Advil

Craig’s head hurts! Craig Heger is one of our top agents despite being from northern Michigan and a fan of the Detroit Lions. You’d think the city slicker from New York would be a top producer. While we have our share of star agent brethren from the Northeast, people seem to like the Midwestern “awe shucks” attitude. We second city folk have that inferiority complex. It makes us get up earlier, try harder, and have that edge to get those deals across the finish line.

Anyhow, back to Craig’s headache. Craig’s head hurts for two reasons. One is he has a newborn and a three-year-old. Craig and his wife had a birthday party for Huddie (the three year old) at My Gym. 95 people showed up. Craig didn’t even know who they were. Unless I count all of you, I don’t think I know 95 people. And I certainly don’t want to know 95 people. How would you ever be able to watch a movie or order a pizza with all those dinner parties and get togethers every night? I have a headache thinking about it. When I was a kid, a clown came to our basement. Balloons with a dog or a mouse were given out and maybe 15 or 20 of us had a hot dog and pizza. My head would hurt with a 95 person party too.

But Craig says the real reason his head is hurting is keeping deals together. Florida leads the nation in that 17% of deals that go under contract fall apart. If deals fall apart how is Craig going to pay for all these birthday parties?!? Last week I wrote about the Equal Marketplace being the major culprit of this. So, today, I’ll offer solutions so that your deals stick together – as we want little Huddie to celebrate his 4^th birthday party in style. Plus, if you’re selling or buying do you really want to go through the angst of deals falling apart? When parties go to court, they say the lawyers win. When real estate contracts go south, only the inspectors win. Much of this is getting back to basics. Here are 14 pieces of glue to help make your deals stick….

1. Pre-inspection

You turn down an offer right away. Another one doesn’t come until the 104^th day later in season. It’s negotiated. You accept it. In the inspection report, they find mold. The buyer promptly cancels…..The reason to do an inspection is that you catch all the problems now rather than later. Doing a pre-inspection makes a buyer comfortable and offers usually come in higher. It’s also cheaper to fix it now than to be dictated to later on involving the most expensive method possible. Inspections once the deal is under contract are super clean and increase the odds of not having a cancellation.

2. Furniture

Sleeping on your side or using a bad pillow could never cause the migraine that furniture does. I hate furniture in deals when it’s not done properly. It’s actually pretty simple. Sellers need to write up an inventory by room and only include what is included. Get it done the day you put it on the market. It will take 30-45 minutes to take your laptop and go room by room through the house. But like kids in the 5^th grade, you say, “I’ll do it tomorrow or by the weekend.” So it never happens. Then an offer comes in. We can’t get ahold of you. And all of a sudden there is a fight over things you never intended to sell.

Excluded lists or “as seen” are all dumb ways to do it. We’ve been at closing and someone sees a picture in the background of a Cookie Jar they wanted, and this holds up the closing. If only you didn’t have the cookie jar on the included list, there would be no reason to slap their hand and say “get out of my cookie jar!”.

Having an inclusion list only does several things. First, it creates no ambiguity. Second, it takes the horse trading out as now there is a real long inventory of substance to show value. Third, there is not a loss of momentum. Save the Tylenol for when your QB throws an interception in the overtime of a playoff game to lose it.

3. Pre-approvals

Sellers want to see this. It shows that Buyers are organized and helps compete with new offers.

4. Offers in Writing
I wrote about this last week. If its not in writing it doesn’t exist.

5. Speed

Stop the dilly dally. I’m writing this on Thursday and one of our agents calls me regarding an offer he received yesterday with a deadline time of end of the day Friday. Another interested party came to the table late last night. This is the case of the Buyer’s agent being overly polite. Total screw up. This is war. That extended time lets the Seller shop and negotiate, which is exactly what is going to occur. You need to be in complete panic and paranoia when negotiating. At least the Canadians got a Silver medal in hockey during the Olympics. In real estate there is no Silver medal for finishing in second place in a home deal.

6. Short Time Spans

If you want to win deals, have short acceptance times, short inspection periods, and short mortgage approvals. Having the pre-approvals lessens the time to get a mortgage approval. It’s typical to get a mortgage approved in 10-14 days. A must if you want to compete with a cash offer.

7. 5-10% Rule

We had a buyer who decided to walk 2 days before the closing table. The Seller took a 2% deposit. The Seller has no leverage. Basic rule of thumb is 10% down means a Buyer will close or you hope they don’t. 5% down is iffy. Anything else, is on you. More info on the 5-10% rule here.

8. Expectations with inspection process
Both Buyers and Sellers do this once every eleven years. Every inspection report is like a Steven King novel. 150 + pages and reads scary. However, every report has GFCI outlets that don’t work, sliding doors that are not opening and closing properly, and dirty evaporator coils. Buyers must be there to talk to the inspector after the inspection or Facetime at minimum so one understands what needs to be done. Buyers agents should send the report to the listing agent and let the Seller digest it first. Most items are solvable. Again, doing a pre-inspection eliminates a lot of this altogether.

9. Title Insurance

Two parts here. Pre-sign. Saves a lot of angst or risking missing the closing. Second (and lots are not aware of this) but closing lead times are going to be longer with more disclosures by the seller. Starting March 1, 2026, certain residential real estate transactions must be reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This rule has been designed to combat money laundering and increase transparency in real estate transactions. All of this is going to create problems and back everyone up. More on this topic next week.

10. Time Travel

Let’s say you pass on the deal at hand. The house is still sitting at the end of June and now you have to carry it until next season. Are you ok with that? Conversely if you are a Buyer and you can’t find what you want and prices go up, are you ok passing? Think through if you are going to call back in two days or next week and ask if the deal is still available. Time travel so you can talk to your future self. This is critically important to do.

11. Shut up

Buyers and Realtors sometimes give too much information. My Grandfather gave me my first selling advice. Ask a person how they got started in business. Then zip the lip. People love to talk about themselves. After them talking for 20 minutes you will have all you need to know on how to get a deal done.

12. Loose lips sink ships.

Going back to above, if you are a Buyer, keep quiet. Many inadvertently say something that reveals unintended motivation.

13. Mortgage company

If I’m representing the Buyer, have the Buyers agent talk to the mortgage broker directly to understand the situation better.

14. Me

Get another voice involved in negotiations. Sometimes outside perspective and a different voice helps seal the deal.

Take this advice and you you’ll have smooth closings and can party like little Huddie! Just remember to take 2 Advil afterwards.