Show me the Money, Honey!

I just talked to my seller because we have yet to receive the earnest money on a contract that was negotiated on Friday of this past week and told her that we now have another showing request and the door has been opened wide because we still do not have the earnest money.

Some of the issues that can cause a contract on a home/property to fall apart even before it barely begins is the lack of completed disclosures, requiring signatures by all parties and some times the Realtor as well. This was the case in this particular file.

One of the things I do as a Chicago Realtor is that I review the entire contract and have a highlighter in my hand to mark incomplete or inconsistent notations within the contract that I have received on behalf of my Chicago HomeSeller. I then send an email back to the buyer's agent noting what needs to be filled out, signed or initialed so that I have a record of all communication with the buyer's agent. I have already discussed the offer to my Chicago Home Seller and mention that we need to see how fast they respond and how consistent they are in following through with the inadequacies of missing information which can cost my Chicago Home Seller some serious marketing time or an ability for this Chicago Home Buyer to walk away from the contract. Note: We don't like it when the buyers are able to walk away due to a hole in the offer that was never caught at the starting gate.

What happened today, can happen all because your real estate agent has been too busy and took their time getting the earnest money to me. You need that earnest money in hand to seal the deal. I have been patient and have waited for this earnest money but as I discussed with my Chicago Home Seller today, that we have another interested Chicago Home Buyer and that means that we need to let them in and view the property. It has been disclosed to this showing agent that we have an offer on the table but that the earnest money has not been received and so, another Chicago Home Buyer will be going through this particular property tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and I have asked the Buyer's agent for this showing to notify me no later then the next morning if her buyers are interested enough to present an offer.

The Agent on the table has now been notified of the same as it is about disclosure. The bottom is, my job is to represent my client and so now we will wait and see if there will be another offer on the table.

All because an agent was too busy to get the earnest money check to me. How long did we wait? Since last Friday and ironing out the quirks of unsigned, non-initialed items to consummate the offer into a contract to purchase. The agent was too busy to send me the corrected forms over the weekend and sent them to me on Monday. Yesterday was Tuesday and still no check. Is the buyer thinking about pulling out? I don't think so because it is a great value for the purchase price. Who knows, this Chicago Home Seller may get a better offer.

One way you can loose out on a dream home of your choice if your Realtor either doesn't Fed Ex, Overnight, Messenger that check to the Listing Agent when they are too busy.

And no, this agent doesn't sell too many homes. She might have another job. Again, another issue if your Realtor holds another job and isn't following through on your offer because of limited time.