So, I came from Louisville Ky down to Tampa Florida. I thought I was a big fish in a little pond back home. What a drastic change when I came to Florida. We have the highest Realtor count per capita is the U.S. I had no idea what to do. I had already been in real estate for 5 years and thought I had seen it all. One of the first deals I had (multi in an up and coming area) my buyer was paying cash and the deal was solid. Back home I would make a packet for my appraiser and never had a bad appraisal due to the that I specified the value add and the Reno amount and broke it down so they saw the potential and it always worked. So, I called the appraiser and explained that I would meet him on site to go over the paperwork. The appraiser wouldn't even allow me to meet him which I had never had happen. I'm very good at running comps and determining rehab costs. That's how I became so successful as an investor agent. I called my broker and asked why??? He said it's standard practice that they don't want agents there. It's too distracting. As you can tell marine the appraisal came back 40k low and I was so dumbfounded. I called my broker again and tried to dispute the comps the appraiser used. They me being almost two years old and more than 5 miles away. I presented unrefutable proof that I was right and my comps were solid and that they should change theirs and let the deal go through. It got so bad that we even called the appraisal office to discuss. They wouldn't budge. At that point we hired an independent appraiser and the numbers came back good and the hard money lender agreed to use them. At that point the buyer was so Leary of the numbers they backed out, then the seller didn't want to give back escrow. I mean really... I stayed on their "a@@" for weeks and pulled the we are getting a lawyer card. I had to leverage my broker through the whole thing. He was great and and had my back the whole time. I got her money back of course, I learned that being the nice guy (which I am known for) has to protect their clients interest at all costs and you have to really use your head and figure out how to get it done while staying the nice guy. The buyer was happy that I recovered her money in full that she wasn't even mad about losing the deal. My broker said that most agents would have thrown in towel and not fight for what was the right thing to do. So even though I lost a deal and commission I won loyalty and a client for life and became very valued as an agent and very successful by getting the money that was deserved and obviously, rightfully, morally and legally due to her.
