Another closing horror story

Back in 1997, which was my first year in the business, my partner and I used to dress up more often, since we were both in our 20's and wanted to look more professional and, at least we thought, more experienced.  Once, we had a listing that was a difficult sale -it had gone through two or three previous listing agents, and my very first clients referred the sellers to me.

The home was in a somewhat rough area of town, and the area really hasn't changed much for the better since then.  We finally got a contract in place after a TON of showings (it looked great on paper, then people didn't like the floorplan, location, etc.).  As a bonus, the buyers didn't have an agent, so we were poised to get the entire commission, which was huge for us back then. 

At any rate, as part of the negotiations, the buyers wanted the carpet (shag) replaced and the seller agreed to do this before closing.  The sellers told us that it was done, and we went by to check it out the night before the closing was scheduled.  The carpet was replaced, but there were DEAD CRICKETS all over the floor, along with shag carpet fibers.  We spent several hours cleaning it ourselves (who else could we get?) in order to make sure that things went smoothly the next day.

Well, we all showed up at the closing table and the buyers were supposed to sign first.  The sellers showed up early and they were all smiles, excited to be free of this home and looking forward to moving on.

We started the closing, then the escrow officer was called away for a few minutes.  We sat there chatting with the buyers amicably, then the closer returned with a very serious look on her face.  She questioned the buyer about some documents and it basically turned out that he had lost his job or lied on his loan app (don't actually remember the details).  Obviously, we couldn't close at all that day.  The sellers were crestfallen, but we persevered and we eventually got the sale a couple of months later.  I will never forget the buyer's name, nor will I forget crawling around picking dead bugs out of the carpet in hopes of a big payday.  It's times like these that keep you humble.