C'est la vie is the best way I can console myself and Big O on this evening's activities.  Again, it's baffling me how quickly properties are flying off the shelves in the dead (or alive I should say) of the winter Toronto real estate market.  We were involved in another bidding war today and fortunately for us, there were only 2 offers in total and not 14 like the other night.

As an agent, there is a real fine line between being too pushy and not being firm enough to do what it takes to make things happen.  You see, in multiple offer situations, there is no real "winning" for us agents  - if a client gets the place, they will always question if they overpaid since they will never know what the other offer(s) are and if they don't get the place, they'll always blame you for not pushing them just a little bit further.  Getting the deal or no deal, you risk the potential of losing the client and those aren't the best odds. 

At the end of the day, we advised her to put in a price that she was happy getting the property for and that she would be okay losing it for.  She was comfortable with the full asking price and that's it, but with a careful kick in the butt by the Big O, he got her up by exactly $1,100 more.   Well hurrah for us because that little boost in price sealed the deal and we got the condo (YAY!) for her with our bid slightly over asking and no finance condition.   Our buyer is still in shock, but when it all settles in, I'm sure that extra $1,100 won't make much of a difference in the long run when she's happy in her home.   So congrats client KF! 

Ok, now that you've heard the good, it's time for the ugly.  We did a deal for a client on Tuesday conditional on finance and status... after speaking with the bank and not being able to get the approval she wanted and expected, she started getting cold feet.  Long story short, when she thought further and further about the carrying costs involved in her home ownership, she started considering backing out.  What can you do really in a scenario like this?  Send her to talk to your mortgage brokers, but no one can really cure the problem but her.  It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow after she 'sleeps on it,' but I'm expecting the worst.  There goes another month and a half of time, emotions and gas... just some another few of the investments that agents have to make with no potential for return.

As I said before, c'est la vie.