Not every real estate transaction goes smoothly.  In fact, very few deals are completed without a few hic-ups.  Here is one of those stories from the vault to let you know that you are not alone and there are qualified real estate brokers working to smooth the transactions.

Names and places have been modified.

Jack and Jill had finally found the right home.  Located in a kid-friendly neighborhood, within a five-minute drive to work for Jill, this house had plenty of space to grow their family.  The only problem was that the previous owners had not maintained the property.  After the inspection, they realized what was in store for them in terms of "TLC" for their new home.  However, they knew this would be the case in any situation.  Their main concern, expressed multiple times to the listing broker, was the disgusting, discarded couch behind the shed.  That's right, this family had thrown out one of their couches and instead of bringing it to the dump, or putting it out for heavy-trash pick up, the previous owners had hidden it behind the shed.  So, this concern was expressed as major, as Jack and Jill did not want to fall down the hill removing the couch.  (Wink, wink)  Arriving before my clients at the final walk-through, just shortly before the scheduled closing, I immediately saw the couch and phoned the listing broker to initiate a solution.  When my clients arrived, I told them that the couch was still there, but we had a few options for a solution. 

1. We could extend the closing until the couch was removed.  However, this did not seem to be a good option, because clearly the sellers had not lived up to their word up to this point and who knows how long removing the couch would take.
2. We could hold money from the sellers in escrow until an agreed upon date.  If the couch wasn't removed by that date/time, the buyers would receive that money and deal with removing the couch on their own.

The real problem was not the couch.  It was the principle.  My clients, first-time home buyers, had specifically requested that this ONE item be removed from the property.  It was not their responsibility to find a company to remove it, or risk injury trying to do it themselves.  And it wasn't about the money either.  Luckily, they had an experienced broker working FOR them to suggest and initiate an amicable solution to all. 

In the end, the sellers never came back to remove the couch.  Jack and Jill cashed their check, paid to have the couch removed and even had some money left over.  All in all, a win-win.