I wish I had my own awards show, so I could say, "And, the award for Most Memorable Transaction of 2010 goes to Lynne and Peter!" With a our primary seller contact in India, servicing contact in Florida, and listing agent (who may or may not have really existed) in an undisclosed location, this is one transaction we will not soon forget.
It's a wonderful condo complex. Four individual units tucked behind single family homes on a beautiful tree lined street. We almost didn't get to see it, though. The combination on the lockbox was incorrect, so we couldn't even get through the front gate. It took more than half an hour and numerous phone calls to an automated line before I finally found someone who could help us.
This was just the beginning. The entire process was an adventure, and Lynne and Peter were good sports throughout. We all tried to stay hopeful yet cautious. All communication with the listing agent was to be via email with a copy sent to his assistant. The assistant responded regularly. The agent only once (when city paperwork needed wet signatures returned in 48 hours) with this:
The asset manager is located in Bangalore, India. How do you propose to handle this?
Working with people you can't talk to directly who live on the other side of the planet can get a little frustrating. We got really good at figuring out who could get us what and how quickly. Even urgent issues generally took at least three days to resolve. We submitted several requests. Almost all of them were eventually approved with a signature from India.
Read Lynne and Peter's account of the story in this month's California Real Estate magazine article "What My REALTOR® Did Right" in the Navigating the Labyrinth section.
