Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker with the signature real estate companies here in the great state of Florida, and with me, my real estate partner for over 10 years. Jill Glanzer, how are you,
Jill Glanzer:
Jill? I’m doing great, Matt. Thanks for having me.
Matthew Maschler:
It is wonderful to have you. Unfortunately, Stacy can’t be here today. She’s out, uh, selling some properties. Uh, she has a couple of great deals going on, and it is a great time of year to be in real estate in Florida because it’s almost Christmas merry, Merry Christmas coming up.
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah. And it’s beautiful weather.
Matthew Maschler:
It is great to be in Florida during Christmas time to be out on the beach and have a couple of days off from work, not real estate agents. We are very busy this time of year because when, uh, people come down and visit their families, they get the idea of moving here because they want, they love it so much. So they tend to call us on Christmas Eve and wanna see houses on Christmas Day, and we have to break it to them gently that we, uh, can’t sell them houses. And it’s actually a conundrum for a lot of real estate agents because a lot of my real estate agents or other real estate agents out there, they get nervous, right? Well, if I don’t show them the house, they’re gonna find another agent. So I have to work Christmas Eve Christmas day, uh, because otherwise they’re gonna find another agent.
But, you know, to tell you the truth, most of the time you can’t schedule the showings. Um, if, if you, if I call one of my customers and say, Hey, we want to show your house on Christmas Day. I mean, maybe they’re not home, and they’ll say, sure, but maybe they have a house full of guests. So, uh, real estate agents out there, um, you want to talk to your sellers about what their Christmas and New Year’s plans are. Um, can the house be shown and when and how much notice, a lot of the notice that you would normally have had at the beginning of this month, uh, might change, uh, because of people having plans for Christmas. So you want to know, um, uh, what your sellers are intentions are and what their, uh, Christmas plans are. Cause you wanna know if, if they can, if they could show their house. Also, uh, some advice I have for, uh, real, real estate agents out there, you know, if you are planning on working this week or next week, um, and you know that your sellers aren’t home, it is a great time to schedule, uh, an open house. Right. Um, you’re, you, you’re planning on working, you’re planning on having your phone anyway. And let’s say you, you wanna work on one specific day and not the other. Right? You
Jill Glanzer:
Agree? Yeah, I totally agree,
Matthew Maschler:
Because you, you making a facial expression,
Jill Glanzer:
But yeah, no, I, I’m like, I’m like agreeing with you with my facial expressions. Yeah,
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Well, it’s just not on the podcast, so <laugh>, so, yeah. Um, so, right, so like, right, so like, um, if, uh, if, if when when’s Christmas, Saturday?
Jill Glanzer:
Uh, I think so. I don’t know. I gotta pull up my calendar.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>, we’re recording in advance the Christmas episode, so, yeah. So,
Jill Glanzer:
Um, Christmas falls on a Sunday this year.
Matthew Maschler:
Christmas, Christmas is Sunday. So, you know, if you’re, if you have plans for Christmas, I do not suggest work, right? I mean, don’t work Christmas, don’t, don’t work Sunday if you don’t have to. But if you are planning on working Sunday, you have no other plans and you know, your sellers aren’t home, mark the house open on Saturday for, you know, or, or, or Sunday or uh, or Monday. Um, and, uh, and then, you know, go to the house, take a couple of pictures, post some selfies, make your social media post because you’re there anyway. Um, you know, one of the things I like about open house is you can schedule an open house, even if nobody comes. At least it highlights the property. And you get a chance to do some, uh, social media if it’s, uh, on your listing for your open house. And the worst, uh, thing that happens is someone might come and, and wanna buy it. So, I don’t know if Christmas Day, Sunday’s a great day to Mark A. House open. Cause I don’t know people.
