Sunday, July 7, 2013

The Second Contract

As the realtor droned on in my ear about why I had to do all of my real estate transactions through her, I thought of the old Charlie Brown specials when I was a kid.  Remember when the comic strip came to television specials and the adult's voices were a metallic "wha wha . . .wha wha wha wha ?"  That's exactly how she sounded, until . . .

She said, the realtor that knew what she was doing, well that's my description, she simply said the agent from the other office had called and contacted her people.  She was expecting a call from her at any time we could come back to her office and wait.  As tempting as her offer was, I'd have preferred a root canal while waiting, so I told her my husband wanted to look at the place again and asked her politely to please call me when she'd heard from the other realtor.

We went on toward Fairview and I just couldn't understand how he couldn't see the barrenness.  It was only early May and there were already irrigation rigs in the fields.  If there is a little desert in Missouri, it's outside of Newtonia between Stark City and Fairview.  As he drove toward this place, I pointed out that the city limit sign indicated this place was actually in the city limits.  His response was something to the effect of being able to live in a town that was like living in the country . . . best of both worlds sort of statement.  I have to admit, I was certainly seeing it as the worst of both worlds.

I then asked if we could go look at the other place while we waited for the phone call.  He was cordially agreeable.  Before we got there, however; the phone rang.  It was the realtor to which we were legally bound, and it felt like bondage!  She said she'd heard from everyone and would like to discuss our options.

We headed straight to her office, foregoing the run back to the place of the vision.  We entered her office and she began immediately to address the place my husband had chosen.  It truly felt like my brain was bouncing off of the walls of my skull.  I could not believe that even after phone calls, and the other realtor, those facts appeared to be irrelevant.  She proceeded to tell my husband, since the people had just reduced their asking price, she felt they would find an offer of a couple more thousand, acceptable.

I then asked if she'd heard from the other realtor.  She said she had and if we chose to pursue that, she could draw up a contract and the other realtor would take care of renewing the listing.  I knew better than to even ask my question aloud, but "What are we waiting for?" completely reverberated in my head.  I then looked at my husband, and he was just staring.  I presented a simple idea.  We could offer the same amount to these other people.  The realtor immediately reminded me that their asking price was several thousand dollars more and they had allowed their contract to expire, whereas the first contract people were seriously looking to sell.

My thought was, if they were seriously trying to sell, they'd have accepted our cash offer.  That's right, I forgot to mention, we were dealing in cash with this deal, so that meant minimal paperwork for everyone involved would have money in their pocket instantly.  No waiting for loan approval, no sixty day credit checks, no nothing.  It would all be a done deal as soon as the Title Company could process the deed, and set the date.

I smiled at her in what was I'm sure a rather icy dismissive expression and looked at my husband.  I, repeated my suggestion and awaited his response.  There was some attempt at discussion and "what ifs."  My response was simple.  If they don't accept it, we're out nothing and we can then, consider the next move.  With that, the realtor began a new contract and my husband quit thinking up potential problems.  The only change was the address of the property.  Everything else stood as it was on the first contract.  We signed the new contract offer, I didn't even have to write a new check, and got up to leave.

She said, if she heard back before 7 that evening, she'd call us.  I smiled at her and said, she would.  With that we left.  My husband asked if I was ready to go back to the room and wait for the call, but I suggested we go ahead and go look at the place as planned before the call came in.  That was agreeable and we headed out Old Scenic Drive.  Once, outside of town, Old Scenic Drive followed the path of Shoal Creek.  The road was lined with trees, their leaves lush and green from being watered by the creek and I thought of the Scriptures that mention trees planted by streams.

It could not have been more dramatic.  As we rounded the curve right before the drive, the phone rang.  It was the realtor.  The people had accepted our offer!  As we turned into the drive way, this was no longer a real estate listing, this was home.  

                                                                                photo is the finest well house in Newton County
                                                                                                         


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