Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I’m Matthew Maschler, real estate broker with a signature real estate companies in the great state of Florida. And with me, the co-host of the Real Estate Finder podcast and my real estate partner,
Jill Glanzer:
Jill Glanzer.
Matthew Maschler:
Hi, Jill, how are you? I
Jill Glanzer:
Am doing great.
Matthew Maschler:
It is June. This is our first podcast of June. If you’re listening to this and you did not get the June Si Real Estate Finder newsletter, uh, please let us know. Send us an email, Matt at Real Estate Finder or jill real estate finder.com, and we will send you a copy of the Jill of the June, June. It’s the month of Jill, the June newsletter. I’m very, very proud of it. Uh, Preston Smith is Preston at real estate funder uh, dot com. He’s one of my real estate agents and he’s the editor in chief of the newsletter, and he does a great job, and I torture him all month to get that newsletter done. Uh, we are, June 1st also means that we start the July newsletter. It takes us exactly. One month does not matter what day I started. It always, I have to finish it on the 30th or 31st.
It always takes exactly one month to make these newsletters. And as soon as it goes out, uh, we immediately start the next newsletter. So we’re starting, if you have any, uh, events, any news, any birthdays, any information about July that you would like to include in the July newsletter, please send it to us. We’d love to hear from our listeners, our customers, our buyers and sellers, and our other agents. But again, if you want a copy of the June newsletter, uh, reach out and we will be sure to send you one and subscribe. You can, you can actually find the newsletters, all the newsletters on real estate finder.com and simply click on newsletter where, uh, Andy, uh, Kleppner our webmaster, uh, indexes all of the past, uh, newsletters and, um, you could also subscribe yourself there. So that’s another good way to get a copy. So, um, yeah, June 1st and the other thing that June 1st brought us is multiple closings.
Jill Glanzer:
Yes. Two closings. Three Three, yeah. Three clo. Yes. Three
Matthew Maschler:
Closings. I was gonna sucker you. Okay. I was gonna say, how many did we do? I, I didn’t wanna embarrass you saying like, I know shit didn’t get it wrong, but I knew you were gonna get it wrong. We did three on June. Right.
Jill Glanzer:
Explain.
Matthew Maschler:
Well, you know, right.
Jill Glanzer:
Okay. So I know, oh, yes, the rental. Yeah, the rental. So it was the rental and two sales
Matthew Maschler:
Rental and two and two two buyers. Yep. Um, which of the two buyers we’re gonna call them? Um, DK and tk. Yeah. <laugh>. They, they both have those names. Nicknames, DK and tk. Um, which of the two buyers were you working with longer?
Jill Glanzer:
So, um, definitely tk dk actually, I looked back at my texts. Uhhuh <affirmative>. I was working with him since like 20 June, 2021 or something like that.
Matthew Maschler:
All right. So dk how long have you been working with dk?
Jill Glanzer:
So, DK the first showing of, of the house that he wound up buying, by the way, Uhhuh <affirmative> was August 10th of last year. Right. 2022.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. But this means we’ve been working with him
Jill Glanzer:
For almost a year.
Matthew Maschler:
That was a But
Jill Glanzer:
Before that. Before that, but before that, we had a lot of conversations with him because we sold his house. No, we sold his house.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. And Correct on the initial consultation Yep. About the sale of his house and the subsequent purchase of the other house. Correct. So, so we’ve been working with him for two years. Yeah.
Jill Glanzer:
Because we, the conversation started way before we even listed his house.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So we’ve been working with him for two years, and that’s why I said, which one have we been working with longer? Yeah. Because the other one we were like working with for three years. And, you know, and that’s the interesting thing. I want to tell my, my buyers and, um, my, my customers, right. When you call me up, it’s okay if you’re not ready to buy. Right. Right. When you are ready to buy, if you’re first calling me, it’s too late. There’s a lot of things we gotta do and don’t think you’re bothering us. You know, the, there’s, let’s have the initial consultations. Tell me your long-term plans, cuz it could take us a while to find
Jill Glanzer:
It. It’s a process.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s, it is a process. So, um, so we’ll talk with the longer one. Uh, tk it was a referral from, uh, my fr my good friend Rabbi LiRo of the Habad Student Center, Lynn University and F Fa u, uh, he handles, uh, the Habad and the, you know, Jewish students needs at, uh, both universities, uh, F Fa u and Lynn University. And I was very honored. It’s the first time he gave me a referral. So I was very honored, uh, that I wanna say thank you, rabbi Liberal, um, that you would, uh, trust me. And, um, yeah. So it was a referral from him. And we found a customer, a great house in the Oaks. Right.
Jill Glanzer:
The oaks, yep. Beautiful
Matthew Maschler:
Home. He was always looking in the
Jill Glanzer:
Oaks. So he started out looking at the Oaks Uhhuh. Then we went to,
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, really? He did start with us at the, yeah.
Jill Glanzer:
He actually started looking at the Oaks before prices were run up, Uhhuh. And we looked at a lot of things that were, you know, like for, we looked at a foreclosure, we looked at a ton, a ton of things. A lot of properties. Right. A lot of properties. Then he went and he’s like, you know what, let’s look at the newer communities, like the Bridges, the GL Homes, communities, and that
Matthew Maschler:
Royal Palm Polo.
Jill Glanzer:
Okay. We also looked, yes. We also did Royal pom polo. So we, and we also went through a lottery at, um, I, I guess it was the newer one at the Boca Bridges. It was Lotus. A Lotus Lotus. Yeah. And that didn’t work. Um, he didn’t wind up getting picked. So it was a frustrating, long process for him and his wife.
