When Alcohol Does the Talking

There isn't a Realtor out there who hasn't had at least one challenging client. I've had several and I have a pretty good feeling alcohol was the culprit in more than one.

In one case I went on the listing appointment and it went great. The seller and I were on the same page about everything and I left thinking we'd be working together as a team to sell their home. Our admins had quite a few conversations updating the client on what we were doing in the background.

But sometime within the first two weeks, I received an email basically accusing me of not trying to sell the home. I hadn't even had time to finish our initial marketing setup so I couldn't figure out what was going on. The next day, the client called, apologized and told me it wouldn't happen again. Several days later, the same thing happened.

A couple of other unusual incidents led me to believe alcohol was probably involved. The seller was fine during daylight hours but late at night when I received those emails it was completely opposite. I felt like I was dealing with two different people.

A couple of other telling incidents happened so I made the difficult decision to terminate the listing agreement. Walking away from $1,000 (our typical startup marketing costs) plus a potential commission was painful, but I just couldn't continue to work under those conditions.

You'll find there are times when you just have to walk away from a bad situation. It doesn't happen a lot, but you just can't let a seller's problems become your problems. I wished the seller the best of luck in selling their home and we parted ways on amicable terms.