The appraisal came in low. Not like a little low, not like we can negotiate low. Sixty thousand dollars low on a 340 purchase. Appraiser used comps from eight months ago, before everything shifted, and one of them was a short sale which, come on. My buyer's lender won't budge, seller won't come down because she already bought her next place and needs every dollar, and we're three days from closing. Here's the thing though. Here's what actually killed it. The seller's daughter. She's been "helping" this whole time, calling me directly even though she's not on the contract, not on title, nothing. Day the appraisal comes back she calls the listing agent screaming about how we sabotaged it. Sabotaged. Like I called the appraiser and said hey, do me a favor, blow up my own commission. The listing agent, who I've known for twelve years, she stops returning my calls after that. Just gone. We could have maybe worked something out, gotten the seller to meet halfway, found a different lender, something. But now nobody's talking to anybody. My buyers put maybe 6 grand into inspections, surveys, that premium for rate lock extension. Gone. They're renting month to month because they already gave notice. The daughter sent me a Zillow link yesterday. The house is back on market, 25 thousand lower than what we offered. Twenty five. She sent it with a smiley face emoji. Just the emoji, nothing else.