The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)

Full disclosure: this week’s missive is more for the consumer than for the realtor. I can promise, though, that for all the realtors who read this, you’ll most likely find yourself saying or thinking something along the lines of “preach on, brother”, “testify”, “amen”, or “you got that right”. With that in mind, I implore you ALL to read on.

Recently, I received my monthly wireless phone bill, and it was $20 higher than it should have been. I had made some changes on my plan a little before that, but my monthly bill’s amount was supposed to stay virtually the same – in fact, my first bill after the changes was a little bit less than my usual amount. Bonus! Befuddled, I called the company and asked the operator to help me understand why my bill was $20 higher and then find a way to get it back down to the price I had been promised when I had made the changes to my plan. Long story short: the operator with whom I had originally made the changes had promised me one thing, and the billing was something entirely different. The “new” operator patiently tried to explain the math to me to demonstrate that my new $20-more bill was correct, and I kept politely stopping her with, “I’m not arguing the math – that would be like arguing that water isn’t wet or that Kim Kardashian should write a book giving marriage advice. What I’m upset over is the fact I was promised my bill wouldn’t change, and it did.”

She kept trying to explain that the math was correct and there was nothing more she could do about the monthly bill amount. Remaining calm, I said to her, “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me today, I really do, but I do need to speak with a manager. I truly believe someone at that level is given a little more leeway, and that’s no slam on you.” Five minutes later, I was talking with a manager, and twenty minutes later, I had a $240 credit (12 months X $20) to be applied to upcoming bills on my account. All told, this experience took well over an hour – yes, an hour of my life I’ll never get back, but I got some compensation out of it. I would have liked to see the $20/month taken off my bill FOREVER, but I took what I thought I could reasonably get.

For those of you who are about to wade into the waters of home buying, let this rather strange story help you in your quest. My goal when I picked up the phone to talk to the wireless company was to get my $20 back – in Fantasy Land, that should have taken about five minutes, but here in the real world, it took over an hour – and I wasn’t going to hang up until I got some resolution.

Once you’ve found the house you want to buy and put in an offer, PLEASE DON’T EXPECT it to be accepted within five minutes (or an hour) and be on your merry way. Your goal is to get that house, but there are a lot of things that will be out of your hands and in the hands of others – PREPARE yourself to be patient and know THERE WILL BE COMPROMISES. This could take many forms: closing on a later date, digging through old file boxes to find that ONE piece of paper the underwriter wants, dealing with a seller’s last-minute request, etc. Just remember the goal (the house) and what that goal is going to make possible for you: a place to raise a future family, a gathering point for friends and loved ones where you have enough room that you don’t have to sit on laps to watch the Super Bowl, a place without a pervy landlord (unless you’re the landlord, and then all bets are off), etc. Lastly, remember that your real estate agent IS management: she/he has the leeway to get the deal done (as long as it’s legal). Happy buying!