Jill Glanzer:
I think it is. Yeah. I mean, especially for the people that don’t celebrate Christmas, that maybe go out for Chinese food on Christmas. Yeah, yeah. Afterwards mm-hmm. <affirmative> to see an open house and a great neighborhood. I think it would be a great activity for a family to do
Matthew Maschler:
A Absolutely. Absolutely. So it, um, and then, uh, and then, and, and also Monday, right? Yeah. Because, you know, again, if you’re, again, if you’re planning on work, I’m not suggesting you should, but if you are planning on working or you have nothing else to do, it, it is, it is something that, that you can do, um, to, uh, to market your house. Uh, obviously if you’re sellers are having guests in town all weekend and they’re going crazy, you don’t wanna do that. So if you have, if you have nothing to do and you have listings, um, I would, I would suggest, uh, marketing them open. And then in the mls, I’m gonna talk to the agents out there. In the mls, there’s two types of open houses. Uh, there’s, uh, open house, and then there’s tour of homes. Jill, do you wanna explain the difference?
Jill Glanzer:
So an open house is mainly pointed towards customers, and that’ll like syndicate on Zillow, realtor.com, Trulia, all of that. So buyers will see that, and that’s mainly for customers. Tour of Homes is mainly like a broker open house. So if you wanted brokers to come, um, I always like to market, and I know Matthew does likes to market both ways that way. Why wouldn’t you want a broker to come to your open house as well and bring their buyer?
Matthew Maschler:
The reason I like to market both ways in the MLS is I don’t know if someone’s searching the mls. I don’t know what search they’re gonna do. So if the customer says, Hey, are there any open houses this weekend? And the real estate agent searches open house, but a different real estate agent searches tour of homes. True. Right. If I’m not on both, then I’m not in the result. So I always, anytime I’m having an open house, whether it’s a Sunday customer open house, or a Tuesday broker open house, I always market both ways because I don’t know if the other agent, I always not that other agents are, are, are, are, are inferior or no less than me, but people make mistakes. There are times when people put in the wrong field or search, you know, there’s an expression in computers, right? Garbage and garbage out.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I don’t know if the agent is searching open house or tour of homes. So I want to be in both, cuz I want to be found. So I always market both ways. I do wonder, you know, if there is a Sunday customer open house, how an agent feels. Like if I came as an, as an broker and I just wanted to preview the house, I, I kind of wonder in, in the really hot market we had last year, I, you know, I didn’t do that as much because I knew that the sellers, uh, listing agents were just trying to get customers. They weren’t really interested in having an agent come in for product knowledge. Um, but I never mind an agent coming in, uh, and wanting to see my hosts, my house that I have for sale. That’s literally why I do what I do. Why I have an open house and why I’m there to show the house. And if another agent wants to show it or just see it, maybe put it on their social, reach out to their customers, I’m happy to do
Jill Glanzer:
It. That’s so funny because I actually, a lot of times in my neighborhood, I like to see houses that are available and they’ll be open houses and I’ll walk in and always introduce myself as a realtor. And I try so hard to stay away from the customers because if I never want them thinking I’m trying to solicit somebody, like, and they follow them around when I’m there, like, like they’re really watching me solicit
Matthew Maschler:
Agents. Suspects. You might be trying to sell a
Jill Glanzer:
Customer. I feel like they are. And I’m just like staying away. I make all nice comments about the house. Like I’m trying to help them sell it almost. Mm-hmm. Because I don’t want them to think that so mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So I, cuz I would never do that. Right. I don’t think that’s right. I wouldn’t want somebody to do that to me.
Matthew Maschler:
I, I, I, we’ve had people do that at our open houses and I’ve, it’s crazy. And I’ve seen it, the new construction communities. I’ve seen realtors camping out in the parking lots and trying to walk a customer in as if they brought their customer there and try to get paid on it. And it’s a little gross.
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah. It’s not nice.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. Do you have any plans for Christmas?
Jill Glanzer:
Do I have any plans? I’m actually going up to visit my husband’s family. Oh, that’s very nice. Outside of Gainesville, in a very small town. Very
Matthew Maschler:
Small town
Jill Glanzer:
Outside of Gainesville, in Newbury.
Matthew Maschler:
Are there big towns outside of Gainesville?
Jill Glanzer:
<laugh>? Probably not <laugh>. That’s a good point. This is like a one stoplight town in
Matthew Maschler:
Newbury. And do we have any real estate agents that we refer to in Newbury? We
Jill Glanzer:
Do. Actually. My mother-in-law owns a company called Glanzer Realty.
