Hmmm, there's nothing like a relationship to "seal the deal."

Sadly, I wasn't the one with the relationship. Here's the story. A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a young lady who wanted to buy a home with her boyfriend. On December 15, 2008, I pre-qualified their application for an FHA purchase and she informed me that she would be shopping the deal to two other loan officers. One is a LO that I know personally and think would do a fine job and the other was a "friend in the business". Uh oh. It's not because I didn't know this person that I got that feeling, but the applicant indicated that he had had a mortgage company that failed (hey, it happens) and was now with another lender. I kept in touch with her over the next week and just before Chritmas, she said she would "be in touch" if they found a property they were serious about. In other words, they were going with another loan officer. No problem.

This past Sunday, January 4, 2009, the boyfriend calls me and asks for my help, stating that they had not heard from the other LO in a week and a half. On Monday, I updated their file, contacted the listing agent, selling agent, title company and arranged to have the property appraised on 1/6/2009. I also had the FHA case number generated, locked the rate and provided all of the information to the appropriate parties. The settlement date is set for 1/16/2009, so time is running short. Today, the boyfriend calls me to say that they were going with the "friend in the business". For their sake, I hope he can deliver. I understand that the boyfriend needs to keep the peace with his girlfriend, but when he intimated that he was much more comfortable working with me, it just doesn't seem right. The other loan officer explained that he had not contacted them for a week and a half so that he didn't "stress them out over the holiday season". Oh well, can't win them all and hopefully the way I handled this will result in some referrals. Happy New Year to all and here's to a healthy and prosperous 2009.