GREAT NEWS...MY CLIENTS DON'T NEED ME RIGHT NOW!

These times can test ones priorities. Are we here for our clients or for ourselves?
I don't think, in the 16 years I have been a Realtor, I have ever had such an on again-off again year. I would feel really awful if it was due to some action I took, but it wasn't. It was because my clients had good news that prevented them from completing their real estate transaction.
They were remodeling the home of their dreams. It was going to be their last house...their retirement home. It had acreage to grow grapes. It had space to continue their daycare business. And then, health issues arose and the dream became a logistical nightmare. It was time to fish or cut bait, and they decided the best move was to cut bait. We put the property on the market and had lots of interest, but no offers. A month goes by and the health issues start to be resolved. There is light at the end of the tunnel. They don't want to sell their dream anymore and feel terrible about pulling it off the market. I am thrilled for them...they get to keep their dream! Great news!
She is about to have a baby and wants to purchase a home before the blessed event. She also wants to be a nurse and has had an application in to a highly thought of program for a long time. We found their perfect property and were in contract. We had completed the home inspection and resolved most of the issues. Then, she gets a letter....she has been accepted into the nursing program. However, she can't work, have a newborn and go to nursing school. She has to quit work and can no longer qualify for the loan. The good news is that she has been given the opportunity to follow her dream. The bad news is that we have to cancel the escrow. I am thrilled for her being able to follow her dream (and she had her baby on 11/11/11)!
Her father passed away and left a very nice duplex in a high-end neighborhood in Sacramento. They really don't want to be property managers and so we put the property on the market. It is truly an owner-occupied type of duplex so there is a limited number of buyers. After several months, they get the chance to have both sides rented, but the new tenants don't want to move in with the chance that they will be evicted soon after. I agree that their best option is to take it off the market until next year, so it is withdrawn. They own it outright, so it is great that they will be able to have an additional income.
She turned the single family home that I had sold her into a legal duplex, and did it well. Now she wants to get out from under a student loan and selling the home would make a good dent in her debt. I list the property and get ready to put it on the market. However, there is a chance that one of the tenants might want to purchase it and she discovers work that the property needs before selling it. We decide that now is not the time and to revisit selling it in the spring. She is happy to have the reprieve until she has more time to deal with it.
Often, our own interests come into conflict with what is best for our clients. We need to know that what is most important is what is right for the people we represent. Their lives are changed by events like what I have described. We just get a little less income. Priorities are pretty easy to assign when looking at it from the perspective of our clients. I am thrilled that, ultimately, it was better for my clients to not need me right now.