Matthew Maschler:
Glanzer Realty. I
Jill Glanzer:
Like the front of that. Yeah. I like to stand in front of the sign <laugh> and pretend it’s mine, <laugh> people. I took a picture in front of that and people were like, congratulations, <laugh>. That’s
Matthew Maschler:
Awesome. We should totally, you have to do that again.
Jill Glanzer:
It was so
Matthew Maschler:
Fun. Introducing Glanzer Realty. Uh, yeah. So, uh, anyone looking for in a large or small towns outside of Gainesville, um, we highly recommend Glenser Realty. Do they, um, do they sell Gainesville also?
Jill Glanzer:
They sell Gainesville Alachua. They sell all the ar Ocala. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, lake City, all the areas around Gainesville High Springs. Beautiful area by the
Matthew Maschler:
Way. So, and Gainesville, if you don’t know, it’s, uh, north of Orlando, uh, maybe a little bit northwest. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, um, it is the home of the University of Florida.
Jill Glanzer:
Go Gators.
Matthew Maschler:
Go Gators. <laugh>. All right. So a topic we wanted to talk about this week, um, was, um, legally binding contracts. And there are times we have to remind our customers, um, that when they sign legally binding contracts, they are legally bound to the terms contained in the contract. It’s shocking for some of them because some of them, I don’t know if, if the states are coming from the contracts are, are easier to get out of or if they’re just so arrogant that they think, uh, that contracts don’t apply to them. Uh, so I’ve talked about it before in, in the show. I’m gonna define contract for a minute. A contract is a legally enforceable promise when, uh, two people exchange promises. Um, um, and, and there are certain steps involved. The, that the promises become legally binding. They are obligated to perform those promises, and that’s what a contract is.
So, um, you know, we start, and what happens is sometimes a buyer, they may not realize that they’re entering into a legally con binding contract because they’ll make an offer. And if, uh, and you know, a lot of times they don’t expect the seller to accept it, cuz then there’ll be, there’ll be some negotiations. And during the negotiations, once they’re done with the negotiations, they do tend to realize that now they have a deal. And when we negotiate the contract back and forth, and then they sign again, most of the time they do understand that they’re under contract now. But a lot of times when they make that initial offer, they don’t realize cuz they didn’t go through that process, they don’t realize that they’re under contract. Um, but yeah, if the seller accepts your contract signs off on it, you, you are now under contract.
Now the buyer has a lot of outs in the Florida as his contract. They can get out, you know, assuming there’s an inspection period, maybe there’s a mortgage contingency. Um, there, there’s several outs, uh, that a buyer usually has an assets contract. A seller doesn’t have as many outs. Um, so if a seller signs a contract, the seller is agreeing to sell the house. Um, and they can’t just change their mind. And we come across this more often than you would think. So for instance, um, you know, we rep, whether we reps in the buyer or the seller, the buyer performs their inspection during the inspection period. They, um, request repairs. And for whatever reason, the seller, um, doesn’t, the seller, the buyer’s power is to cancel the contract under the as-is clause. Uh, they can’t get a credit for repairs unless the seller agrees.
So we’ve entered a new negotiation, right? It’s basically the buyer saying, Hey, I’m going to cancel this contract. However, if you make the following repairs or gimme the following credit, I will continue, uh, to, um, proceed in buying your house. So sometimes the seller will say, yes, I will give you the credit. Sometimes they’ll say, no, I won’t. Uh, sometimes they’ll negotiate for, for a different result. Sometimes the sellers get arrogant and they say, well, we’ll just cancel the contract and sell it to somebody else. There was a lot of people looking. Um, the seller doesn’t have the right to cancel the contract just because the buyer asked them. Right. The buyer asked for something. That doesn’t mean the seller has the right to cancel. Seller can say no, but the seller can’t cancel the contract. So we’ve had situations over the years where, um, let’s say we represented the buyer and the seller didn’t wanna move. Right. That, that happened to us in broken sound. Yeah.
Jill Glanzer:
Just happened.
