09/09/2025
Why is it so important for your agent to know what they are doing? Let me tell you a story....
I represented a seller in the sale of her home. She was moving to VA, and it was time to get moving.
I was able to secure a great contract for her in almost no time. After all, the house was priced right, the marketing was effective, and it showed great!
As part of the deal, we negotiated a post settlement occupancy (rent back), but the buyer of the home wanted a pretty hefty security deposit to be included.
At the end of the rent back period, there are certain things that need to take place, especially if the buyer wants to try to make a claim on some or all of that deposit.
This didn't happen. The agent and I had a conversation about a couple of things, but he didn't follow the contractual procedure. What did I do?
I waited.
See the way it goes is if the buyer doesn't follow the process, the seller gets their deposit back. All I had to do was wait. Once the time period expired, I sent a note to the title company telling them to release the deposit. They started to push back a little, but....they obviously didn't realize who they were dealing with 🤣🤣.
I quoted the paragraph in the contract that directs the settlement company on how to handle the deposit release and once again... I waited.
I got a message last night that the title company was releasing the funds back to the seller. As it should be.
I am sure the buyer won't be very happy about this and I can't say that I blame them. That said, contracts are in place for a reason.
Know what your contract says or make sure you are working with an agent who does.
