The buyers who bought this home in San Jose are just the cutest young couple buying their first home. Wow, did they learn more about short sales and FHA loans then they probably care to imagine! Initially, this couple found a short sale home and we made an offer and were just taken for a ride. The listing agent told us he would work with us and I kept asking and waiting for the signed contract which never came, and one day he told me that the seller decided to go with another buyer who was apparently a friend. So, that was pretty devastating to wait for a contract we thought was a go and then get the rug pulled from under us.
The second short sale the buyers made an offer on was just the biggest joke ever. I could go on forever about all the details of this crazy mess, but I will try to keep it short. The listing agent was just a nightmare! He never returned phone calls or emails and I always had to keep calling and calling him until I could track him down. He initially told us we were in back up status, then let me know one day that we were in contract and that the first buyer had walked, but did not send the ratified contract. So, again, I was trying to track him down to get the ratified contract. Then, one day, he decided to tell me that the other buyer was back and they were going to see if that buyer would close the deal before they moved on to our offer. After weeks, the agent then came back and said the buyer couldn’t qualify and now we were in first position.
We wrote the initial offer on April 1st and did not get it signed by the seller until April 29th! It took me almost a month of chasing down the agent to get the contract ratified by the seller. So, we waited and waited and waited. I followed up every week and either would not be able to track down the agent, or if I did track him down, it was just one thing after another and just story after story, most of which did not make sense. We just never got concrete answers and I just kept informing the buyers that I just can not trust this guy and I just don’t think this deal will close because I don’t think anyone is truly working on this transaction to successfully close. The buyers waited to hear about this home for 4 months and we never got an approval but just the run around of the agent telling me…just a little longer…I think we’ll have something in a week or so. Weeks turned into months. We will never know how long it would have taken to get an answer from the lender because we never did get closure or an answer from the bank and moved on to this adorable house that they ending up buying.
So, while we waited for the short sale approval with the agent that had a different answer every time I could get a hold of him, we continued to view more homes and FINALLY found this adorable home that they loved and was a NORMAL sale! Yay!!! This transaction was extremely smooth between the buyer and seller and it was just refreshing, except the lender they had their FHA loan with was just the worst. The buyers provided the same documents over and over and over again and it appeared that an unidentified being was intercepting some of their documents and eating them or something, because documents that should have been in the file just kept disappearing.
So, up until the 11th hour, BofA was asking for documentation and explanation letters and HR requests, etc, etc, etc. The buyers were so frustrated with BofA, but finally BofA had all the information they needed and they were able to close the deal on time.
This couple became very knowledgeable about short sale transactions, FHA loans, and a normal transaction all in the same search. They saw many, many, many homes and now their search is over and they are happily in their new home 
Oh, and one other experience these buyers had that is unique is that My First Place on HGTV called me and asked if I had any buyers that would be good for their show. I thought of this couple and we went through the interview process and everything. We passed all the stages of the process, but then in the end, the producers decided that our ’story’ was too similar to other stories they had recently had on the show. Their loss…this couple would have been great on the show!
So, you can see this couple had quite the experience buying their first home.