Thanksgiving 2010

It's early morning the day before Thanksgiving. Here I sit in my office, contemplating the best way to make the next move on getting the short sale files I'm working on closer to the desired completion. Today I find myself abundantly aware of how many lives are in limbo as we wait for the bank's approval. We have done everything we can and we should have received our approval by now, long before now, but we wait. Last week one of the bank's negotiators was out due to illness - there are some really unpleasant "bugs" going around right now - but for us, we feel frustrated almost beyond reason that here we sit another week with no approval. The sellers are needing to move forward into the rental we have helped arrange for them, their four children and their beloved family pet. Last night we spoke just to give them the update of the moment and I learned they were on their way out to get their turkey for tomorrow. We anticipate the short sale approval either today or next week, with their move to their lovely rental home sometime the first week of December. Are you following the timeline? So, with work, life, four children, an unresolved short sale, an impending move, and turkey to prepare for Thanksgiving in a home that is partially packed up and ready to move, this amazing family still had the time to congenially talk with me, allowing me to give them the update...even though it was not the report I know they wanted. I know when they saw my name come up on their caller i.d. their heart skipped a beat, wondering if I was calling with the bank approval. The bank has declined 3 other really good offers on this same property, and finally on the last one when they gave their approval, the buyer had gotten tired of waiting so they walked. Does this seller client of mine have reason to be pushed nearly to their limit? Yes indeed! But they keep hanging in there and have been model citizens, doing every single thing I've asked of them in record time so we can be totally responsive to the bank providing any information they ever request. So why have I launched into this tale today, the day before Thanksgiving?  It is this family and all the others like them with whom I have had the opportunity to work this past year I'm feeling particularly thankful for on this day before Thanksgiving. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with them, to help them in a time they did not anticipate when they first bought the home they thought was going to be their family home for a good long time. Then, the economy of the past few years, medical bills, and other issues previously unexpected came about in their lives and they found themselves in good company with the millions of other homeowners who found themselves upside down, financially in trouble, and needing to find their way out from under the mess of things. Another agent I spoke with the other day told me she was not going to get involved in these short sales because they are a headache. Are you kidding me? I tried to respond in a calm and unaffected manner but inside all I could think was 1) since short sales and foreclosures are a huge percentage of our business at the current time why would you not want to be working where the most business is if you are a career Realtor and 2) some of us have prepared our whole career to be savvy enough to be able to help people navigate through this mess of a market. Now is when some of us get to do what we do best - get people where they need to be and away from where they do not. So, yes, short sales are a headache for everyone, and yes, I am profoundly grateful for every person who has permitted me the honor of being a part of their process in extricating them from a messy, encumbered life, into a more peace-filled and hopefully joy-filled life where every time the phone rings they are not afraid to answer it for fear of it being their banker threatening foreclosure, or a bill collector trying to get that last pound of flesh. I am also thankful to still be standing. This market has done many of my fellow real estate professionals in, helping them along to realize their greater good in another field. I've done this a long time and am grateful to still be able to be doing what I do the way I do it. Besides, after all these years as a real estate broker I guess I would be hard pressed to retrain myself for a new adventure. Time will tell, but for now, here I am. Kay Russell, your Realtor, your short sale "go to" gal, your advocate, and greatest supporter. Sending wishes to all I know and to those I look forward to knowing for a grateful, joy-filled Thanksgiving.