Jan. 5, 2007: Communication is a good reason to use Realtor
Why do you need professional representation when you buy or sell a home? It's not because of the Multiple Listing Service. As we have seen, Realtors can put a transaction together in ways you hadn't foreseen. More importantly, an experienced Realtor knows how to keep your transaction from falling apart.
My wife had a house close on Dec. 22, just in time for Christmas. She was the listing agent, and the house sold in 21 days. The buyers came in without a contingency on the sale of another home. But they were coming from out of state, and their communication with their lender was beset by delays.
The sellers were buying their next home in Boise, Idaho, and that transaction was contingent on the sale of their home in Arizona.
Without discussing the date with either my wife or with their buyer's agent in Boise, the sellers scheduled their closing in Boise for the same day as their closing in Arizona, Dec. 15. They scheduled their movers to deliver their furniture on that same day. And they invited their whole extended family to spend the holidays with them in their new home.
Now God loves the uninitiated in real estate transactions, and he graces them with the unshakeable faith that things always work perfectly. Especially with out-of-state buyers. Especially with delayed and incomplete communication with the lender. Especially with contingent sales. Most especially with simultaneous closings -- in two states.
Consider the disclosure chain: The buyer's lender to the buyer's agent to my wife to the Boise buyer's agent to the Boise seller's agent, with my wife also keeping the lender on the Boise property in the loop, and with each Realtor and lender keeping their clients and the title companies up to date.
The buyer's lender was late, making everything else late, with dozens of phone calls among the parties to keep everything together. Everything closed a week late, barely averting the disaster of a huge extended family spending Christmas in a motel.
Who needs Realtors? That's easy.
Anyone who doesn't do this job every day.
Greg Swann is the designated broker for BloodhoundRealty.com, a full-service Metropolitan Phoenix real estate brokerage. This article originally appeared in the West Valley regional sections of the Arizona Republic.
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