Matthew Maschler:
You know, sometimes you have, um, people that, you know, you, you need a deal. Right. Everything, you need a deal. And it’s, and it’s all cultures. It’s not just New Yorkers, you know, the lot of cultures in Europe, Asian, all over, you know, it’s, it’s a huge
Jill Glanzer:
Thing. Everybody wants a
Matthew Maschler:
Deal. Everybody want, wants a deal. There’s, um, not many people who come in see the asking price and just say, okay. Right. Maybe this was, so, um, yeah. So everybody wants a deal. And the problem was working through this rising market, it was very difficult, very difficult to go through. So, so then you go to, you know, one, uh, one of these new construction com communities where, where the prices are set, and every six weeks they’re raising their prices. That was one of the things I, I said during Covid in, um, in, in 2020, uh, geo Homes raised their prices, uh, in, uh, November, mid-November before Thanksgiving, after Thanksgiving, at the beginning of December, mid-December, they raised their price prices again, December 20th and once more before Christmas, once after Christmas, once before New Year’s, and once after New Year’s. So they did like 17 pricing increases in six weeks.
Um, and, and that’s confusing and jostling for a buyer. Now, if you’re a buyer and you’re in the sales center, it’s okay. You could put down, you know, you could sign a contract in there, put down a deposit, and, and you do have a time to reconsider. Right? Right. But if you, but if you don’t, and then you go back, come back a week later, every real estate agent, if you haven’t heard it yet, you’ll, you will be sick of it. Um, by the time, uh, in about six weeks or three months, if you sleep on it, you will not sleep in it. That is what every real estate agent ha is starting to say, because of how fast the market is moving. Uh, let me sleep on it. If you sleep on it, you won’t sleep on it. Right. So if you haven’t heard that yet, I didn’t come up with it, but you will, you’ll hear it from me, you’ll hear it from every other real estate agent, uh, till the end of time or until the end of the year.
So yeah, he slept on it and prices went up, and prices and Royal Palm went up. And then what happens is, you know, we’ve entered this new economy where prices on everything have reset. Um, and some things you, you know, you just, you just adjust. All right. We’re not paying premium over sticker on cars anymore, but the sticker is higher. So we’ve all adjusted, but on, on housing, you see a house for 1,000,002 that, you know, in your heart of hearts is a $400,000 house. Uh, <laugh>, funny story. Uh, uh, you know, I, I’m, I’m on Facebook a lot. I really like Facebook. And one of my friends went to the, uh, arcade, uh, with their kids and gave kids $5, and it lasted like a minute and a half. Right. Because they had to pay $2 for the game card. And then there was like three credits and, uh, you know, $5 and it didn’t really go anywhere. And I’m like, well, it’s not 1983 anymore. You can’t give a kid $5 to go to the arcade. Nope. Can’t do it. You got a $20, a
Jill Glanzer:
$20 card lasts maybe 8 45 minutes. Yeah.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. That’s, that’s about right. So, um, so yeah. So you, you, you just, these old prices that we have in our head for things, just a sign that we’re old. Yeah. <laugh>. It is <laugh>. I saw the Blackberry movie. It was like the whole history of Oh my God, the Blackberry phone. Yeah. From when it didn’t exist until the iPhone killed it. And, you know, it was just amazing. Like, it was good memories. Like, I don’t think someone who didn’t live through that could watch it and relate to the story, but I remember being addicted to my Blackberry. Yeah. I remember a time where the Blackberry didn’t exist mm-hmm. <affirmative> and how amazing it was. And I was telling my son and his friends about how amazing that first Blackberry was because, um, you know, it was the first time that you can be away from your office, be away from your desk, and still be in touch. I mean, you had beepers and stuff and cell phones, but wasn’t the same. But to get, be able to check your email, pull contracts, and it was torturously slow, but, but especially by today’s standards, uh, primitive by today’s standards. But, uh, but it was amazing, uh, when it first came out. And, and then obviously the iPhone killed it. Um, yeah. So where were we? Uh, so
Jill Glanzer:
We had DK looked high,
Matthew Maschler:
TK looked high and low with tk. Um, I, we wrote a lot of offers.
Jill Glanzer:
We did. We, we wrote, I believe, an offer at the beginning on a house in the Oaks. Didn’t happen.
Matthew Maschler:
Didn’t, we couldn’t come to terms. Right. We wrote an offer in Royal Palma Polo.
Jill Glanzer:
Well, we, we actually, yeah. He went under contract with a new sale with a new home in Royal Pom Polo. I took him over to the design center mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, for Toll Brothers. And he didn’t like the finishes. Yeah. He thought they were cheap. So I told him, go, you know, this happens a lot in, in new home communities, especially in Boca, because people like very high end finishes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So what they’ll do is, in order to have the house built, they’ll just go with the lowest end, and then they’ll take everything out and just do what they want to do. And I kind of suggested that like, listen, you’re in, he’s in construction. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, he knows the industry. He has all the vendors, so don’t,
Matthew Maschler:
Don’t, don’t open to the kitchen, get the basic kitchen and then, and then Right. And then put in a new kitchen.
Jill Glanzer:
But he couldn’t wrap his mind around that and really upset him.
Matthew Maschler:
It seems wasteful.
Jill Glanzer:
It does. It feels really wasteful. Yeah. But the thing is, I think that lot wasn’t right for him anyway. It was kind of backing the jog road. And so he was just like, he, he talks about it still, by the way, because that house was way bigger. Uhhuh <affirmative>. It was about a thousand square feet bigger than the one he wound up getting. And he always talks about how I should have bought that house
Matthew Maschler:
<laugh>, except that. And
Jill Glanzer:
I’m like, no, you shouldn’t have, this was, it wasn’t meant for you. You didn’t want it.