Matthew Maschler:
Uh, we represented the buyer. Seller didn’t wanna move. So the seller, the seller’s agent, and the seller’s lawyers and titled companies all, all had to explain to the seller that they were obligated. This seller wasn’t trying to get outta the contract. They just needed more time, but they weren’t entitled to more time. They were legally done. There’s a, there’s a date on the contract and the date on the contract is the closing date. A lot of people were surprised that the date we put on the contract is the closing date. A lot of people were surprised, especially people from New York and New Jersey, because apparently in New York and New Jersey, the date you put on the contract is merely a suggestion. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, but, oh, I know we were supposed to close December 12th, but I can’t get out. I, but I decided to stay for Christmas. We’ll close January 5th instead.
No, Mr. Seller, you can’t do that. You’re in default. So now the problem comes when there’s a disagreement because you know, the contract is paper. Right? It’s a illegal enforcing contract. It’s paper. I’m a real estate agent, but I can’t physically kidnap a seller, drag ’em to the bank, get a whole bunch of money, drag him to the closing table, put a pen in his hand, and force him to sign the closing papers. Um, so to enforce a contract when one party doesn’t want to perform or doesn’t perform, you need a lawyer and you need to sue, you need to go to court. Now, sometimes when a buyer or seller decide that they don’t wanna buy, they might have a reason in the contract. And sometimes people could disagree whether that reason is valid or not. And the answer is always, well, that’s where a court does decide. Um, and a lot of people rely on the fact that people aren’t gonna wanna go through the trouble bunny and expense of hiring a lawyer and go into court, uh, to enforce their contract provision. So a lot of people will, uh, give up their rights. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they’ll give up a fight because they don’t want to spend the time, energy, and effort in
Jill Glanzer:
That. And they might be on a deadline too.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, and that’s another thing too. Yeah. So, um, so that, that’s what we’re coming up to. We are in a situation here where, uh, we represent a buyer and the buyer is supposed to close in three weeks. And we were informed by the listing agent that the seller changed his mind and doesn’t want to sell the property anymore.
Jill Glanzer:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And he wants the ca the contract to be canceled. And he wants the buyer to just say, okay, I’m not buying your house anymore, give me my deposit back by. But he already gave a lot of money.
Matthew Maschler:
So we’re putting that in the seller’s mind, right? Yes. Right. We haven’t heard anything from the seller. Nope. We haven’t heard what the seller wants. What the seller expects the buyer to do. Uh, the seller is just choosing the, the seller’s letting us know. The seller’s agent is letting us know that the seller doesn’t wanna sell anymore. He hasn’t asked for a cancellation. If I, if, if, if I was representing a seller who wanted to cancel a contract, I would send a cancellation, right? Yeah. He hasn’t sent,
Jill Glanzer:
He hasn’t just assume the sale, like send the cancellation of contract, even though really it isn’t in his rights, just send it. If he, that is a good idea.
Matthew Maschler:
If he send a cancellation and he signed it, maybe the buyer would sign it, right. Would
Jill Glanzer:
Just believe it. Or maybe the buyer has a reason to want out and they have cold feet. Right. And this gave them, they’re out.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So, so if I was, even though the seller doesn’t have the right to cancel, if I was a seller, if I was a seller’s agent and the seller told me they wanna cancel, I’d draft an addendum to the contract that basically says that, um, Byron Seller agree to cancel the contract. All deposit money will be returned to the bi, you know, will be returned to the buyer upon execution of this contract. And because the title company that, not the, the escrow agent, we, we talked earlier about title companies having multiple roles. The escrow agent who holds the deposit needs clear instructions from the buyer and seller to release deposit. And if I was a seller who wants to cancel the contract, I’d be very, uh, giving in, getting that buyer his deposit back. Does buyer and seller agree that, um, cancel the contract, the, you know, the escrow, the title com, the escrow company, uh, will release the es the deposit to the buyer upon execution of this agreement.
