Kevin Shirley

Contract-to-Close Kevin Shirley

A career in real estate isn't rocket science, at least on the surface: Put buyers and sellers together, guide them through the negotiation and on to a successful settlement, collect a commission check, exit stage left, repeat. Alas, the devil, though - as they say - is in the details. And details there are. Many of them. It seems that each year real estate sales become increasingly more complicated. The "contract-to-close" period is among the most important in the real estate sales cycle. All the hard work of finding a home for your buyer, working with the listing agent and negotiating the offer, and getting that offer ratified are just the beginning. Failure to attend to even one of a myriad of details during this period can threaten to undermine even the most solid-looking sale - which could jeopardize not only your commission but, more importantly, your relationship with your client as well (which could consequently put an end to a referral stream). For these reasons, as real estate agents, we must take these processes very seriously.