Close but no cigar

I ALMOST had a buyer a couple of weeks ago. I say 'almost' because the deal is 100% off. Here's what happened. Lillian, my broker, thought it best to take the house off the market for the winter...for two reasons: there would be no activity in those long cold months, and this way, we would look like a brand new listing when we re-posted. There's nothing more attractive to buyers than thinking they should pounce on something new. She deduced that the prime date to re-list was the few days before President's Day Weekend. People might be out East and looking. Of course I agreed. That Tuesday we went live and within a day we had interest from a broker that her clients wanted to book time that Saturday to see the place. We were planning an open house that day anyway so it all worked out. Come that morning these buyers, a couple, two "lovely ladies" as Lillian called them, looked around the house for almost AN HOUR. They seemed to really like it. Later that afternoon she ran into them at another open house on the edge of town. They expressed how much they still liked my home. "Well, you should really put in an offer quickly" she told them, being the savvy realtor she is. Her strategy worked. By that night they put in an offer! It was a little low--$2.2M--but it was way better than the very low offer I received last Fall. One other snag was that they wanted a financial contingency as they were wanting to finance one million of the price. I didn't love the contingency but it was within striking distance. Remember, my current listing price is $2.399M, deliberatly giving myself wiggle room when buyers want to hondle. My dream price is $2.3M. I countered at $2.340 with no financial contingency. They came back with $2.3, no contingency, plus they wanted me to throw in a long list of my furniture. I thought "What am I, Raymoor & Flanagan??" But whatever. I agreed to SOME pieces but not all of them, namely the kitchen island and dining room hutch, plus a few others. We went back and forth over which pieces but finally had a deal. All good. This was Monday. They decided that they wanted to come back out (they live in the city) the next day. OY...but ok. They came back and spent another hour in the place. I went to Harbor Market nearby for a coffee. Lillian texted me when the coast was clear. But it wasn't. When I drove up they were still out in the street kibitzing with their broker. I was forced to meet them and introduce myself. They were pleasant enough I guess. Very plain girls, one was British in her 40's the other younger in her 30's. Down vests, jeans, no makeup, stocky. You get the picture. Within a few seconds the younger one said "We're friends of Dorothy". Cue the strained laughter on my part. What am I supposed to say to that. Mercifully it was over in less than 5 minutes. We learned quickly that they had scheduled an instpection company for Thursday. Lillian felt this was all good momentum. Here's where I add a kooky anecdote. When they were perusing the house they noticed all the racoons I have around. The said, "It's a sign! We LOVE racoons!" They went to regale Lillian with a story of how they took in a family of baby racoons at a house of theirs in the past. They even showed her A PICTURE of one of them covered in baby racoons! You can't make this stuff up. I figured it had to be a good omen too, right?

The inspection happened and it went smoothly, just a few minor things I had to take care of. Friday I had a doctor's appointment in Riverhead. I thought we'd hear back regarding some kind of revised offer. There was no word that morning. Nothing at lunchtime either. It got to be 5 o'clock and still nothing. I called Lillian and she heard from their broker later that night that they were extremely busy that day and had yet to receive the termite report so at best we'd get it all wrapped up by Monday. In the meantime, I had lined up my attorney to draw up the contract of sale and get it to their guy. I had a very nervous weekend. I count on NOTHING til it's "ink of paper"..."until it's ink on paper it's all just talk" kept clanging in my brain. Sure enough, Lillian called me Monday night that the deal was off. I knew it. They offered up a cockamamie story that an apartment adjoining theirs in the city was coming on the market, the owner had died. This wasn't the time for them to buy a house in the Hamptons. Or so they said. I'll never know the truth. What I do know is that it was a gut punch. I was devastated. I SO wanted this long waiting nightmare to be over. Now we had to start all over again. So here I am a couple of weeks later. Nothing. We've had 3 open houses and it's a replay of last Fall. No lookers, no bookings for appointments, even my Zillow activity is at zero. UGH. I'm now coming to the slow, sad realization that this house is not going to sell in this market. Until the Fed lowers the interest rate, buyers at this price point won't budge. They need to finance but not at these high rates. Lillian tried to talk me in off the ledge..."It's way early still. After Easter more people will be looking", etc. I don't think so. And Scott is no help. He keeps saying "It'll happen, it'll happen, RELAX", which makes me even crazier. I don't think this story ends well. I'm going to give it to Easter weekend and then I'll have to take drastic measures. Let's see what develops. And just so you know, it's getting old being out this ledge...