What Just Happened?

by | Jun 1, 2018 | Legal Tips

As I finished my last closing today, I started pondering what legal tip to post. This week was the busiest week we have seen in real estate since pre-recession.  Not since the days of the real estate craze has the volume been like this. Part of the crush was due to closings being rescheduled from prior to Memorial Day to this week on top of the closings already scheduled for the normal end of the month push. Luckily, it appears to normalize next week.

With that said, I wanted to re-post one of my earliest Legal Tips.  This week it was great to see the real estate agents in the market come to together and work extra hard to get closings through but yet recognizing that the lenders, appraisers, abstractors and closing attorneys were pushed to the max and delays were simply out of their control.  The understanding, patience and grace is what makes this industry the best.

Here is the post:

When I started practicing law in 1995, I worked a case with one of the law partners, Frank. The opposing counsel made an error and missed a deadline. When I discovered the attorney’s error I told Frank, who called the attorney. The attorney asked Frank to consent to an extension to which Frank agreed.  When I asked Frank why he did that he said, “Oh, but for the grace of God go I.” What Frank said that day has stuck with me during my 20-plus year career.

Over the past few months I have been teaching the MCE Core Class-Professional Expectations & Obligations. One of the goals of the class is to raise the level of professionalism of real estate agents. While teaching the class I have come to realize that one of the many ways we all could raise the level of professionalism in our  industry is to give more grace to others.  If we all recognized that no one in this industry is infallible and that unfortunate things happen from time to time, we could start moving toward the common goal of getting the transaction closed. So the next time a closing is delayed because of  a builder, lender or attorney, or your phone call or email does not get returned when you expected or even a mistake is made by the other agent or party, give grace because you want grace when you make a mistake.  We often do not know what caused the issue or delay, or what the other person is dealing with that day. Even if it was a mistake, remember no one is perfect. “But for the grace of God go I”, rings true for all of us.

Call Now Button