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CONFESSION #0250 — CLIENT FROM HELL
Sunday, November 16, 2025
I had a buyer tell me their budget was "flexible" so I spent three weeks pulling listings between $400K and $500K based on our initial conversation. Showed them eight houses in that range. They loved a Cape Cod with original hardwoods and a gorgeous backyard. Perfect, right?
They put in an offer at $285K.
I thought it was a typo. It was not a typo.
When I gently explained that we were about $150K under asking on a fairly priced home, they said, and I quote, "Well that's why it's called negotiating."
I had to have a conversation with actual adults about how offering 57% of list price is not a negotiation tactic, it's performance art. They got genuinely offended when the sellers didn't counter.
We are no longer working together. They left me a two-star review saying I "wasn't creative enough with offers." I've started screening for basic math comprehension in my initial consultations now. I don't even care if it seems rude. I cannot do that again.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF HARBORING DELUSIONAL MATHEMATICIANS POSING AS HOMEBUYERS
This Court has witnessed many crimes against the sacred institution of real estate, but NEVER has it beheld such a flagrant assault on the basic principles of numerical reality. The accused permitted clients to roam freely through $450,000 Cape Cods while their actual budget apparently existed in some parallel dimension where money is a suggestion and "flexible" means "I will pay what I feel in my heart." Judge Escrow III once presided over a case where a man tried to buy a Porsche with a handshake and a poem, and THAT man had more financial credibility than these buyers. The audacity of offering 57% of asking price and calling it "negotiation" is like showing up to a marathon, walking six feet, and demanding a medal for "creative athletics." This Court notes that the accused now screens for basic math comprehension, which is too little too late, like installing a smoke detector AFTER the house has burned to the foundation and been replaced by a Wendy's. The two-star review citing lack of "creativity" is the final insult, as if the agent should have proposed payment in livestock or seasonal emotions. This Court must adjourn immediately as Judge Escrow III needs to lie down in a dark room and contemplate what "flexible" even means anymore.
Delusional Arithmetic Disorder
Have a confession? Judge Reginald Escrow III's docket is always open.
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