What do an Antelope short sale listing, 2 lenders, Cabo San Lucas, a stolen air conditioning unit, and a DUI have in common?

What do an Antelope short sale listing, 2 lenders, Cabo San Lucas, a stolen air conditioning unit, and a DUI have in common? HUH, you may ask??

Well believe it or not, the short sale listing I just finally closed today had all of the above, and more if you can believe it.

The story begins back in April, when a very nice married couple selected me as their Realtor to list their Antelope short sale. They purchased the home in 2002, and the home was worth less than what they paid for it back then. So the home went on the market, and we immediately had multiple offers from interested buyers. The sellers selected the best offer, and I submitted that along with the supporting hardship documents to the short sale lenders (Citimortgage for the first, Chase for the 2nd).

After about three months of going back-and-forth with both Citi and Chase, I finally got the short sale fully accepted by both lenders. YAY! I excitedly called the buyer's agent, who I had been in continuous communication with over the three months of negotiation, to give him the great news. Silence on the other end of the line...he then informed me that the buyer had gotten her THIRD DUI over the preceding weekend, and that she was in jail and probably loosing her job. She would not be moving forward with the purchase of the home. ARRGGHH!!!

So, back on the market we went...within another week, we received a very similar offer from another buyer. I quickly submitted everything to the short sale lenders, and within about 2 weeks had new full approval from both! SUCCESS, and this time when I called to tell the buyer's agent, there was celebratory 'woot' on the other end of the line.

So escrow is opened, buyer's inspections and appraisal are ordered...great. I then left for a long-time planned vacation to Cabo San Lucas. On the fourth day of my trip, I received an alarming photo text message (see photo above). The air conditioning unit had been stolen from the house. I have encountered this issue with past transactions of mine, and unfortunately it is not an uncommon problem. With this, the unit must be replaced prior to the close of escrow, and the appraiser must do a verification the repair has happened to satisfy the buyer's lending. Ok.

So the seller made arrangements for the repairs (which were covered by their insurance, thankfully!)...but because of the "arm's length" relationship agents and lenders must have with appraisers, it took several days after the repairs were complete to get the verification documents from the appraiser. So I contacted both short sale lenders, provided documentation regarding the vandalism, and they allowed an extension to the closing date. Great! BUT, then the buyer's lender took an extraordinary amount of time processing the documents. I had to ask (more like BEG) the lenders for yet another extension.

FINALLY, today, I received word that the buyer's loan had funded...woohooo!!! Case closed, but I can say with 100% certainty that this transaction gave me gray hair.

Let's just say that I will be popping open some champagne at some point this weekend!