Know Your Neighbor by Brian Buck
This past Sunday, my neighbor hosted an open house for their newly listed home. The housing market is so hot right now that our cul-de-sac was packed with cars as people swarmed to take a look. As I watched all the interest, I recalled when my wife and I sold our first home in a hot market, nearly 15 years ago. It didn’t go as planned, and we almost lost the sale to a neighbor who reneged on his offer. In a hot seller’s market, sellers are accustomed to getting multiple offers, including some that are well over asking price. That was no different when we decided to sell our home. We were ecstatic as the offers came pouring in, and we went with one from a young couple who were starting a family. Not long after accepting the offer, we were visited by one of the buyer’s mothers. Without her adult son
I could’ve put a price on her demand, but it got so absurd, it seemed anything less than just giving in was not going to be acceptable. As we made our way through the process, it became clear that the buyers weren’t going to be able to get the financing they needed to
present, she asked us to throw the washer and dryer into the sale. It was an odd request, and we declined — mostly because our deal was with her son and his wife, not with her. But she kept coming back! Even though we asked the buyers to have her stop, at least once a week there’d be a knock on the door.
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