Looks like we'll be working very late tonight to help Jamie and Cory find another home. I've got a pot of Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee started...the last of my whole roasted beans until I can get to Grand Cayman again. Sigh. I've promised my clients that they can go to sleep knowing that the Magical House Fairies are taking care of everything while they sleep.

Jamie and Corie had their dream home ripped from their grasp today when the bank that owned the home dissolved. This really nice young couple had already signed the bank's Counter Offer, and were chomping at the bit to move in on the 1st. All we needed was that fully-executed contract. Which will never come.

It could be months before the bank that now owns this home gets around to relisting it. This is only the second time a bank has canceled one of my clients' offers. Fortunately, banks almost without exception make good on their verbal Counter Offer. But when they can't, it's heartbreaking for the excited and anxious homebuyer.

However, Jamie and Corie got right back up on that horse, and within 4 hours of getting the bad news we found a home they like even better! It's newer (2005), priced a little lower at $137,500, and has a much better floor plan. It's all good out here in the wild, wild west.

So I just rushed back to my home office and put together an offer. Once it's signed and faxed back to me at 10:00 p.m., there is an awesome agent on the other end that has agreed to upload this to the bank for me tonight. With luck we were fast enough on the draw to lock this up before everyone is out shopping for homes on the weekend.

This is the part of the game that I love: putting my experience and creativity to the test. I never mind working evenings, but getting a lender and another agent to work with me after hours isn't as simple as it sounds. Believe it or not, there are still some 9-to-5ers out there that don't realize yet that things have changed. In this real estate market successful Realtors and mortgage agents are working twice as hard to get deals closed. Ask any agent who's thriving in this market and they'll agree with Thomas Edison: "The problem with opportunity is that it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

Horse, wild west, fast on the draw? What's with the western motif, you ask? So do I. I talk funny when I'm tired.

Ahhhh, I smell coffee. Time to grab a quick cup of java and get back to herding the Magical House Fairies who will be putting the finishing touches on this deal well after midnight.

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