Matthew Maschler:
Uh, you didn’t want it. And just because it was a thousand square feet bigger doesn’t mean it was better. Right. Right. You know, and, you know, you can argue which community is better between the Oaks and Royal Palm. They both have their pus and Es he liked the oaks. He always liked the oaks better. Yes. So you have a more mature community. You have lots of trees, and it was beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. Right. So, um, so yeah. So that was, that’s the long game. Did you see your shout out at the Monday meeting?
Jill Glanzer:
I did. That was so great.
Matthew Maschler:
Very nice. Thank you Ben Shater. Yes. For recognize the excellence we have at the Signature Real Estate Finder team. Um, okay. So that was, uh, that was tk. Yes. Now let’s go to dk. Yes. We, he was living in the Bridges, uh, beautiful house. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we sold it. And, uh, he wants to come to Broken Sound. Right. Uh, broken Sound or Woodfield. We looked at a lot of houses in Broken Sound, a lot of houses in Woodfield. We found him, uh, we narrowed it down to three in Broken Sound. Right. Um, he didn’t buy the one I liked, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I, I’m not paying for it and I don’t live there. Right. <laugh>. So that doesn’t matter. People always ask me my opinion and I’m like, I’m not paying for it and I don’t matter. Right, right.
Jill Glanzer:
And you have your own set
Matthew Maschler:
Of preferences. Not that I don’t matter, but I don’t pay for it. I’m not paying for it and I’m not living there. Right, right. So, which, which one of the three I like, which community I like, which do you like? Right. I like vanilla, but there’s 31 flavors of Bason Robbins. Right. So, um, so he bought House that he really liked. I’m very happy with it. For him. He didn’t want my opinion. We came in, uh, Jamie Riley, Sherlock Holmes did the inspection. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, everything’s great. The price was highly negotiated. You know, it’s not a steal, but it wasn’t a ripoff. And it was the right house at the right price. Perfect for him. We, everything’s signed, sealed. This was what, so it’s, we closed June 1st when we looked at it in August. So
Jill Glanzer:
Let me tell you, so the timeline kind of goes like
Matthew Maschler:
This. Yeah. When did we see the house? First
Jill Glanzer:
Time he saw the house was August 10th. Uhhuh. <affirmative>. Okay. And then he went back and then he waited a
Matthew Maschler:
While. Right. Because we looked at the house that, that I liked better.
Jill Glanzer:
Right. Well, we, we, we, he looked at that one because he really liked it way back when, but he kind of kept sitting on the market. Yeah. Yeah. And he was like, let’s go see 14 houses and have lunch at Broken Sound. Remember that day? Right. That was a crazy day. That was the most houses I ever showed in a day. But it was so much fun. Yeah. I learned so much about Broken Sound that day. Uhhuh <affirmative>, cuz we met with the director of sales. Right. The director of membership mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we saw 14 houses cuz he has a very tight schedule. So we arranged that.
Matthew Maschler:
And one thing about Boca, if you’re buying into the country clubs, you know, you, you choose your country, your club first. Right. And then you buy the house. Right. Right. You know, because it’s not like you can want to be in Broken Sound or Woodfield or Polo or St. Andrews or Boca Woods. It’s, it’s the, the normal way to do it is to identify which community you want. I I say this also in the, um, in the, uh, in the, in the Orthodox communities that when people can walk mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they, they didn’t wanna walk to shul. And I’m like, well, do you wanna be in Boca Jewish Center or Boka Raton Synagogue or Young Israel or one of the Habbat Bo Haba.
Jill Glanzer:
They’re very
Matthew Maschler:
Different. Right. Like, whi which community do you wanna live in? And then let’s look for the house. Right. But it’s topsy topsy turvy now with this lack of inventory. But I still think it’s very important if you’re, if you’re with a, a young family and you’re gonna live in, live in the house and put, be in the community to choose which community you wanna be in. Right. So whether it’s golf or walk to shul or, or whatever beach or what, whatever it is where, figure out where you wanna live first and then we find the house. Right. So he, he did want broken sound and he liked that house. He always liked that house. That was like the, the back pocket always the safety. Yes. You know. So, uh, when did we put an offer in?
Jill Glanzer:
So we put in an offer on October 20th. Okay. And, you know, it was a little low. It wasn’t super low mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I thought it was pretty reasonable. They countered back on October 21st, and then he went, we made an agreement on October 22nd, we were executed.
Matthew Maschler:
So we executed contract October 22nd, let’s say a one week inspection. Yeah. And do you remember when the original closing date was?
Jill Glanzer:
So the original closing date I remember very well because it was my son’s bar mitzvah. Ah, December 12th.
Matthew Maschler:
December 12th. Yes. So here we are six months later. What caused the delay?
Jill Glanzer:
So, um, the closing was scheduled for December 12th, which was a long closing because the guy needed some time to find a rental
Matthew Maschler:
From October. The owner along closing from October to December. Yeah.
