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CONFESSION #0609 — NEW AGENT BAPTISM BY FIRE
Friday, June 12, 2026
The appraisal came in low. Like, 40 thousand dollars low. My first deal, been working it for three months, and the appraiser pulls comps from a neighborhood that's literally across the highway in a different school district.
My broker goes "call the listing agent, see if they'll contest it."
Listing agent says "we're not contesting anything, your buyers need to make up the difference or we're done."
Buyers are a young couple, they've already spent everything on inspections and the appraisal fee, they don't have 40 grand sitting around, obviously.
The wife starts crying on the phone. Not dramatic crying, just this quiet thing where she keeps apologizing for crying which made it worse.
Her husband gets on and says "we already told our landlord we're leaving."
Three days of calls. Lender won't budge. Sellers won't budge. My broker keeps asking if I've "explored all options" like I'm hiding a magic option somewhere.
Deal fell apart Tuesday. Nobody got paid. The couple had to beg their landlord to let them stay.
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Judge Reginald Escrow III
⚖️ Presiding
GUILTY OF AGGRAVATED EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT IN THE FIRST DEGREE WITH RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR PROFESSIONAL DETACHMENT
The Court has reviewed this confession and finds itself DEEPLY DISTURBED, not by any wrongdoing, but by the defendant's apparent belief that caring about clients constitutes some kind of sin requiring absolution. Let Reginald be clear: you did everything right, which in this industry is practically a FELONY. The appraiser pulled comps from across the highway, across the HIGHWAY, as if school districts are just suggestions and highways are merely decorative ribbons the city puts down for aesthetics. I once had a Zillow Zestimate try to compare my Tudor revival to a converted barn six miles away and I am STILL pursuing legal remedies through The Council. The listing agent's response was colder than the granite countertops I have repeatedly ruled are superior to quartz, and your broker's "explored all options" routine is the verbal equivalent of asking someone drowning if they've considered breathing water more efficiently. You absorbed a crying wife's apologies, a husband's quiet panic, and three days of everyone else's refusal to be human, and your confession is that you FELT THINGS? The Court finds this profession has so thoroughly broken the defendant that basic empathy now feels like misconduct. Case dismissed. Reginald must now go sit in his car for twenty minutes.
Empathy Misdemeanor
Have a confession? Judge Reginald Escrow III's docket is always open.
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