And then that listing agent should send that to us so that we can go to our buyer and say, what do you think? And if our buyer gives up and says, okay, and signs it, not that I, I would recommend him do that, but maybe he doesn’t wanna buy the property and he’s happy. Right? So he signs it cuz his deposit back again, because the seller doesn’t have the right to cancel. Um, if I was advising the seller, I would tell him to put a, uh, uh, a dollar amount. Right? You know, buyer and seller hereby agree to cancel the contract. Ta escrow agent will refund the deposit to the buyer. Seller agrees to pay buyer $5,000 to reimburse buyer for his expense in trouble because the buyer performed an inspection. And he did, you know, a lot of other things to get into this house. And you never know, the buyer may not have another place to live. His lease may be up and he canceled his lease. So his lease may be up. This, our particular buyer ordered furniture, um, hired movers. I mean, he expects to move in. Um, so, you know, $5,000 wouldn’t be enough for our buyer. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But this seller doesn’t necessarily know that. So that’s what the sellers should do. They shouldn’t say, Hey man, Jill. Yeah. Oh, you know, seller changes mine. Sorry,
Jill Glanzer:
That would’ve been smart.
Matthew Maschler:
But that’s what, that’s the situation. We’re
Jill Glanzer:
The only reason why the seller won’t do that. Wh why this particular listing agent, I think wouldn’t do that is because that listing agent feels like he worked his butt off for months, finally got the property under contract, showed up for inspections, did all his work. He deserves his commission in his mind. So he doesn’t feel like he wants to let him off. Easy.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, how’s he gonna get his commission?
Jill Glanzer:
That’s the problem. That’s the
Matthew Maschler:
Problem. Right? Yeah. You know, if, if I was a listing agent, I would think, well, maybe I’ll get the commission when he eventually does sell. Right? A lot of agents will give, agents will give up their rights because just like I said, I know, uh, if I don’t show on Christmas, uh, the, the barrel, the, the customer will go somewhere else. A lot of agents will say, well, if I don’t let my seller get away with this, uh, maybe he won’t use me in the future. Um, so true. So, um, this agent, he’s, he’s being communicative by telling us that, um, that,
Jill Glanzer:
But he’s not really acting on behalf of his seller that much. Is he?
Matthew Maschler:
He’s done acting on behalf of the transaction
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah. On behalf of the transac, because that’s we what we are transaction
Matthew Maschler:
Brokers. He, he’s not doing what he needs to do to get the transaction canceled. If that’s what his intention is. If his intention is to get this contract canceled, he’s not doing what he needs to do. He keeps telling us to write something, you know, and so he’s not doing what he wants to do. What I’m trying to tell this, the listing engine back is let your seller know he has a legally binding contract and he will be sued and he will be sued for damages. And damages can include, um, the expense that the buyer has, uh, the living expenses. Let’s say the buyer has to, uh, move all of his stuff into storage. Right. If the, the closing was supposed to be on Day X and then he finds a new house and moves in 90 days later. So 90 days of storage, 90 days of a hotel, right.
All the expenses that the buyer had, um, the difference in the price maybe. Right? If he finds a similar house, that’s more money. I would, I mean, he could be on the hook for, well, more than, um, than he expects. A lot of people think, you know, usually, and it’s weird cuz it’s usually the buyer breach, right? The reason the buyer puts the deposit up is to prevent the buyer breach, the seller’s relying on the buyer. Um, but when the buyer breaches, you know, it’s not just the deposit that it’s at risk, it’s all these seller’s expenses. It’s additional
Jill Glanzer:
All the buyer’s expenses.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, well, when the buyer breaches, then it’s the seller’s expenses. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, when I sold my house in New Jersey, my buyer breached the contract. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it was a 90 day close, which was standard in Jersey at the time. And my buyer breached the contract. Why? Because it was 2006. Six or seven. Yeah. And, um, it was a summer of oh six and that’s when the market crashed, or summer of oh seven. So we went to contract in, in, in, let’s say August. We were supposed to close it in November, might have been May, August, I dunno if it was May, August or August, November. But in the time period, the 90 days that went from contract to closing, the real estate market took a hit. And the buyer did not want to close. He made up an excuse, but it was just because the value of the house went down.
So I sued him for the carry cost of the house from the time of the original contract to when I eventually closed all the additional expenses and advertising, et cetera, that I had to, that I had to pay. So the carry costs were mortgage taxes, insurance, utilities, et cetera. Then it was all, all the extra marketing that I had to pay, et cetera. Then that, and then I also sued for damages. The difference between the price, I would’ve sold it to him and the price I eventually sold for. Uh, so we ended up settling for about $25,000.
Jill Glanzer:
So he gave you 25,000 and
Matthew Maschler:
You to end the lawsuit.