Jill Glanzer:
It’s, it’s, it’s not that long. I guess it could have been like November 22nd, but instead it was December 12th. So it wasn’t terrible. It was kind of normal
Matthew Maschler:
On the longer side of normal. Right,
Jill Glanzer:
Right. So I get a call on November, and you know what was weird? So there was one repair that the guy, the seller had to make that we signed an agreement. That was the only thing he agreed to repair. He wasn’t gonna give a credit. And it was just like a little link, a leak under the master bedroom sink, no big deal. Just so that the, so that the buyer could get a, um, hi, you know, his insurance. Because in order to get his four point inspection approved, he needed that repair. And we kept asking when was the repair gonna be done? And, and there was a deadline for the repair. I don’t remember the date of the deadline, but it was sometime in, in October. Well, he never did the repair. And I kept asking the, the, the listing agent, did he make the repair so we could come in and have it reinspected so my buyer could get insurance. So something was off and I kind of felt it. So then I get a call on November 22nd. Um, I have some bad news. Says the listing agent, the seller is not, uh, wants to cancel the contract. What? Cancel the contract. The seller doesn’t have a Right. He’s saying that his house is being seized by the federal government and that it’s no longer his and he can’t sell it.
Matthew Maschler:
The house is being seized by the federal government. Correct. And it’s no longer his Right. And he can’t sell it
Jill Glanzer:
Yet there. So that was what he said. And there was no proof. Like he didn’t send us a court order or anything to prove that this was happening. He wouldn’t talk. He basically just said to his agent, I’m sorry, I’m being sued by the federal government. They’re taking my house. I’m might be arrested, I might be indicted and
Matthew Maschler:
I might be arrested.
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah. And I’m not gonna be able to sell my house and they’re getting all the money and the buyer can’t buy my house. Wow. Okay. It was, it was scary. So I told, of course, my buyer and you know, he was very upset and
Matthew Maschler:
Very upset.
Jill Glanzer:
Right?
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. I mean, rightfully so. Rightfully so. Even if he didn’t love the house, he spent money on the inspection, inspection, inspection
Jill Glanzer:
On furniture to fit the house.
Matthew Maschler:
Furniture, furniture. He, he came multiple times to see the house. The vendors brought his girlfriend brought his parents. Right.
Jill Glanzer:
You know, he saw the house four times before he even put an offer in
Matthew Maschler:
Anytime. You know, generally the seller can’t just say, I’m not selling the house. Right. But the house was seized by the federal government.
Jill Glanzer:
Right. It was seized by the federal government. So of course my buyer, you know, he could have walked away and been like, oh, I’ll just go find another house. This is not gonna happen. Because he went to an attorney, an attorney said to him, listen, this is gonna be a long fight. And he really wanted the house. He really needs, needed to
Matthew Maschler:
Move. He needs to move peace living with his parents.
Jill Glanzer:
Right. Not, not fun for him. Now, 40
Matthew Maschler:
Years old at
Jill Glanzer:
Your parents. Right. And has a little girl and wanted to start his life again. So he wound up, you know, calling the attorney. The attorney said, this is gonna be a long fight. And we tried, we looked at other homes just to see if maybe he would find something better. But the thing is, the funny part about this, or the weird part is that he put, when he put in his offer, he was so concerned when he went under contract that this house would go down in value over time. Right. And I was like, this is not going down. This house is going to stay, if not increase in value. He’s like, yeah, but the market’s changed. It’s no longer covid highs and there’s no way this house is gonna stay this price. Because the guy, the seller who purchased it a few years before, paid like not much for it.
And so he was just, he didn’t think the value was gonna stay. And he was nervous, but everything we looked at was so much more money and not really that nice and needed more work, or wasn’t in a great lot like this. Had a lake lot and, you know, wide open spaces in the back with a beautiful pool. And it was pretty much remodeled. So it was perfect. And we kept looking, we kept seeing things on the market and going and looking. But in the meantime, he kept working with his an, his attorney and his attorney said, let’s file for specific suit for specific performance. Because number one, it’s, it’s part of the step in order to get the house. Because if you don’t do it, it’s gonna look strange to the courts who were trying to get to, to sell the house to you if you don’t take any action.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. So, uh, lemme tell you what a suit for specific performance is. You know, when you have a contract, a contract is a, uh, legally binding, uh, exchange of promises. When someone breaks the contract, um, you can have a lawsuit. And generally, uh, the lawsuit is for, uh, is for damages. Uh, you know, where, how were you harmed. And generally the way we compensate, uh, for damage is money. Most lawsuits are for money. Uh, a lawsuit for specific. So if a buyer cancels the contract, then the seller wants sometimes the deposit, usually they’re satisfied with the deposit, but sometimes it could be other damages. Um, but when the seller breaches, there’s, there’s no deposit to go after. So you can go after money damages. I, it cost me inspection. Uh, the market went up 10%. So 10% of the value of the home, um, it cost me living other living expenses, moving expenses, furniture, et cetera. I would by you, by you, um, breaking breaching this contract. I I’ve been harmed $125,000 and you su for $125,000 specific performances. I’m not suing for money damages. I’m suing to make you do the thing that you promised to do. Right. Sell me that house. I have a contract to buy the house. I am soon to enforce the contract. I want the judge to order you to sell me that house.
Jill Glanzer:
That’s a specific thing. Specific, you’re asking them to do performance. Right? Correct. Okay. That, so he hired the attorney Sue for specific performance in December when he heard right after November when he heard that the, the seller did not wanna sell his house or couldn’t sell his house. So he started working with him from there. And the seller was served papers on January 3rd. But in the meantime, we were trying to work with the US Attorney General to try to get them to sell the house to Dan. We were already under contract. He was a ready, willing, and able buyer and the federal government was going to get the funds from the house. So why would they want to take the house and then re-list it and do all that when they could just go through this process with the buyer that was already
Matthew Maschler:
There. Right. Right. He commit the seller committed a crime, owes money, the government seizes the house, sells the house, and gets the money. Well, okay, well the house is under contract. If you government, you simply do nothing and you will get the money, which is actually what you want. So we, we had approved to the what? The forfeiture clerk?
