My client called me, apologizing right off the bat for what he was about to ask. “I’m sorry,” he sheepishly said, “but my mother says I paid way too much for the house so I want to see if there is a way out.”
Since I had advised this 20-something buyer to do some research on his own and get comps from his real estate agent before contract, and the appraisal had come in about $10,000 more than the contract price, I was fairly certain that the buyer hadn’t screwed up, and I hadn’t led him down the wrong path. And since he had a mortgage commitment, I didn’t foresee any way out. He said that he knew I’d say that; I wondered, “What is your mother’s concern?”
“Please don’t misunderstand,” he explained. “My mother doesn’t think the house itself is overpriced. She just thinks I should have bought something a lot smaller and cheaper, like the house we grew up in. She keeps asking me, ‘Who do you think you are to spend that much money?’”
Comments