Thankfully for my clients, there is not a "five strike" rule in place for mortgage lending

I suppose you could consider this to be an update post of sorts. I had agreed to let everyone know what happened with my buyers from this post from a few weeks ago:  Requiem for the Self-Employed Homebuyer.  


In a nutshell, I was working with what in previous years would have been considered "perfect" buyers(780 FICO scores, 20% down, $500,000+ purchase price), but they were turned down by FIVE lenders because they had only 16 months of self-employment, despite being in the same field for about 10 years. 


The fifth lender seems optimistic,but he was unable to get it done, despite more time passing.  There were also five other offers that were turned away by the seller during the past two months (three others initially when we made ours, along with a lowball and a recent cash offer). 


 


I am VERY HAPPY to report that we are closing in the next couple of days (probably Monday) and the lender expects funding to happen on Tuesday. 


 


That will be one of the best Tuesdays I have had in awhile!


 


So what happened?  Well, we ended up extending things so long with the sellers that the buyers managed to get their 2008 tax returns completed.  Since the numbers matched up with their P&L statement that they had provided before, the fifth lender (sixth attempt) was able to get it done!


 


 


What are my personal lessons from this transaction?




  • Have patience - This required me to pull from my last reserves of patience



  • Be nice - I know this may sound a little bit.....overconfident, but I am convinced that we won the initial negotiation AND managed to keep the sellers on board because they simply liked me and we had a good rapport



  • Be persistent - I literally hand-carried the buyer's loan file to multiple lenders in an effort to find someone to take this loan, which I considered a worthy risk to any bank



  • Keep an open mind - I ended up learning about several different loan products that I was previous somewhat unfamiliar with, including "hard money" loans and wraparound mortgages (I was determined to find something that would work for my buyers)



  • Be flexible - In order to make it work for the sellers, I had to give a slight commission concession at one point.  I would always rather give a little to gain a lot!



Looking at this list now, I realize that these lessons/tips apply in ANY transaction.  We work in a "people" business.  As such, it's important to maintain an attitude that is conducive to getting things done, plain and simple.  I have always viewed it as my job to help my clients to get the home that they really want.  In fact, we very rarely lose a sale once a contract is in place.  For me, that is the essence of success in my business.


Thanks for reading!


P.S. Speaking of Tuesday, be sure to tune in and listen to me and my co-host Ken Cook every Tuesday at noon Eastern (11am Central, 10am Mountain, 9am Pacific) for "Twitter Tuesday", which focuses on social media and its various applications in business: http://blogtalkradio.com/jckc



 My RSS feed is http://activerain.com/jasoncrouch/rss.

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