Jill Glanzer:
Yes. We got approved, um, from the forfeiture clerk. Well, we had from
Matthew Maschler:
Tallahassee, we had to approve, oh, was it Tallahassee? Not Miami.
Jill Glanzer:
Uh, I thought it was Tallahassee.
Matthew Maschler:
Um,
Jill Glanzer:
It might have been Miami Federal
Matthew Maschler:
Government. Yeah. Tallahassee’s, you know, state capital. Oh, that’s true. So, um, so, you know, we, we show them it’s an arm arm’s length transaction. It’s not like being sold to a family member for reduced value. We, we proved the value of the home was a fair market value for the home, et cetera, et cetera. Um, and, uh, and we proved to the, to the, to the US government, to the Department of Justice and the United States Forfeiture Clerk. Um, and, and she was satisfied with, um, with the sale of the home. And they we’re okay with us continuing to sell it, which was great cuz it protected my commission and, and the listing agents commission.
Jill Glanzer:
So that happened at the beginning of February. So he found out that they, granted, you know, they, I don’t know what the, the legal terminology is. I mean, I have the agreements here, but, um, they did, they, they basically ordered, it was an order approving the stipulation and settlement agreement regarding the sale of real property.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. It was a, there was a settlement agreement between the buyer, the seller, and the Department of Justice. Yeah. And then needed a court order. So the court approved it,
Jill Glanzer:
Which was great news. So you’re thinking, oh, this is awesome. I could, great news, I could, I’m gonna be able to get my house.
Matthew Maschler:
So the judge in his infinite wisdom, because he wants to really make sure this happened, right? Mean you really want to make sure that the sale went through. He said, make sure it’s done within six months, as if that’s soon.
Jill Glanzer:
It was actually four months. Four months, 120 days.
Matthew Maschler:
120 days. Right. So now the seller’s high fiving himself, he’s got 120 days to live in the, to live in the house. So, you know, while he waits, you know, he doesn’t have to find that rental. He had it the, by by the judge saying 120 days. It gave the seller no incentive to move out, to find a rental, to, to work hard. He’s like, I got 120 days. It’s like, so like af like, so this, the buyer’s getting frustrated. And so I, so I, I tried to, I, I said to the buyer’s lawyer, I go, make sure you tell this other, the, the, the seller’s attorney to tell the seller that the seller’s playing with fire. Right. The court orders that he has to do it 120 days if he waits till the end. Right. Cuz the buyer. Right. What happens on day 117, if the buyer gets so frustrated, the buyer doesn’t close. Now the sellers in breach, right. Department of Justice was expecting this money. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, now Department of Justice has to, has to now foreclosure on the house and then sell the house. Maybe they’ll sell for less money, whatever it is. And, um, and you cost Department of Justice six months, you dicked around. You don’t want Department of Justice to be mad at you, do you?
Jill Glanzer:
Especially when you’re already possibly gonna maybe go to jail, jail for the crime that you committed.
Matthew Maschler:
You’re working on a settlement with them. You know, you don’t want the, there’s, there’s a risk to cunning too close to the deadline. Like, cooperate sooner, get this enclosed, get the Department of Justice their money, let them move. Let them move on. But you don’t, you know, the buy, you know, the buyer could put ’em, put the seller in, in a precarious situation if it gets close to that one 20 days and then the buyer simply says, oops, I don’t want close. And then, then the sellers got real egg on his face. So I was trying to use that bluff to incentivize the seller to move a little quicker. I don’t know if it really worked or not. The other thing that the judge did, um, which did not help the buyer, didn’t put any teeth into the, um, into this, uh, uh, court order.
Court order cuz it was trying to protect the Department of Justice. Not, not the, not the buyer, uh, the or else Right. Close within 120 days or else the, or else was that justice comes and seizes the house. Right. Well, okay, what does the seller care? The seller’s not getting a dollar. So what does the seller care if the buyer gets the house or if justice gets the house? He walks away. He doesn’t have to do anything. He doesn’t have to sign anything. And, uh, and the Department of Justice gets the house and the buyer gets second in the face. The, the judge didn’t do anything to protect the buyer. Right. Put in a fee. Right. If you don’t close ’em in 120 days, the buyer can, um, you know, you know, get damages. Right. So you had the settlement agreement that that really, really didn’t protect the buyer at all.
It actually cost the buyer four months. Um, and, and a lot of risk and a lot of angst. Um, and, uh, th in the buyer’s attorney’s defense, he didn’t have any position to negotiate. Right. It was a take it or leave it. Right. Uh, words from the Department of Justice. So I get that. So the craziest thing was all along the way in this process, dealing with the seizure, dealing with the forfeiture clerk, you know, you, your body’s asking these questions. Well, what usually happens when, stop asking me what usually happens, this has never happened before <laugh>. Right. You would think it the first time in Florida. A lot of people get arrested, A lot of, a lot of seizures happen. But you know, you have the, um, um, homestead rules. Usually primary residences don’t get seized. Right. I don’t even know why, why?
Jill Glanzer:
Because it wasn’t his primary residence. I think seller, he, I think the seller has another house in New York that was his primary residence. Oh. But you know what? I didn’t check. Yeah. But that’s a great thought. Yeah. I, but I think that’s the reason why. Yeah. Because his other house in New York, I think is more value.
Matthew Maschler:
That’s not always the, was the primary residence. But, but Yeah. But if, but if New York was claimed to be the Florida residents, he didn’t homestead Florida, which is a mistake. Most people buy these houses in Florida, <laugh>, you know. Right. They, they do what they need to do to, to get Florida residency homestead status to protect the house. I mean, especially a guy knew what he was doing. He really, really needed to work on that. Most people do it to not pay the New York income tax. Right. But this guy needed to spend some time on a, on on his Florida homestead. If you have any questions about establishing Florida residency to avoid New York and New Jersey income tax service or getting homestead protection, like OJ Simpson has live in happily in his house in Miami. Um, please feel free to schedule a consultation with me or Joe.