Jill Glanzer:
And he, and he and he did not buy your house. Someone else bought your house Later.
Matthew Maschler:
The, I put the house back on the market and I sold it to someone else while the lawsuit was happening. And in order to settle the lawsuit, he actually had to write me that check. Wow. Yeah, it was, I mean, I, I created a 300 or $400,000 lawsuit. Wow. And he settled it for 25,000. Okay. So, you know, in this case where, uh, where it’s our buyer and the sellers, he hasn’t defaulted yet. Um, it’s a,
Jill Glanzer:
Well hmm. He didn’t do one little repair that he was supposed to make,
Matthew Maschler:
But he hasn’t until closing to do
Jill Glanzer:
It. No, no, no. He had till November 15th. Oh yeah. Cause it was for the four point
Matthew Maschler:
Mm. But, um, yeah, now he’s not giving us access to check if that repair was made. But anyway, um, the, the, the seller’s damages will be the buyer’s expenses. Um, uh, and another thing a buyer can do is sue for specific performance. Because all real estate is considered unique. Now, if a, if a buyer defaults, the seller is l you know, can’t enforce the contract, make the buyer buy. But if a seller defaults, the buyer can enforce the contract to make the seller sell. Cuz that specific property is unique and no amount of money will, will get the buyer that particular property. So besides the, uh, ex additional expenses and living stor, you know, furniture storage and hotels and stuff, you can, uh, the buyer can, uh, get specific performance. And so in my mind, since the closing date hasn’t happened yet, the seller didn’t breach.
Okay. So it’s called anticipatory breach. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we believe that. So we can bring the lawsuit. You either have to wait until after the closing and super breach, or since we know the seller’s planning on breach, we can bring a, uh, a lawsuit for an anticipatory breach. Uh, we anticipate that the seller will breach and that’s why you could file early. But, but our, our buyer did hire a lawyer and we, we, we went over the entire case, uh, with the lawyer showed them all the communications and all the contracts and addendums, et cetera. And, uh, and, and that’s what he’s preparing because he is not willing to just roll and just let the, uh, seller, uh, get away with, uh, breaching the contract. So, uh, very important advice for, uh, for people out there when you are signing contracts and documents, they are legally enforceable. Yes. Anything else you wanna talk about, ed, about this case or,
Jill Glanzer:
I mean, the other thing is, is that this buyer, it really wants this house. Yeah. And there’s no other house in this community that will work for him at this moment. We
Matthew Maschler:
Know inventory’s very low.
Jill Glanzer:
Correct. And like all the other houses that he saw are still sitting on the market. But this house is the one he’s wanted since
Matthew Maschler:
June. Came back show, showed his family, showed his friends, he’s very happy with it. He’s applied,
Jill Glanzer:
Bought furniture, furniture bought furniture that goes in. I mean, I feel terrible. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I feel so sad for him because I really want this to close. So stay tuned.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. So we were talking about other times this happened, we talked about the one time where it happened where, uh, the seller wanted to basically stay an extra month. And yes, they realized that they didn’t have the right to, do you remember when this happened? When we were representing the seller mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the seller changed her
Jill Glanzer:
Mind. Yeah. This seller was emotionally attached to this house that she raised her family in. And she also owed a lot of money. What happened to
Matthew Maschler:
The bank when, when they did the title? You know, a lot of times when we do the listing appointment, we do a net sheet. So she knew exactly how much sh not exactly approximately how much she would walk away with in order to buy the replacement house. She had a downsize, her finances took a turn. So she was in a, you know, beautiful five bedroom house in Boca Raton. She had a downsize. Um, and she was gonna sell the house, use the equity by something smaller. Um, and when, uh, when all the title was done and everything was, think it was about two weeks before closing, um, when she’s, when she started the title company, there was a second mortgage that her husband who, who had, who had, who had passed. Um, so that her husband took out a second mortgage on the house. No, she signed it.
Jill Glanzer:
She knew about it. She just
Matthew Maschler:
Wished she, she knew about it or forgot about it.
