Houses keep selling, often more quickly than owners anticipated. With the holidays approaching, many sellers who were not expecting the houses to sell and close in such a short time period are attempting to push the buyers into allowing them to stay longer in their homes.

These homeowners are hoping for one more Halloween, Thanksgiving or even Christmas in the homes.

These sellers feel such a request is reasonable and cannot understand why the buyers would not empathize with the situation and grant them their request. The only problem is the buyers want to spend their first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, or first Christmas in the new home they purchased for more cash than they ever dreamed they would spend on a house.

Possession has always been sticky, but is more so now with the throngs of people relocating from afar. Those moving into the area have all of their belongings packed into moving vans and are eager to unpack and begin their new lives in the land of no state income tax.

Additionally, sellers find it troublesome that buyers might walk away from the transaction at any time and only lose their earnest money on deposit. Homeowners worry they will load all of their worldly possessions only to learn the buyer cannot perform, at least on the date specified in the contract.

Lenders do not seem to put as much weight on the closing date as the other parties involved. If an underwriter is overworked or an appraiser is running late with the appraisal, everyone will just have to wait a day or two.

And that wire, the bank wiretransfer that provides the seller with the proceeds, that will come soon. Just hope it’s not a Friday afternoon.

In that case, the seller might not receive funds until Monday. What happens over the weekend?

Sale of Last Week

Last week’s description of the Jacksonian was draped in history, but somewhat lacking in relevance.

Listing agents Jacob Kupin and Lana Pargh of Compass RE noted that the residence includes an elegant living room with built-ins and a designer chef’s kitchen that includes a six-burner stove, new tile backsplash and a Sub-Zero refrigerator.

The two car, secure basement parking spots for this home are located next to the elevator. Richard Bryan, the hardest working man in real estate represented the buyer, as he did some 18 times in the past 30 days.

For those with short memories or who might have missed last week’s column, the Jacksonian condo unit 204, located at 4000 West End Avenue, a stone’s throw from Harding Road, sold for $1.15 million. With three bedrooms, two full baths, a half-bath and 3,535 square feet.

Betsy Moran

As many have noted, 2020 will long be remembered as one of the worst years in the history of mankind, and the real estate community has suffered an inordinate number of losses as have been noted in this column.

Sunday night, the unthinkable occurred with the death of one of the most beloved Realtors in our circle. Betsy Moran, 58, died with her family by her side following a sudden, non-COVID illness. Renowned for her healthy lifestyle, Betsy was often seen leading groups of her followers along the trails of Percy Warner Park, as she did a week before her death.

When she was not exercising with her admirers, she was making new fans in her real estate career. She began her career at Village Real Estate Services in the late 1990s and branded herself with the phrase “Heavens to Betsy.”

Her photogenic – even heavenly – face launched a thousand real estate sales. Most recently, she was affiliated with Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty.

In addition to her exercise regimen, she was quite social and was a founding member of the VIPERS, Very Impoverished People in Realty Sales. Obviously, impoverished is not a term that would be used to describe Betsy, even though she donated thousands of hours to her friends at Room in the Inn with many of its participants falling into the impoverished category.

It is ironic that a person whose vocation is helping clients achieve home ownership would spend her spare time helping those living without shelter. However, from time to time, she utilized her real estate expertise to assist the homeless in purchasing homes.

The founder of the Room in the Inn program and founding director for the Campus for Human Development, Charles Strobel, described Betsy as “an amazing person who was omnipresent at the Room in the Inn from its beginning.”

He noted that her support of the initiative was vital in the decision of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, her home parish, to partake in the program. She challenged those within the church “to

live out their faith,” Strobel says.

“In addition to her own volunteerism, she has inspired others to participate and has championed our cause in providing shelter to the homeless,” Strobel says. “She referred to the homeless as her family.”

Room in the Inn Director Rachel Hester says “Betsy saw them as her boys and she loved them, and they, in turn, loved her.”

Strobel says Betsy longed to return to her hometown of St. Petersburg, and did, in fact, move there several years ago. But when her son, Shannon, began to bring grandchildren into her world, she quickly relocated to Nashville to be with the grandchildren, Shannon and her other son, Sam.

“She often said she wished she could bi-locate,” Strobel says, “Perhaps now she has.”

Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty and can be reached at [email protected]