What a (Good) Buyers Agent Does

Filing this post under “What a Good Buyers Agent Does”…. because, well, let me tell you…

A listing came on the market today, I wasn’t watching for it, but WOW. What a potential opportunity. A house in an existing community in Leesburg is for sale – hundreds of thousands of dollars below “retail” price. Granted, it’s a shell – no drywall, appliances, cabinets, flooring… but still. I call a client who is a builder. He’s interested. (I had others to call if he wasn’t, but he is.)

I called the listing agent… she said she’s not sure of the history because it’s a bank owned property, but she is guessing there was a fire.

I used to watch Blues Clues with my kids. I could hear “A Clue! A Clue” ringing in my head.

So, before I arrive, I have:
1 – Called the fire company and confirmed there was an incident in January 2008, the fire department was there 20 minutes (i.e. small fire), and that it turned into a medical call. She is going to dig for more information, but she told me what she knew.
2 – Called the county building and development and got the permit history, including the name of a restoration company that pulled a permit.
3 – Called the restoration company and learned they only did the emergency response – boarding windows and such, and no restoration… Odd that there was a permit on file for this, but maybe they anticipated doing more work that they never did.
4 – Called my insurance friend to learn the claim history (none).

Then I got to the property, detailed the issues with video and a list of things I saw. The neighbor was outside and I talked to him. He said there was a fire, it wasn’t huge but there was a lot of heat. The owner moved out and now lives in another neighborhood – he never came back. He was told the bank and insurance company wouldn’t pay to have the restoration done, and so he was letting it go to foreclosure. He said the property sat for years. The HOA recently replaced some windows and cut the grass.

OK, sure the neighbor could have told me most of what I had already pieced together but you never know what you’ll hear. At least I think I know the whole story now.

While I was at the property, 2 other REALTORS came in with clients. They were touring their clients and guessing at what had happened… One says, “Some people get mad when they are getting foreclosed and they rip everything out of a house, that must be what happened here.” It’s not what happened here, but that does happen. Nice due diligence, huh? The next one, “Since it’s a bank owned property we’ll never know what happened. But, it looks like there was a flood of some kind.” Hmm…. I guess they didn’t see the charred steps and framing?

Anyway… Just firing off a little post. Resourceful REALTORS(R) are where it’s at. Hire a good one who knows who to call and find out information. That’s my 2 cents, anyway.