Two buyers with the same box, and the second is why the fee held at 13,500
This is the first deal where the sequencing actually paid me instead of just making me feel organized.
I'd spent about two months getting written criteria from small operators rather than chasing houses. Two of them ended up with nearly the same box, which I didn't plan. Both wanted post-1970 single family in the same three older suburbs, 1,300 square feet and up, would take deferred maintenance but nothing structural without a number attached, both cash, both said 30 days.
Found one through a probate lead I'd been sitting on for weeks. Heir had moved states, house had been empty fourteen months. Under contract at 141,000 with a 45 day close and 2,500 down, which I asked for specifically because probate title takes longer than anyone wants.
Buyer one saw it first, agreed at 154,500, then came back after his inspector flagged a foundation crack on the rear corner and asked for 148,000. My fee would have gone from 13,500 to 7,000. I told him I'd get back to him and called buyer two, who had the same box, the same criteria letter, and had already told me what he'd pay for a rear corner crack with a report attached. He took it at 154,500 with no re-trade. Buyer one called back the next day at 154,500. Too late, assignment was signed.
What nearly broke it: a second heir in another state whose signature nobody had mentioned. Title chased her for nine days. My 45 day close absorbed it with room, and if I'd written 30 days like the buyers wanted I'd have been begging for an extension from a seller who had already gone cold once.
What I keep: two buyers per box shape, and a longer close on the contract than the buyer needs.