No matter how long you are in real estate, you will continue to learn – ALWAYS!

This week, I had two such learning experiences that have changed our in house procedures. I want to share these with you because I do believe that they will help you in your business – and keep you from running into the same challenges!

Always include a clause in your contracts (when you’re selling) that holds the buyer accountable

Whenever you are selling a piece of property, include in the “Additional Terms” the following:

• “Should the buyer not close on or before the closing date – and the seller agrees to extend the closing – buyer agrees to pay $_____ day until closing occurs”

It seems that the media has given the buyers the impression they hold all the cards, and somewhere along the way – with lenders changing requirements – contract dates are “written in sand”. Truth is, in many markets, buyers ARE farther and fewer between, but that doesn’t mean when we sell a property, that we have no recourse. Know what your daily holding costs are charge the buyer if his/her lender takes too long! But, add it to you contract because if you don’t, you’ll lose the money!

A few hundred dollars is still a few hundred dollars, right? (Yes, this did just happen to us! AND the buyer had the nerve call our broker and complain that we were trying to get her to pay for the additional days! – even though the deal didn’t even go through our real estate sales team!)

2nd Lesson Learned This Week…

Even if you have a property manager, you have to lay down the law! My previous property manager transferred 4 of our single family rentals to a new property manager all of a sudden! I knew about one tenant that we had to evict and was on my way to working on that one… But what I didn’t know was that the another didn’t pay for April (just found out today ~ 45 days later). I also found out that when a tenant moved out from a 3rd unit, that they had turned the water on and it ran constantly for 2 months ($1100 in water bills!) So, after a heart to heart with the NEW property manager, we’re laying out specific terms and my contract… with very clear policies and proecedures for screening, evicting, maintenance, etc. They have been put on notice that there is a zero tolerance for late pays and that we will go after them to the fullest extent that the law permits, and will keep the judgment on their credit report until it’s paid off! INCLUDING all late fees, attorneys fees, back rent, etc.! Needless to say, it’s been a hectic week on the real estate front.

I wanted to share these stories with you to let you know that I’m still in the field with you, going through the same old stuff you are and two, to give you a few nuggets of wisdom I picked up along the way.