We, um, we’re not experts in what happens when the government seizes your house. But we are experts in moving to Florida for tax purposes or estate planning purposes or, or asset protection purposes. Um, that is a very common reason why people move to the state of Florida. Um, but, um, yeah. But, but, but the buyer always said, well, what do you do now? Or what do you do if I’m like, I don’t know, ask your lawyer. And Right. It is important to my agents out there. It is important to answer. I don’t know. When you don’t know the answer to the question, don’t make it up. Don’t, don’t stare. Yeah. I don’t know. The two biggest things that I, I, I realize that my agents have a hard time with, they have trouble saying, I don’t know. They have trouble saying no. Right. You know, someone asked a question about a particular house that we had in our portfolio that was in, in a rental portfolio that was not for sale.
We knew it wasn’t for sale. And, uh, and, and the, and the agent, you know, someone asked the agent, well, would they consider an adoption to buy? Oh, I don’t know. I’ll ask. And then someone goes, ask me, you, Hey, can you ask the seller? I’m like, I’m not asking the seller that we know. He doesn’t want to. We know he is holding. He’s, I, he, he’s, he’s amassing properties. He’s not selling properties. We know he is not selling properties. I’m not gonna ask him that. And and you knew, you knew not to even tell this to me. Right? Like, right. So when this person says what, say no. When you know the answer is no. Just say no. Don’t be scared to say no. My, one of my partners in, uh, PON Championship Wrestling, not Neil Orelio a different one. Um, there was something that I wanted and I was clear what I wanted in, in a, in a negotiation.
Uh, someone asked for something and they knew that they could use a thing I wanted for that purpose. And they just said, well, maybe we could. I’m like, no, I want, that’s my thing. You can’t have that. Right, right. And, you know, but sometimes people are so quick to, to, uh, you know, to give up the story that they don’t say no, say no when you don’t know. Say, I don’t know, say no. When the answer’s no, say, I don’t know, when you don’t know the answer. And then call me and I’ll help you with the answer.
Jill Glanzer:
You could say, I don’t know, but let me find out.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s perfect if you don’t know. Right. But if you know, say the answer, if the answer is no, say no, it’s the best thing in the world. Someone asked me, someone asked me something real. Someone I, I’ll give you an example of one where someone should have said no. Uh, they had an open house. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they represented the seller. A buyer came in without an agent and said, I love this house. Can I make an offer right now? So the listing agent said, sure. Do you have an agent? And the buyer said, well, we had somebody we were working with, we’re not tied to them, and they’re not in town this week. So can we just write the offer with you instead? Not even like with you and protect the agent with you instead. So agent said, sure. Wrote, wrote up the offer, uh, seller accepted the offer and went to contract, went past inspections. And then the buyer said, Hey, um, do you remember when I said we had that other agent? So, you know, we, well, we, we told them we were buying a house and they weren’t happy with us. So we were wondering if we can get them the, the, the Listing Commission.
Jill Glanzer:
That’s insane.
Matthew Maschler:
It’s insane. Or it’s normal.
Jill Glanzer:
They felt guilty, they were caught.
Matthew Maschler:
They, they felt guilty or they felt obligated. And, and then the person, you know, the person says, what should I do? And, uh, and I said, uh, tell them no. Yeah. Period. Just No, it’s easy. No. The other, uh, the other phrase I like similar. No, we don’t do that here, <laugh>. It’s a good one. Yeah. It’s, it’s a good one. We don’t do that here, <laugh>. So, I’m sorry. You know what? Um, so let, let’s say, I don’t know if the property was $800,000. Right? So it could be a $12,000 commission. Uh, hi. So Mr. Agent, so, um, yeah. Could you, I’m rephrasing the other agent. The, the, the, the last conversation. Can you give $12,000 of your money to this stranger, please. <laugh>. I’m sorry. No, we don’t do that here. <laugh>. That’s it. Just say No, I
Jill Glanzer:
Think that the, that buyer knows that, that you would say no, but they had to go back to their agent, who they felt guilty and saying, no, Harmon asking. I’m so sorry. But he said No, but at least I asked <laugh>.
Matthew Maschler:
Right. No harm. No Harmon asking. No. Harmon asking. That’s what we um, was it the princess and the frog, right? Yeah. Princess kiss a lot of frogs. No, Harmon asking. But, but yeah. When the answer’s no, but I don’t know. I’m, we’re going back and forth with it. United States forfeiture clerk. Right. And the customer says, what do you think? She’ll say, <laugh>, I don’t, don’t know. And it is over text. Right, right. What, what else? I don’t know. Period. Send
Jill Glanzer:
<laugh>. Right? The best was throughout the whole transaction. Am I gonna get my
Matthew Maschler:
House? I don’t know. <laugh>.
Jill Glanzer:
Well, I really feel good about this one. I think you are, but you really, it’s really, I don’t know.
Matthew Maschler:
And, and, and I’m like, and, and the thing was he thought he had a court order for the 120 days. I looked at the court order order and I’m like, you know, it does say that if he doesn’t close that the government gets the house. Right. So we don’t know <laugh>. Right. We don’t know. We didn’t, you know, the, the, the seller wouldn’t sign an addendum to extend the closing. Yep.
Jill Glanzer:
Well, no, the seller did. The buyer wouldn’t.
