Anyone passing by the north end of Lake Le Homme Dieu will find that property owners are keeping contractors busy.
Others that are busy this spring are home buyers. If you have spoken with me in the last few months you probably heard my opinion that our lakefront market will be turning into a seller’s market this year. I think I have been proven correct a little sooner than I expected. An example. I am working with a couple that recently submitted an offer on a Lake Carlos home. After some countering, an agreement was reached and my buyers signed a Counteroffer Addendum with what was agreed upon. Based on other real estate sales recently, I was very anxious to get the signatures of the sellers but was waiting for one of the buyers to sign. I was sitting and waiting at my computer to receive the signed document (the buyers were signing digitally) and within a minute of receiving it my printer was churning it out and another minute later I was in my car heading to the home of the agent working with the sellers. It was after 7 pm and the sellers and their agent weren’t able to meet that night so they set a time to meet in the morning. Both the seller and their agent are more old school so digital signing wasn’t an option and the sellers don’t have a fax machine. Jump forward to the next morning. Prior to them getting together the seller’s agent was made aware of another offer from another buyer that had viewed the lake home recently. Bam, a multiple offer situation. Good news for a seller, bad news for a buyer. Even though our offer had been verbally accepted, until signatures are received, this can happen and it is up to the seller on how to handle it. After consulting with their representation, they decided to give both sides a chance to revise their offers. I knew we were doomed as my buyer was already at a price that was at the top of their comfort level. Sure enough, I received the call that the money won (usually does, just like water). I was told the terms were pretty much identical but the other price was higher.
It’s frustrating when this happens, especially for my buyers and I feel badly for them. It is my feeling that you live by your word, and my buyer’s agree, and our offer should have been signed but the rules were followed and there was nothing improper done. The sellers chose more money over their word. The take away? Be expedient. If we had been able to get the signed document delivered a few hours earlier the outcome probably would have been different.
