Ask any Real Estate Broker or Agent and they will tell you that closing a sale on a Commercial property can be incredibly stressful.
The seller can be anxious: “What if this doesn’t close? I’ve already made future plans, told the employees, I need a vacation, and I want that money in the bank account!”
The buyer might be second-guessing the decision: “I really want to do this. I’m excited, but ‘what if’ keeps cropping up and causing a bit of concern!
The Broker/Agent is excited! A sale is about to close: “I’m really happy for all parties. I did what they asked of me and everyone is happy! And I’d like to get paid for doing the job!”
There are always concerns from every corner, and a sale rarely closes without a hitch! But some do!
Let me tell you about the BEST real estate closing I’ve ever had! The sellers and buyers names won’t be in this post, but for my purpose in writing this, the sellers will be known as Mr. and Mrs. Sweetie, and the Buyers will be Mr. and Mrs. Lovey. The incognito names are appropriate because all parties were the nicest I’ve ever had the privilege to know and close a sale with.
It started with Mr. Lovey calling me because he saw one of my ads on rvparksales.com. It was for a property that offered owner financing, which is exactly what Mr. and Mrs. Lovey wanted so they didn’t have to go for a bank loan. They had several hundred thousand dollars in hand and other bankable assets if they had to do that, so owner financing was their plan to get into the RV Park business. They had worked in RV Parks before and knew a lot about it due to other family owning parks. They had the talent to do it and they knew it could be a very lucrative business, run properly. So, I discussed a few parks with Mr. Lovey but nothing was quite right, or had sold ahead of time.
Fast forward, I need to find more RV parks for sale so, as I am making my usual cold calls to RV Park Owners (by the way, they hate those calls, so I try to be as thoughtful as I can); I make a call to the RV Park owned by Mr. and Mrs. Sweetie. As luck would have it, Mr. and Mrs. Sweetie talked with me about it. Yes, they wanted to sell! And they had previously had a less than successful attempt at selling due to an appraisal issue. We had a lot of discussion about how to market the park for sale and include owner financing as a possibility to appeal to more buyers.
They were open to owner financing with acceptable terms, so the door was open for me to call Mr. and Mrs. Lovey and let them know I’d found a very nice park in an area that worked for them! We were off to the races, setting up agreements, and scheduling a visit to the park. I visited the park first and it was every bit as lovely as I thought it would be, and Mr. Sweetie was very accommodating in showing me around the large acreage parcel.
We scheduled a visit the next week for Mr. and Mrs. Lovey to go onsite and ‘Eureka! It was perfect!’ The seller and buyer worked out agreeable terms for everyone, and I assisted with a contract outline for their attorney, and in a matter of days from getting acquainted with the Loveys and the Sweeties, a deal was firmed up. In a few weeks after that it was closed.
The key point here is this: A Broker who listens and has industry knowledge can go to work to find the right deals and put agreeable people together who can make decisions. Transactions do not have to be handled in a disagreeable or inflexible manner. Because all parties to this transaction could see the benefits of working with me and each other, the outcome was splendid for all.
I don’t know how many more Loveys and Sweeties are out there looking to buy or sell an RV Park or Campground, but if you would like to contact me, please do. I need more Loveys and Sweeties in my business life!
