The photos looked great. Beautiful kitchen, new countertops, the whole thing. Appraiser comes back and says the comparable sales don't support the price. Okay, that happens. But then he starts talking about the deck. The deck is fine. The deck has been there for 15 years. Suddenly it's a safety hazard because one board has a crack in it. One board. He writes it up like the whole structure is about to collapse into the yard. Buyer's lender won't fund until it's fixed. Seller says absolutely not, we agreed on the price, the deck was visible at every showing, this is not my problem. Buyer is already past their rate lock, they're looking at another 800 a month if they have to relock at current rates. 800 a month for 30 years because of one cracked board. My contractor buddy says he can fix it for 200 dollars. Two hours of work. Seller won't pay it. Buyer technically can't pay it because it's the seller's property until closing. We're stuck on who writes a check for 200 dollars while an 80,000 dollar commission sits there. Three days of phone calls. The listing agent finally just paid it herself. Out of her own pocket. Didn't tell anyone until after. She looked at me at closing and said she's been doing this for 20 years and that was the dumbest thing she's ever had to do. Nobody thanked her. The seller complained about the closing date being pushed back.