Indianapolis Real Estate - Time is of the essence

I just thought I would share a recent experience I had with another Indianapolis real estate agent when submitting an offer.  We recently put an offer in on a home in Indianapolis.  I called the agent to let him know it was coming over and to expect it in his email.  He proceeded to tell me he was out of town and couldn’t get to the offer until later and he thinks the seller is out of town as well so it might be several days before we hear back.  Well, we did hear back a little sooner than expected but it still took longer than it should have.  A few counter offers go back and forth and this process repeats itself taking more and more time.  Well we finally agree on a price and send over our final counter offer.  The seller has now agreed to the price but not signed off on it.  The seller’s agent is still out of town and will apparently get to it when he gets to it.

In the meantime, at 10:00 PM on Sunday I receive a phone call from an agent that we previously submitted an offer on and he says the seller has changed their mind and they will now accept our last offer.  Well, my buyer’s definitely preferred the first house we put an offer on so we race to write the new offer for the 1st house and withdraw our offer on the second house.  Now we are under contract with the agent who called me at 10PM and the other home is still on the market.

Had the other agent and the seller dealt with this offer in an expedient manner we would on our way to closing on their home.  The moral of story is that the TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE when dealing with real estate contracts.  Make sure your agent understands this and acts on this.  Is your agent going out of town?  How will they handle offers if they come in?  The way this agent and seller handled it was not the in the best interest of the seller and indeed cost him the sale of his house. 

When I take time off, I always travel with my laptop, wireless card, digital signatures, contract forms and I still have someone covering my stuff while I am gone.  Being an Indianapolis real estate agent requires you to sacrifice your personal time and be able to drop everything when you get an offer.  Make sure you select an agent who understands this and acts in your best interest ALL THE TIME.  Buyers are too scarce these days to let something like this get in the way of a sale.