Had lunch with a friend the other day. Found out she and her husband are in the process of purchasing a house they’ve been renting from a family member. They’ve been renting the house three years.
“Wow,” I said, “I wish I would have known you were working on this, I could have helped you through it.”
She was apologetic. ”Oh, I didn’t know you could help with a situation like ours, I thought you could only help people who are actually moving.”
Well, for the record, I can help anyone in the state of South Carolina buy and sell real estate. Plain and simple. But there are no hard feelings. I asked her how it was going.
She told me they had just had the appraisal and that it appraised for the amount they needed.
That’s great,” I said. “So it appraised for more than the purchase price in your contract. Nice.” She didn’t look sure so I moved on.
“When’s your closing?” I asked. She wasn’t sure about that either. Yikes. I’m a question-asker (drives my husband crazy). At that point the flood gates opened. As the questions started flying her head started spinning. “When does your contract say you’re supposed to close? Who’s your closing attorney? Do you have a closing attorney? Do you need me to suggest a closing attorney? You need to get on someone’s calendar!”
She backed up and said her husband is handling most of it. I really wasn’t trying to be a jerk or sharp-shoot her, so I reassured her by agreeing that surely husband has it all under control. (!)
But I had one more tiny little question. “How did the CL-100 go?” Again she had no idea what I was talking about. So I clarified. “The termite inspection. How did it go? Do you have the clear letter you need for the attorney at closing?” Clearly not. I gave her contact info for my termite inspector.
What a sad and scary situation. Who knows how this story will end. Will someone die? Probably not. Will people be frustrated and completely turned off by the process and maybe not ever try it again even if this does somehow miraculously close? Probably so. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
You don’t need a real estate license to represent yourself in a South Carolina real estate transaction. But should you have a license? This exchange screams YES! And why not? There is no charge to the buyer for representation! How do buyer’s agents get paid? They are paid by the sellers in most cases. Buying real estate should be fun. It should be easy. You shouldn’t have to worry about anything but where you’re going to put the sofa when you move in.
The moral of the story is this: If you’re going to buy or sell real estate, call an expert. Let someone else worry about the details. Someone who actually knows how to get to the closing table. Life is too short.
