No matter how good or logical a deal seems, sometimes your gut tells you it just isn’t right. Here’s a story about a deal like this.
A couple called me and asked if I could help them find a home. They had moved to Florida several years ago, but now wanted to move back to Michigan to be near their grown children.
Moving to be near family is the #1 reason people move.
Although they said they did not want to live in a condo, I asked them to look at one under construction in Fenton. Given where they were in their lives, I suggested they at least think about the idea of a low-maintenance lifestyle they could maintain for the rest of their lives.
Fortunately, once they walked through the model condo they fell in love with it. They liked the idea that it was brand new so they could pick out all the colors and finishes. It was within walking distance to town. And by the time their custom unit would be ready to move into they would have closed on their home in Florida. The timing was perfect.
For those of you who haven’t done it, moving in or out of state is difficult. Logistically, there are a lot of moving parts. But to simplify the move, they rented a POD portable storage unit. This allowed them to pre-load all the items they planned to bring to Michigan. If it didn’t fit in the POD it was sold. They did not pay to transport anything that they could buy again here.
The storage POD was delivered to the Michigan condo’s driveway as the closing date grew near. However, after touring the property it was clear the condo would not be ready on time. A new closing date was set, and the builder allowed the buyers to move their personal items from the POD into the condo to avoid the weekly POD fee. The buyers wired their funds to the title company and all the paperwork was complete. The deal was done. All that was left was a “punch list” of items for the builder to complete.
It wasn’t that simple.
After the third missed closing date, the buyers had had enough. They backed up a U-Haul truck into the driveway, removed all their furnishings from the home and cancelled the deal. Later they told me that they were frustrated, angry, yet relieved. They felt that three missed closing dates were a “sign” and decided to act on intuition without saying a word to the builder or me, their Realtor.
When they called me to tell me what they had done, they expected me to quit.
“No such luck,” I said. “You and a heard of elephants could not get me to quit. In fact, if you fired me, I insist on coming along with your new Realtor to insure you are taken care of.”
At this point I knew all their goals and what they desired in a home. Plus, I am no quitter!
The very next day we went house shopping. We walked into a condo already built, within walking distance to town, larger and similarly priced, made an offer, and less than two weeks later they were living in it. They absolutely love it!
I like to take a page from their book from time to time and listen to my intuition. It is never too late to pull the plug on a deal. It won’t always be easy – and it may cost you a few dollars – but in the end you have to trust your gut feelings. The only thing worse than backing out of a bad deal is staying in the deal and hating it later.
Image via Stanley Dai