Real Estate Horror Story: Dead Silence

This chilling tale is from two years ago. I had a charming home in the Benson area of Omaha for sale. It was priced right and we had an offer within three weeks. The home inspection was done and repairs were made. Everything was moving along smoothly until I received that dreaded phone call...

"The lender says that the closing will have to be delayed."

No real estate agent likes to get this phone call but delays do happen and they are not that unusual. What is unusual is that from this point forward none of my calls to the buyer's agent or the lender got answered. Previously I was able to call either one and get them on the phone or leave a voice mail and get a call back but no more. All my calls went to their voice mail and all of my voice mails went unreturned.

What did I do? I started calling them either from a phone number other than my cell phone or I would *67 to block my number. Did it work? It sure did. As if by magic somehow my calls were now getting answered. What did I find out, aside from getting comfirmation that both the other agent and the lender were avoiding my calls? I found out that neither could give me any definitive answers on when we would be able to close. Rather than avoid me, they could have just let me know this upfront. I would have a lot more respect for them if they had.

How does this nightmare end? Ultimately the buyer could not get financing, despite this so-called lender having pre-approved him. My seller and I put the home back on the market and ten days later we had an offer that netted us the same amount. Since then I have avoided working with this lender. The agent has done the real estate world a great favor by quitting the business.