Matthew Maschler:
Oh, the buyer wouldn’t. Yes. I thought the
Jill Glanzer:
Seller didn’t. No, the seller finally did. They didn’t want to. But, but
Matthew Maschler:
For the longest time, the seller didn’t want to. Right. So I, so I, um, I didn’t know if the seller would sign the closing documents.
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah. We didn’t know the be. Can we talk about what happened on closing day?
Matthew Maschler:
Well, on closing day, you, you know, you do a normal thing. You do a walkthrough mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And at the walkthrough, if there’s any problems, you, you know, it’s, it’s not the same as, uh, the inspection where you have the right to renegotiate. You don’t have the right to renegotiate. But if there’s physical problems that were not apparent on the day that you saw the house and, and they were not, um, discovered during the inspection. Right. The owner has an obligation to maintain the house. Um, if there’s a problem with the house, you can certainly negotiate a little bit for a credit. So there were two problems with the house. One was a, a physical problem. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> just with, you know, lack of care and maintenance, uh, that, uh, that was on that should, should have been on the seller wasn’t really a big deal. It wasn’t really a big deal. But, but it would, you know, perfectly nothing wrong with the buyer asking. But the other was, there was, uh, certain pieces of personal property that were in the contract that the seller took.
Jill Glanzer:
Six bar stoles.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. Doesn’t matter what what it was. Yeah. The seller got rid of all the furniture and all the TVs. And you know what the thing is, if, if the seller sold it, now he has money that he’s hiding from the federal government. <laugh>.
Jill Glanzer:
Right.
Matthew Maschler:
So why, why did he take it? So he either, he either sold it or he brought it to his new place. Did he need Barst stools in his new place? Ah, who the hell
Jill Glanzer:
Knows? He just thought, I think he, he, his explanation was, I forgot. Yeah, but I forgot that was in the contract.
Matthew Maschler:
So, you know, so real estate agents out there, you gotta remind the sell you the, yeah. See, he had two listing agents and the one that was, he was dealing with the first kind of abandoned the deal and actually left the industry. So the, the partner, co-listing agent took us to the finish line, but didn’t know that there was personal property in the contract. I mean, right. Come on. How do you not know? There’s personal, you present the offer, you show them the price, you show them the personal property. But it was a long time ago, seller forgot, got rid of the barsol. So, and I said, listen, we, you can ask, the seller’s not gonna give you money. Right. Because the seller don’t give a shit. All the money’s gonna Department of Justice. So we’re gonna have to ask this, ask the Department of Justice to, um, to make the credit. And
Jill Glanzer:
It was not a big credit. And,
Matthew Maschler:
And that could take five days. Now, if you’re in Department of Justice, and you’re, and the thing is, everyone was responsive. Right? It was surprisingly responsive throughout this thing. Right. Different 15 different government organizations and clerks and whatnot. And, and people were surprisingly responsive. But we would’ve had to go to the Department of Justice. We would’ve had to do new closing documents to reflect this credit. Sometimes, you know, if it’s just the seller write, the seller could just give cash outside of closing. But, uh, we were gonna have to get this approved by courts and Department of Justice and write new closing documents. Um, and I always like to think like, what would I do if I was on the other line? And if I’m in Department of Justice, I would be, I would be like, listen, if a tree fell down and broke the house, of course it reduced the value of the house.
Right. That lack of care and maintenance. That’s probably the seller’s fault. He shouldn’t have done that. But okay, we, we’ll fix it. But the, but the fact that the seller took personal property out of the house that’s not on the federal government who’s getting the proceeds of the sale, that’s not up to, they shouldn’t take the hit that’s not right for them to take the hit. Now, if I was a seller, I’d be fucking scared, right. That if the government’s gonna lose $2,000, cause you took those, that personal property and the government go after you Anyway. So I said, listen, uh, I tried my best to talk to the customer and say, this is a happy day. Don’t dwell on these two items that are really not a big deal. You, you’ve been trying to get outta your mom’s house. You’ve been trying to get into this house for a long time. Smile, be happy, celebrate your new house and don’t sweat the small stuff. Um, but sometimes people can’t get past it. And you know, you think you have contractual rights. I’ll go, listen, you’ve been pursuing your contractual rights for a year. You won. Yes. You have contractual rights to three barst stools. What are you gonna do? Right. You, you’re gonna screw up this whole deal if you don’t. Right. You wanna wait five more days? I mean, and if you wait five, I don’t know if we were butting on the hundred 21. Yeah, we
Jill Glanzer:
Were, we were, we were. Totally. But, and that, that would’ve been scary because it would’ve been after the 120 days
Matthew Maschler:
And the five days is how much time Department of Justice needed to review the settlement statement and sign it. So if you, if Justice is gonna redo this paperwork and give you five and, and it’s gonna take them five days for
Jill Glanzer:
Tooth grand.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. It’s, well, if it’s gonna take them five days, now the 120 days expires, government gets the house, you’re outta luck. You lost all your money. So, uh, just smile and be happy. It’s a nice house. Right. That was, that was my advice. And then <laugh>, it was so bad. It was so backwards. We’re with the listing agent. We’re drafting, you know, he calls his lawyer and the lawyer says that we should make a list. So we send the list to the lawyer and I CC’d the title company because I’d like the title company to be aware on closing day. And actually I wanna talk to you about this offline. Yeah. I’d like the title company to be aware on closing day of, um, of, um, of issues so that they don’t, right. They don’t disperse. Um, but, um, so the lawyer replies back to us that they took the title company off the chain cuz it was the seller who selected the title company. Right. And, and then he asked us another question, like how much you think it’s worth. And so the value of the chairs. So we reply back and, and the value of repairs. So we reply back. So then he writes his formal lawyer letter to the title company. Yeah. I’m like, you took them off just to write them a letter with the same information. But we were standing there with the listing agent <laugh>, what’s the title company gonna do? The title company don’t give a shit.
