Things that blow out deals are usually avoidable, and are easy to identify in hindsight. In this case, the agent let the buyers pick a roofer out of the book, which is a terrible way to do business. He gets paid the same whether he blows the deal or not, so of course he tells the buyers the house will fall down some day. No wonder he has great reviews – think of all the homebuyers he saved from buying a regular house, and are still renting!

But the most important lesson is how the agent handled the situation once a concern has been identified.  Buyers are counting on their agent for expert guidance, which should include pointing out that there are no perfect homes out there, and let’s find a way to deal with the imperfections – because in this case, the house had far more positives than negatives.

But instead, the agent – who had been telling me that everything was fine – just sends over the cancellation form in the dead of night.  She didn’t give me any more opportunity to address the concern (even though I has already provided ample evidence), or try to fix it herself.  Instead, once her buyers objected, she just cancelled.

This is where we will see the last nine years of a bull market come back to haunt us.  There are plenty of agents who got into the business since 2009 that not only consider themselves one-percenters, but have built teams and are riding a high horse.  But they have never had to handle buyer objections.

Expect a long, stagnant, bumpy market ahead.

Get Good Help!

What did I do? I went back to the second-place finisher and sold it to them.