Rolling with the punches

By Joel Persinger
YourRealEstateDude.com

As the old saying goes, “into every life a little rain must fall.” That old proverb comes true more often than not when someone is buying or selling a home. Sometimes the issues are many. Sometimes they are few. At times they can loom so large as to seem overpowering and other times so small as to hardly warrant notice. But one way or the other, there are almost always last minute issues that pop up during an escrow. The trick is in not falling to pieces when these little devils pop up.

I recently had an escrow that was fraught with last minute issues that I must admit, I have never experienced before. I had listed a home for an older couple who wanted to move closer to their kids. They had lived in the home for many years and one of them had taken quite ill.

Once the property was listed my folks and I went right to work. We took pictures, ordered advertising and had a sign company come out to place the “For Sale” sign in the front yard. Placing a sign in the yard has never presented a problem before, but somehow the sign man struck a gas line when he dug the hole for the sign. You would think we had thrown a party for first responders. Just about everyone imaginable showed up, from the police and fire department to the gas and electric company.

Not long after we placed the property on the market, the couple went ahead and moved. After all, one of them was ill and they didn’t want to delay their goal of being closer to family. It’s a good thing they did, because shortly after the move the spouse who had taken ill died. It was quite a tragedy and had everyone thrown for a loop, including the buyer and buyer’s agent.

As I mentioned earlier, they had lived in the property for many years and had let some things go a bit. Concerned about maintenance issues, the buyer requested that the pool be professionally serviced. The seller complied and a pool company was contracted to clean and service the pool and equipment. Shortly after the filter was cleaned and new Diatomaceous Earth was installed, the pool became a cloudy, disgusting mess. The Diatomaceous Earth, a powdery substance used to help the pool filter do its job, had found its way back into the pool. During the servicing, a valve had gone bad and, once again, an issue needed to resolved that had the buyer in a panic.

Having finally completed the repairs to the pool, dealt with the gas line issue and addressed the necessary paperwork required in order to complete the escrow after the death of one of the sellers, it seemed that everything was running smoothly, and the buyer’s agent scheduled an appointment to complete their final walk through the house.

That very morning, I received a call from the termite company. Apparently, while drilling into the slab in order to treat the home for subterranean termites, the termite company technician struck a water line and flooded the laundry room. Escrow was scheduled to close the next day and the buyer was ready to move in. Unfortunately, everything was delayed because the water had to be turned off in order to make repairs. As I got into my truck to leave the property later that day, I said to myself, “If the only choices are to laugh or cry, laughing is the better of the two.”

Believe it or not, I have told you this story for a reason. Just about every escrow has issues that pop up. The vast majority of the time, everything works out in the end. As the buyer or seller, you have the choice of making yourself miserable by freaking out at every opportunity, or understanding from the outset that things will go wrong and simply roll with the punches when they do.