Jill Glanzer:
And they weren’t representing Title the seller. They weren’t the closing, they weren’t their attorney.
Matthew Maschler:
No. The closing agent doesn’t represent each side. Right. The seller had an attorney. Right. But that attorney was a criminal attorney. He didn’t give a shit either. So <laugh>, so, so now what’s the title company gonna do? So the title company emails. Who Me? You, the agents <laugh> and the, and the listing
Jill Glanzer:
Agent. Our email back
Matthew Maschler:
And the listing agent forwards the email from the lawyer where the lawyer took the title company off for, for privacy or whatever. Then the title company forwards the email to me and you and the listing agent and says, Hey guys, see, see this request from the buyer and let me know how you wanna proceed. And it took the title, I think, I think it took the title company three hours. And I’m talking to the listing agent and I’m like, she’s like, well, what do we do? I’m like, we do nothing. Why? Well, there’s nothing to do. The lawyer wrote the letter to the title company. Well, what’s gonna happen? I, I would imagine at some point the title company’s gonna ask you <laugh>. And she goes, and then what happens? Then you’re gonna have to ask the seller. And then she goes, and then the seller’s gonna say, no.
Then you’re gonna reply to the title company and to the lawyer that the seller said, no. Right. Because the seller don’t give a shit. He’s not going into his pocket. So you’re gonna reply to everybody that this seller said no. And she goes, and then one’s gonna happen. I then we’re gonna close. Yeah. These are answers I knew <laugh> I had to say to you and to her. I know the entire time just act like any other deal. Cuz in any other deal you have your role, which is to convey the information. That’s how come Convert company conveys it to you. And you’re gonna, I go and you’re gonna ask the seller. And, and she goes, the seller’s gonna say no. And then when the seller says no, you’re gonna tell everybody. The sellers said, no, don’t worry about justice, don’t worry about anything else.
Just do your job. Communicate with the seller. Now we were standing there with the listing agent. She could have just called right the seller right away. What I tried to say to the title company was Why don’t you prepare the co prepare the information, send it to Justice and say, Hey, we wanna close today. Will you sign this addendum? Let justice and say yes or no. But, uh, nobody wanted to because the seller did not want to, because the seller certainly didn’t wanna sell justice that they sold the chairs and have them go after the go after him. I wonder if there’s any whistleblower money that we can report the seller for selling this personal furniture.
Jill Glanzer:
I don’t know. That’s a good
Matthew Maschler:
Question. Remind me to email the, the, the DKS lawyer. So, um, so yeah, so, so we closed and everybody’s happy. So
Jill Glanzer:
There was a weird thing that can I’m gonna, I’m gonna announce this thing. Yes. That happened on the day of, like the day before closing. Yeah. Or the day that the seller was gonna sign papers. The listing agent calls me and she goes, I’m dragging the seller to go sign the papers. But he got some mail that he’s really unhappy about. And it was like a lawsuit. <laugh>. It was, it was, I guess it was a lawsuit that DK was filing again, like a civil lawsuit. But I don’t really know what it was. So I don’t really wanna say, but it was just a weird turn of events. I’m like, I don’t think he was served papers today. I think that’s old mail <laugh>. So I don’t know what that was, but we almost, I mean, it was that, it was like that through the whole transaction. It was that close where the seller, everything was hinging on him. Right. Wow. And if he didn’t sign, we weren’t gonna be able to, he was not gonna be able to buy this house. But it all worked out in the end. So it was, it was, um, a huge relief and weighed off my shoulders that he was able to get his house.
Matthew Maschler:
Yes. So congratulations to, um,
Jill Glanzer:
Dk
Matthew Maschler:
Dk. We finally got it done. Um, not a hundred percent sure how comfortable I am telling this story, <laugh>, but I think we kept it anonymous enough. Yeah. Um, but we’re really cra really crazy, crazy story. Um, and, uh, and three, three closings, three tough customers that we worked with for a long time. Right. Cause even that June 1st rental, right? That was a, that was a whirlwind.
Jill Glanzer:
That was a doozy too. That
Matthew Maschler:
Was a due one. So we got that done. So, um, so who’s next? Who wants to buy or sell property in Florida? Let me know who wants to join our team. Uh, existing agents wanna join our team. Uh, if someone wants to become a new agent, uh, come to our school. Let us train you. Um, and then join our team. Um, and, uh, Boca three 16 says, I just sold that house. Yeah. So, um, anything else you wanna add before
Jill Glanzer:
We go? That’s it. If you, if you wanna buy or sell real estate, give us a call at (561) 208-3334.
Matthew Maschler:
Yeah. You got a lot of leads that I gave you in the last couple days.
Jill Glanzer:
Yeah, we’re working hard real estate finder.com. We
Matthew Maschler:
Got a lot of work to do. All right. Looking forward to talking to you soon.
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 past. They saved 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 hot sticks. Five star. I run a show. You can tell the boss center place electricity, energy, vibrate. I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the for you clear you. If you dunno the time, I’ll give you a clue.
Speaker 4:
You know, it’s, you know what, you know what it is. You know what, you know what, you know what is, you know what you know, you know what it is. You know, you know what, you know what time it is.
Speaker 3:
You know what time. It’s, you know time. It’s, you know what says, you know what time its, you know whose time its, you know what time its mania? Says Yeah. Got shook scared. Look, we’re not afraid. The big.
