As many of you know, my husband John coaches our two teenaged girls on a local rec level softball team along with three of the other players' dads.. As I watch the four of them from the spectator side of the fence, I can only imagine the challenge of working with twelve teenaged girls, guiding them to create a competitive team who support one another, win or lose. Naturally the girls make mistakes throughout the games...overthrows, easy catches missed, strike outs, etc. After one of these moments, the John & the other coaches will say... the mistake you just made is not what matters...what matters is what you choose to do next. Do you choose to give up or do you choose to rededicate yourselves to succeeding and keep working your hardest?
This applies to all ages & situations...what do we do as adults after things go wrong? I must admit, I struggle with this myself. Professionally, I work diligently to address all issues that might arise between contract and closing...unforeseen repairs, accommodating others' schedules, meeting inspectors, etc. But within the real estate transaction, there are two parties, Buyer & Seller, with my representation only on one side of this equation. No matter how many times I contact a loan officer, closing attorney or appraiser, the majority of the happenings behind the scene in a transaction are completely beyond my control.
This past month I was notified 12 hours prior to a scheduled closing that the underwriter for the Buyer's loan had not yet cleared the file and closing would not happen on time. I had been in touch with all parties leading up to this point with assurances that all was fine, so this obviously came as a surprise. What could I have done to avoid the situation? Thinking through it all now, the answer is...NOTHING. I can only work my hardest to address the issues of which I am aware and understand that at the remainder is out of my hands, ultimately up to God as to how the situation will play out. Luckily in the above mentioned situation, all questions were answered with closing taking place later in the afternoon.
I now realize that I need to focus on making sure I have communicated many of the potential set backs we might encounter between contract and closing. When people are prepared for a situation, they can almost always handle whatever it is better. So many real estate transactions encounter detours along the way, creating a good amount of stress for all parties involved... though with the vast majority do still end up closing which is ultimately the goal.
I need to take my husband's coaching advice as it's not what goes wrong...it's what comes next regardless of the situation. Screws fall out all the time...the world is an imperfect place. (now THAT should be the trivia question for November...where is that quote heard & who said it?!) The best we can do is know this to be true and expect the unexpected!
This applies to all ages & situations...what do we do as adults after things go wrong? I must admit, I struggle with this myself. Professionally, I work diligently to address all issues that might arise between contract and closing...unforeseen repairs, accommodating others' schedules, meeting inspectors, etc. But within the real estate transaction, there are two parties, Buyer & Seller, with my representation only on one side of this equation. No matter how many times I contact a loan officer, closing attorney or appraiser, the majority of the happenings behind the scene in a transaction are completely beyond my control.
This past month I was notified 12 hours prior to a scheduled closing that the underwriter for the Buyer's loan had not yet cleared the file and closing would not happen on time. I had been in touch with all parties leading up to this point with assurances that all was fine, so this obviously came as a surprise. What could I have done to avoid the situation? Thinking through it all now, the answer is...NOTHING. I can only work my hardest to address the issues of which I am aware and understand that at the remainder is out of my hands, ultimately up to God as to how the situation will play out. Luckily in the above mentioned situation, all questions were answered with closing taking place later in the afternoon.
I now realize that I need to focus on making sure I have communicated many of the potential set backs we might encounter between contract and closing. When people are prepared for a situation, they can almost always handle whatever it is better. So many real estate transactions encounter detours along the way, creating a good amount of stress for all parties involved... though with the vast majority do still end up closing which is ultimately the goal.
I need to take my husband's coaching advice as it's not what goes wrong...it's what comes next regardless of the situation. Screws fall out all the time...the world is an imperfect place. (now THAT should be the trivia question for November...where is that quote heard & who said it?!) The best we can do is know this to be true and expect the unexpected!
Help! My Life Is Changing!!