Realtors Are the Worst Clients

You know what they say, doctors make the worst patients, contractors have unfinished home projects, the cobbler's kids have no shoes. Realtors can make the worst buyers and sellers. 

When I bought my townhouse, I was not at all involved. As a matter of fact, I never visited the construction site and my lender (and good friend) had to chase me down to sign documents. I was going through so much on a personal level that I just checked out of the process. To be fair, the townhouse wasn't my dreamhome and I bought it knowing it was a temporary stop for the kids and myself. 

Cue Homasassa. I loved this house when I saw it. I took my brother to see it. I brought my youngest. My broker, assistant, and a couple of friends saw it as well. Most of the work was done and I was comfortable taking on the remaining items that needed completion. One thing to know about me is I'm not the Realtor that will buy a project house to live in, update, then sell. That is a special breed of Realtor, of which I am not!

What's worse than one Realtor buying a personal home? A Realtor on the other end of the transaction selling their personal home. There are usually two types of Realtors in these situations. One of them is completely uninvolved in the process and the other is over involved. I'll give you two guesses which one I was. Anyone who knows me knows that I am your typical Type A, driver personality and in purchasing my dream home, I was no different. And my contemporary was uninvolved. 

We had a zoning violation issue, which took two weeks of calls by me and my amazing paralegal only to find out the seller had hired someone to repair it but just wasn't returning our calls or emails. The seller had decided that the day of closing was not going to be the completed move-out date. The seller wanted to move out a day or two later and did not undersand how that wasn't acceptable. The seller had kept a key and garage opener and let themselves in and out of the house after closing. Unless you have a post occupancy in writing, this is a huge issue! I moved in with a teenager and an 85 lb boxer that likes to bolt out the door so someone who thought they still had access was just not going to work. A couple phone calls from the attorney and one from me and the seller showed up the next afternoon with a truck and some guys to get the rest of the stuff left behind. We had repair issues, appliance issues, and it was a general hot mess.

I am grateful that I was the buyer and not a client. A client would have been understandably upset and it may have marred their love for the home.  But, I've done this so many times that I knew what to do and of what to let go. Hopefully this will be my most difficult transaction this year!

We are in and mostly unpacked. My teen and his friends are tearing up the backyard and planting a new garden. The 85lb dog loves the yard and chasing the birds. We are unpacking our books, pictures, and treasures. We love watching movies really loudly, which we couldn't do in the townhome. We are getting settled and feel very at home here.