A 12-hour tour...

So, these customers (Steve and Beth) were from South Carolina.  He was planning to take a new position as a government civilian with a military command in Hampton Roads.  The timing was short; they only had one weekend to look at houses.

They wanted a large home.  It was only the two of them but they liked to entertain.  It had to be at least 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.  They had a preapproval letter for up to $600,000 but they didn’t want to spend that much.  Steve and Beth were not too fussy about the location but they did want a nice area in Virginia Beach.  That left a lot of area to cover and not a lot of time. 

I sent them a bunch of properties to consider, asking them to narrow it down about a dozen or so homes to see over a two-day period.  About a week before coming up, I got an email with their list of homes to see.  They also informed me that the original timeframe (Saturday and Sunday) had to be trimmed down to one day, Saturday, but they still wanted to see all the homes on the list they sent me.  Great.

This was going to be interesting: I set up appointments to see 13 houses in one day.  For those that have ever looked for a home, that is a lot to look at in one day.  I had arranged the scheduled times so we would go counter clockwise around Virginia Beach.  We started near Joint Base Little Creek Fort Story (formerly Little Creek Amphib Base) in the northwest part of Virginia Beach, at about 7:30 am.

The part of Virginia Beach where we started was a more mature area…more established, most of the neighborhoods had been there for decades.   were ok with an older home as long as the large ticket items were updated inside and out.  On the exterior these included windows, roof, and HVAC.  Inside the concerns were the kitchen, baths, and floors.

From the northwest part of Virginia Beach we trekked out west, towards the Chesapeake/Va Bch border.  Those neighborhoods were a mix of older homes built in the 70’s and 80’s to new construction homes.  The new construction homes weren’t really what they were looking for…not enough yard.  The older homes were too small and too “cookie cutter” for them.  So further south we went, Indian River Road towards Pungo.

There were some gorgeous new homes along Indian River Road.  Huge homes, the smallest was about 3500 square feet; the largest was almost 10,000 square feet.  These were nice a little on the extravagant side for them.

We traveled further south, down into Pungo to look at some homes with land.  Beth had expressed an interest in perhaps enjoying the country living.  That did not last too long.  The houses and properties were very nice, priced well, updated.  It was the smell she didn’t enjoy.  So the country was out.

From Pungo we journeyed over to Sandbridge to look at several homes.  Sandbridge reminds me a lot of Cape Cod…roads covered in wind swept sand, crooked picket fences blocking off the dunes in order to protect them, stores with “Closed for the Season” signs.  There were some very old homes and very new homes and home in between in Sandbridge. 

There were three homes I had scheduled.  After the second one we saw an open house sign on a For Sale By Owner (FBSO).  Both Steve and Beth wanted to stop and look.  Not a problem.  We pulled into the driveway of a great looking home.  It wasn’t brand new but newer than most, maybe 8 or 10 years old.  It was on stilts and had two stories above that.  Essentially the “first floor” was a very large foyer with some storage and a full bath.  On the other two floors were four bedrooms and two and a half baths (three and half total baths in the home).  There was fantastic wrap around porch.

The owners (Sellers) seemed very nice, giving a tour, explaining the updates they had done.  We found out the house was 11 years old.  It wasn’t quite what the Sellers were looking for so they had done a lot of work.  The kitchen and all the baths were 3 years old.  The roof was original.  The HVAC was 6 years old, because they had installed a dual zone system.  All the windows were replaced and only a year old: every one of them had working storms shutters.  Steve and Beth loved it; this house quickly went to the top of their list.  The owners were more than willing to work with a buyer’s agent too (that would be me). 

We piled back into the car and turned our voyage north.  The last two homes were located in the Northeast part of the city, along the oceanfront.  The “oceanfront” essentially starts at Rudee Inlet, which is 2^nd St and goes north to 89^th Street.  Atlantic Ave and Pacific Ave parallel each other until you get between 40^th and 42^nd Street then it turns into just Atlantic Ave.  As you travel north on Atlantic there are homes on the left (non-beach side) and right (beach).  One of the homes was on 49^th Street (on the left) and the other was on 64^th Street (on the right).  Steve and Beth really enjoyed the homes at the oceanfront and added them to the list. 

When all was said and done, by the time I dropped them off at their car, it was 7:28 pm.  It had been twelve hours since we had begun to look at homes.  Before parting, Steve and Beth gave me the top three homes they were going to consider on the drive back to SC the next day.  Once they made their decision, they would let me know and I would start the paperwork.

Sunday came and went, no word.  I didn’t bug them all day.  On Monday I sent a quick email saying that I hope that they made it home ok and that if they had any questions to let me know.  No response on Monday or Tuesday.  Called and left a voice mail on Wednesday.  After that I figured I would back off a bit.  I didn’t try to contact them again until the following Wednesday.  I figured that whatever had gotten them busy may have slowed down by then.  I called, left a voice mail, and sent an email.  Nothing crazy, just a “hey, give me a call and let me know what you want to do”.

I did not hear from Steve or Beth for another two weeks.  When I did it was not good news.  They had gone ahead and contacted the owners of the FSBO that had made such an impact.  They thought that they would save time and money by cutting me out.  Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t the case.  The Sellers had gone out and gotten themselves an agent.  What did that mean?  They would be on their own throughout the transaction with nobody looking out for their best interests. 

In the end, the Sellers (and the Listing Agent) essentially ran roughshod over them because they didn’t know what they were doing.  They ended up buying the house but regretted not signing what is called a Buyer’s Broker Agreement (BBA).

Signing a BBA would have protected them.  This agreement gives legal notice that my customers (i.e. Buyer) are represented and are therefore clients.  This means I work in the best interests of the Buyer, not the Seller.  Without the BBA, legally I would be considered as representing the Seller, even though I was working for the Buyer.

From an agent’s perspective, having a BBA ensures the Buyer that I am indeed working in their best interests.  It also protects me in that if a client tries to go out buy a house without me, a house I showed them, I would still get paid.

Now, you may ask why I didn’t have them sign a BBA upfront.  At the time, it was common practice to not have a customer sign a BBA and become a client until you sat down to write up an offer to purchase.  Signing contracts usually made people uneasy.  I had every intention to have them sign one, they just cut me out first.

The law has since been changed and Virginia State law dictates that a Buyer either has to sign a Buyer Broker Agreement or a form that says they are unrepresented.

In the end I did not get paid for my 12 hour tour.  My customer got the house but it was a very stressful and trying time for both of them.  We have talked since and both Steve and Beth agree that when it comes to but again, they will sign a BBA before we go look at homes.