As a realtor I have the opportunity to interact with all different types of people from all walks of life. I really like this about my job. I get to hear stories about people lives. I am always drawn in and often times sit around way to long listening to their stories. It always make me appreciate my family. It's made me realize that people are starving for interaction with other people. I wear my heart on my sleeve and often times the people I met tug on my heart strings. Two stick out in my mind. For privacy reasons (and for fear of break some real estate law) I will call them the Greek and the Sailor.
This is the story about the Sailor.
I have had his house listed for three months. I have worked extremly hard at trying to get this house sold. It had been listed with at least three other realtors prior to me. I am extremly competitive and selling the house would be an awesome accomplishment. I printed out 100 fliers for every open house. I passed them out door to door. I called the whole neighborhood and invited them to the open houses. I was so determined to get this house sold.
I become very fond of the Sailor. He was in the Navy and has a "Sailor" like tatoo on his upper arm. He had a roommate that stayed with him three days as week. But other then that it was mainly him and his dog. I had made it a habit to call him several times a week. I would stop by often and visit with him and his dog. I had made him cookies and written him Thank you's for listing with me. I felt that he was lonely. I would sit with him and hear his stories. Sometimes hearing the same story every time I visited. He wanted to sell his house so that he could move to California to be with his son. I wanted to help him reach his goal.
At the start of the third month we received an offer! A good offer that was in line with the comps! I was elated. The Sailor could be on his way to California to see his son! And I would have sold the unsaleable house! I met with the Sailor to discuss the offer that very night I received it. We discussed it with his roommate. The Sailor accepted the offer and signed all the paperwork. We were on our way!
Like in any transaction the buyer's offer was contingent on their inspections. From the inspections the buyers asked the Sailor to make a few repairs. Nothing out of the ordinary. Mainly in bringing things up to code. Pretty standard. But this is when things took a turn. The sailor was not happy. I would call him to discuss the repairs and he would get angry with me. It was like a switch had gone off. I would reason with him and think we were on the same page. But then the next day he would have changed his mine. This went on for a week. On Friday I took him to see 2 new place and we discussed the repairs. He told me he was willing to make them if they stayed under a certain amount. I was relieved. We laughed and joked the whole car ride. I felt like I had really made a friend and helped someone in their life.
Then came Monday morning.
I called the Sailor to tell him I would be over to have him sign the addendum for the repairs. The Sailor was livid with me. He had done a complete 180 since Friday. He told me I took him to a termite infested place on Friday. He told me he had to look out for himself. He told me he had a new realtor to help him find a new place. He was screaming at me. I was confused. I started to defend myself saying I had been working so hard to help him sell his house. I said the way he was talking to me was not fair. He hung up on me.I started to cry.
I spoke with my manager and she advised me to take him two addendum. One saying he would do the repairs and one saying he would not do any repairs. I took it over. He choose the one with out the repairs.
Today I went over to bring him a copy of his addendum he had sign. He did not even invite me in. He took the paper and shut the door and talked to me very briefly through the screen door. I noticed my sign was taken down in the front yard. I could not bring myself to ask him about it. My heart was too heavy.
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