Jill Glanzer:
I think she was in denial, to be honest
Matthew Maschler:
A little bit because especially when, you know, when we go to the listing appointment, we say, how much do you owe on the house? And she tells us what she owes on the first mortgage. She didn’t tell us about the second mortgage. So my agent’s out there, when you go on the listing appointments, when they say how much they owe, ask ’em if there’s a second mortgage <laugh>. Um, so well anyway, so the hu she said the husband took out the mortgage. She said that she didn’t know about it, but it greatly reduced, um, how much she expected to have. And it was gonna affect where was she gonna, she was gonna live. But we explained to her that she’s has legally binding contract. And we got her, her family involved. Her daughter explained to her that she had to sell the contract, the house because she had a legally binding contract. And the risk of litigation. See, see, in our current situation, the seller’s not scared of the litigation, but in that situation, the, the,
Jill Glanzer:
The seller was,
Matthew Maschler:
And
Jill Glanzer:
She didn’t have the money to live in the house anymore.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. And it was our job to explain to her, her, her risks and liabilities. Plus also, yes, also selling was still the best option for her. She couldn’t afford to stay in the house. The longer she stayed in the house, the less equity she would have. If she stayed there six more months, or one more year, she’d have even less money to buy the replacement, uh, house. So still, still definitely in her interest to sell, but it, but it was the, the, the contractual obligation and the, the liability of a lawsuit and, and which made her, so both times, right, when there was a seller that wanted to stay a month and she didn’t have the right to the seller that wanted to cancel. And we had to explain to her why she couldn’t. What we don’t have here is a strong listing agent. Um, and possibly that, you know, the, the, the seller, you know, shut off communication with the listing agent.
Um, but no one’s advising the seller of their liability of, of its of the seller’s liability or, or the seller just doesn’t care. Uh, so it’s in a very awkward situation for our buyer. Um, and you know, you say you feel terrible, but you know, we’re, we’re, we’re powerless. And that’s why I had a, I had a very, very clear conversation with him. You must sign a lawyer. Hire a lawyer. Your only choice is, is to accept the cancellation. Walk away Yep. And buy something else. And we’ll negotiate a dollar amount. Right. We can try to negotiate a dollar amount for your trouble or hire a lawyer in Sue. Those are the only choices. Those are the only things you can do when you the other party to your contract, no matter what the contract is, an employment contract, no matter what the contract is, when the other party to the contract doesn’t do what they’re supposed to do, you could either accept it or hire a lawyer in Sue.
Jill Glanzer:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Matthew Maschler:
Yep. And, uh, that is the true meaning of Christmas.
Jill Glanzer:
And by the time this podcast comes out, we will know what happens.
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>. <laugh>. Yeah. So, um, so yeah. Um, hope you enjoy your Christmas. Hope you enjoy your holidays. Hope you have some, uh, couple of days off to spend with friends and family if you are in Florida for, uh, for Christmas. Hope you enjoy the weather and being on the beach and build a little snowman in the sand. A sandman if you will. Um, shout out to, uh, all of our customers. And Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah and happy New Year to, uh, all of us in the Real estate finder family. Uh, for the signature real estate companies, I am Matthew ler with Signature Real Estate Finder. You can find us@realestatefinder.com, Instagram and Twitter and Facebook, and wherever else you find real estate agents or podcasts.
Jill Glanzer:
And I’m Jill Glanzer with Real Estate Finder as well. And if you ever need, uh, to find property down here in South Florida, give us a shout. 5 6 1 2 0 8 3 3 3 4.
Speaker 3:
The future looks bright and the storms pass by the sky’s dog. Blue. When it’s almost that time, light shows cameras flash When I pass living in the moment, forget about the pass. They save the best for last. Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp terms. Gotta keep pace while the hands on the clock turns hot. Sticks. Five star real estate. I run a show. You can tell the boss center play electricity, energy, vibrate. I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the sing for you success. My got a real clear view. If you dunno the time, I’ll give you a clue.
Speaker 4:
You know what, you know what you know what you know what you know, what you know, you know what time, you know what time. You know what time it is. You know what, you know what, you know what time it is.
Speaker 3:
You know what time its, you know, you know what time it it is. You know whose time it’s, you know what time It’s Matthew Mania. The time it says, yeah. Got scared. Look, we’re not afraid of the big.
