Thursday, September 22, 2005

Wine and dine me before you pillage me, please.

Here is the next loop in the roller coaster ride we have dubbed, The 3rd tier of Hell: The Misadventures of Pantrygirl and Lrudlrick in the Manhattan real estate market.

The co-broker for the little slice of midtown, we put an application for has somehow or another brought up the fact that we have a mortgage. Now, I’m not going to go off on the guy I’ve met twice for all off 15 minutes each. Ok, I’m going off. The man had one of those ugly Bluetooth phone earwigs on. He didn’t even have the courtesy of giving me his name when I shook his hand and introduced myself. Bad signs but I shook it off.

Then he gives us the tour and has the audacity to show us around the apartment while calling several other clients! Ok, I’ve dealt with many a broker, sales and rentals, in my lifetime in NYC. Occasionally, they will excuse themselves to take an important call but never have I had a broker show me a place and dial numbers while I’m touring with him/her!

Our broker, Maurice, was nice enough to show us what he looks for in an apartment and his opinions of the construction, layout and neighborhood. He was careful not to step over Bad Broker’s spiel because it was his listing but he knew us long enough to know we weren’t happy with this guy’s attitude.

Subsequent visits with BB were similar. This time, he stopped dialing long enough to pull out the damn contracts to sign and collect our down payment to remove the listing from the market. While we were signing, he was informing us that he was worried about our mortgage but we told him it shouldn’t be an issue. We’ve budgeted and can carry it temporarily. We can also sublet if necessary but the market for a family size one bedroom was still ripe and we would have no problem unloading our pad.

Still, BB persisted so we told him politely, thankfully, it wasn’t up to him and that we’ll know soon enough. Our broker told us not to worry that our credentials are good and we should be fine. He's seen other couples in our situation who did not have trouble getting approved. Well, today, we received a call from our broker saying that they are suddenly concerned with our mortgage. What? Why? As per our broker, it looks like BB voiced his concern to the owners and now they want a list of outrageous extra deposits. I know this is hearsay so I can take it with a grain of salt. Maurice was totally miffed in the loss of comission kind of way. Lrudlrick and I(Yes, shockingly) were miffed in the cursing and turning beet red kind of way.

So, now we’re waiting again. Personally, I think BB didn’t want to split the commission and pumped up the other application. Either case, he’s still a BB in my opinion. I’m not asking a broker to be my best friend but good brokers I’ve worked with understand a good relationship leads to a good sale. Know what I’m like and what I like and I don’t waste your time and you don’t waste mine. Finding a new home is emotional and although I don’t want you to be hugging me when I lose out on a place, I don’t want you to be cold and callous either. You want the sale, give me positivity and sound advice, brother. Don’t make me feel like another notch on your bedpost.