor, my vision was blurred. My first thought was perhaps this is my free flashback. Ha, I would imagine that. But when nothing further happened, I realized that I had forgotten to remove my contacts before going to bed.

A friend called yesterday to talk about her horrible real estate transaction. She shared details about all the nasty things the buyer and the buyer’s agent had done to her since entering escrow. It was pretty clear she despised these people, and I didn’t blame her. “I was going to leave the buyers all the furnace filters,” she hissed, “But now I am taking them.” Well, I offered, make sure you don’t leave behind any aluminum foil or bottles of Windex, either. Leave the scum nothing. That made me laugh, but she wasn’t laughing. She was still furious.

I’m a firm believer of not burning bridges if one can help it. We’ve all had to deal with difficult people in our lives. We can’t change them. The only thing we can change is our attitudes.

As a Sacramento real estate agent, I advise my sellers to be nice to their buyers as well, regardless of how the buyers behave during escrow. For one thing, the sellers might want their mail forwarded. And I try to not transfer any frustrated feelings that I may be experiencing to my clients. It’s part of an agent’s job to be a buffer, not a buffoon.

While Elizabeth is on vacation, we are revisiting her favorite blogs from previous years.