Today was the best day I have had since I got my Real Estate License. I am sure you are thinking that I must have sold a house or got a fabulous new listing, but neither happened. In fact it was a fairly quiet day as I covered the rental desk at the office. Until one couple that walked in the door asking about a little rental house we had. They had been told by their bank that their home was being foreclosed on & they needed to be out by the end of the month.
As I explained our rental policies to them they started telling me their story and things were not adding up. They had owned the home for 12 years and never missed a payment, but for the last 5 months he had been out of work for medical reasons and missed the last three. I have my short sale & foreclose certification so I know there are were several different options open to him & asked if he had tried any. He said that they had called the bank & was told that nothing could be done, even though he had some money to give them and was going back to work on Mon so he could start making payments again. He also said that the person at the bank had been very rude & told them to get out of the house by the end of the month. I asked if he had received anything in writing about the foreclosure and he said no, just what he had been told on the phone.
Now lots of bells were going off in my head, if he was telling the truth something was very wrong. Banks don't want to own homes, but they are very overwhelmed and sometimes if you don't know the right questions to ask or who to ask them to you can feel like you are running into walls every time you call. So I suggested that they call the bank again, told him who to ask for & how to explain his situation. I also told him if he was not able to get help to call me back and I would see what I could do. He left saying he would try, but did not seem hopeful.
A few hours later as I was driving home, my mind already on dinner & what I needed to do with the kids, my phone rang. The voice on the other end said "I had to call & tell you thank you for saving my home". It was the man from earlier in the day. He had called the bank & gotten help. He was sending in money for some of what they were late on and the bank was letting him pay the rest over several months in with his regular payment. As long as he stayed on track everything would be fine. He said that he would not have questioned what the bank had told him if I had not told him to try. He was very thankful that I took time to help him even though there was nothing in it for me and he would never forget that.
So while I did not sell a big house or get that great new listing I helped someone stay in the home they loved. He said I did not get anything out of it but he is wrong, I got the best day I will ever have in Real Estate.
Debora Chilson
Becky Hancock Realty
334-477-3051
www.enterpriserealty4sale.com
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