This Foothill Farms home just closed escrow over asking price.

As luck will have it, this Foothill Farms home that just closed escrow, well, I’ll likely field calls about this house for months. That’s because buyers find these listings all over the internet. They can’t tell if the house has closed or is pending or what’s going on. So, they call me. Since I happen to work in real estate, I generally refer the buyers to my team members. Our Elizabeth Weintraub team members, highly trained exclusive buyer’s agents, can provide professional guidance. But, sorry, you can no longer buy this Foothill Farms home.

The seller of this home called at the end of September. She found me by conducting an internet search and liked what she read. I met with her at the end of the month to talk about putting her home on the market. Apparently, she had already met with a bunch of other agents who disappointed her. One of whom told her to remove the refrigerator from the kitchen and stick in the garage. Why? No unearthly idea. I asked if that was the same agent who told her she could get about $20K more than the home comped at.

My focus as a listing specialist — and that’s all I do — is to maximize profit potential. But I can’t make money materialize out of a magician’s hat. In order to do that, there has to be some logical reason or loophole, and there was none in this case. Not only that, but the seller’s son had recently and quite unexpectedly died in the home. She had remodeled this Foothill Farms home for herself as her place to retire, but now all of that changed.

I consider myself a fairly compassionate and empathetic individual. The sorrow of the situation — not lost on me.

My promise to this seller? We would make sure there is no money left on the table, and we will do no repairs. THAT I can make happen. She cleaned up the home, finished painting, dragged the ‘frig back into the kitchen with the help of her neighbors and by Friday morning we went on the market. After our open house on Sunday, we received four offers.

Like usual, 3 were messed up and one was acceptable. The buyer’s agents made the usual mistakes, like low earnest money deposits or no closing date. One agent wrote a different property address, some tried to pick the title company, others checked the wrong boxes or demanded by accident that the seller replace all of the water devices. The wrong preapproval letter accompanied one offer. I check agent’s performance records in MLS. The 4th agent wrote the offer correctly but was relatively new. His email address sounded like he was a teacher and this was most likely a part-time job.

Hey, we are all new once. I could help the agent, and offered to do so. It’s better that they not try to bluff their way through anyway. Just tell the listing agent so she can offer assistance. The buyer expected to get an FHA loan, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t sell to her. No repairs does not rule out FHA.

That left basically the mortgage lender who could cause delays and problems. I always try to identify the source of a potential problem. Not every mortgage lender has the wherewithal to figure out what kinds of future fires could pop up and douse the flames early on. This was a case where that should have happened, but did not. The buyer had paid off debt without sourcing funds. Which meant at the 11th hour, she had to scramble to provide documentation, which delayed closing by 9 days.

However, the silver lining was the seller did NOT do any repairs nor provide any credits nor renegotiate. The pest inspection, obtained by the buyer, showed about $3,000 worth of work. Not the seller’s responsibility. This FHA buyer agreed to buy the home AS IS. We listed the home at $259,000 and it sold at $265,000. When we discovered we could not close on time, I had a good solution. We insisted the buyer immediately release her earnest money deposit to the seller. That fast action eliminated the seller’s anxiety level.

The last thing I want any of my clients to feel is anxious. I prefer smooth escrows, without hiccups, and I’ll move heaven and earth to achieve it. Just like this home that closed yesterday in Foothill Farms. I can do the same thing for you. Just call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 43 years of experience to work for you.