How can we miss you when you won't go away? Or the story of the Studio City condo

This is the story of the Studio City condo that my buyer closed on last month.  The names have been changed to protect the guilty.  Yes, this was one of the bad ones.

My buyer had made several offers already when this condo came on the market in early February.  Our offer on it was immediately accepted. Yay!  It was a short sale, but the short sale was approved in record time – also “yay” and “it’s a miracle” -- and we prepared to close 30 days later in mid-April.

A week before closing, the seller’s dad announced that they had no idea the condo was closing and they not only would not be leaving, they also would not sign the necessary paperwork to close it.  We were incredulous. How could that be? Well, turns out that they just hadn’t found a suitable place to move to yet.  At that point, not only had my buyer made moving plans that were difficult to alter, but his loan documents were ready, and the condo itself was about to go to foreclosure if it didn’t close shortly.

Through the coming days/weeks, the seller’s dad refused to give us a closing date or a move-out date.  Contract? Ha! It meant nothing to the sellers.  Nobody could budge them.  The communications were extensive – I have over 400 emails about this in my file and that’s just me (so much for you guys that think we Realtors just open doors and say, “Here’s the kitchen.”)  The sellers stopped communicating with those of us who they believed to be “against” them.  I pretty much assumed that this was a lost cause.

Where was the listing agent? Missing in action. Why didn’t my buyer client cancel the sale? Because the condo was perfect for him and, sadly, by late April he was already priced out of the Studio City housing market.

Although it is typically discouraged, my buyer reached out to the seller dad.  And seller dad began to communicate directly with the buyer.  They actually got somewhere (by this time the seller dad had pretty much alienated everybody else on the team, and my buyer has the magic touch.) Of course, my buyer had to do the accommodating. The foreclosure was postponed again. Whew!  And a month after it was supposed to close, the seller dad gave my buyer a date for both closing and for possession.  My buyer was able to move his plans around to accommodate the new date.

And the closing finally, finally occurred. The sellers moved out.  As much agony as we went through, my buyer client’s efforts made this happen.  We were thrilled to celebrate on his new patio last week, and toast the buyer’s persistence.

Two sales to start the new year off

This week, I closed sales on two homes that were contingent on each other.  If you're not familiar, that means that the close of escrow of one house is dependent upon the close of escrow of another (and the transfer of funds, of course).

Buyers Jessica and Sam owned 2101 N. Rose in Burbank (the yellow house).  They needed to sell it in order to buy 931 N. Orchard in Burbank (the sage house).  The Orchard sellers would not accept our offer until Rose was in escrow.  Yikes!  So Jess and Sam (and their two little kids) worked their fannies off getting Rose ready over Thanksgiving weekend.  I had recently been in several multiple offer situations for buyers with houses of about the same size and price, so I contacted the other agents who also had clients for the multiple-offer deals to tell them about this house.  We had it sold before it officially went on the market the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Whew!

And then we opened escrow on Orchard.  Orchard is a very nice expansion/flip (coincidentally, I had brought an offer on it for other clients when it was a short sale earlier in the year). Of course, we had to compete with other offers, but it all worked out. Thanks, listing agent Desi Kepe, who worked with us throughout to make this happen.  But a really big shout-out to clients Jess and Sam, who performed above and beyond the call of client duty on both transactions.  I hope you're very happy in the new house, guys.

If buying a house seems hard, that's because it is.

I recently worked with some first-time buyers in Studio City who made an offer on a gorgeous foreclosed condo.  They were very qualified, had 20% down, made a really good offer, were told they had it -- and then they freaked out.  And backed out.  Why? The process was really painful for them.  Issues arose that they had no previous idea that they'd have to deal with. (And yes, it was a huge time-suck for me, too.)

So let me set the record straight, first-time buyers: buying a home is no day at the beach.  Here's what you need to know:
There is pain in every transaction.  This is true whether the pain is in the negotiating or in the physical inspection or in getting the loan.  There are lots and lots of moving parts to a real estate transaction.  If you're a buyer, no matter what kind of offer you make, there will be a time when things don't go your way.  And opening escrow can be just the beginning of the story.  But if you stay focused on the end result -- how you're going to be living in the house -- it will be a little more bearable.
All your friends and family will tell you a horror story and likely try to talk you out of buying.  Your friends and family are well-meaning, especially in this economic environment, but they can't live your life for you.  I myself had such a first-time buyer horror story that I became a Realtor so nobody else would go through what I did.  Let's talk about your fears.
I have no magic that I can use that will counter-act a seller's mental illness.  A seller can be crazy as a bedbug and still have a very nice house to sell.  If it seems they are being mean and recalcitrant, they probably are.  Their emotions are running very high, too. We just need to get through this; you won't remember their name in six months.
Sometimes it's not meant to be.  Don't give up even if you have to cancel a transaction; the right house is out there for you.  Educate yourself about the process, be prepared and you'll find it.

Nextdoor.com - get to know your neighbors in cyberspace

Nextdoor.com just launched, and so far it looks like a pretty cool idea.  It's a way for real neighbors to meet each other and communicate with each other online.  Go to NextDoor.com for an introductory video.  As the video shows, it's great for the "lost a cat" or "block party this weekend"-type of communication.  Since it's so new, you can go on and become a "founding member" of your particular neighborhood if it hasn't already been registered (I intend to go on for my neighborhood in Burbank).  Is the devil in the details here? Of course. Will the law of unintended consequences apply? Sure.  But let's all watch and see what happens next.