Take The High Road

I have a loan I’m working on right now that is somewhat difficult.  We’re getting close to the closing date, and I don’t have everything completely worked out yet.  I will get there, but it’s hard.

One thing I always try to do is keep the real estate agents and the buyer informed about what’s happening with the loan.

I don’t want surprises.

If something is going well, I tell them.  If something isn’t going well, I tell them that too.  I’ve found that people appreciate transparency and upfront communication, even when the news isn’t good.  And in the long run, it usually makes things better.

This particular deal had a curveball thrown at us in the last 48 hours that could potentially cause us to miss the closing date (it is rare that I miss a closing date but it happens occasionally).

So I asked the real estate agent a simple question:

What happens if we have to extend the closing one or two days?

Is the house occupied?
Will the sellers have a problem?
Will the buyers have somewhere to go?
Is there something I need to know so I can figure out how to get this done?

I wasn’t asking because I planned on delaying the closing – I was trying to understand my options.

Instead of answering my question, the conversation instead turned into questions about the loan.

How much more down payment would be needed?
What changed?
What happened?

And the question I had originally asked went unanswered. 

This was an agent who had told me he had closed “more than 1,000 transactions.”

Yet he kept answering me with:

“We’re known for closing deals on time.”

I get it.  Nobody wants a closing delayed.  Neither do I.

But when I pressed again about what would happen if we needed an extra day or two, the eventual answer was basically:

“We might lose the deal. I’m not sure.”

That was frustrating.

I wanted to say, “I know what I’m doing. I’m asking you for information that will help me get this deal done.”

But I didn’t.

I took a breath, I kept my cool, and I went back to working on the problem.

A Real Christian Businessman knows there are times when you have to take the high road.  Sometimes people will try to tell you how to do your job.  Sometimes they will be more concerned about their own interests than yours.  Sometimes you will want to tell them exactly what you think.

But don’t!

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Phil 2:4 (ESV) 

That doesn’t mean we let people walk all over us.  It means we don’t have to win every argument.  We don’t have to prove that we’re right.  We don’t have to make someone else look wrong just because they frustrated us.

Sometimes we simply need to keep working toward the goal.

And in this case, the goal is simple:  Get these people into their home.

This is just a reminder that you may run across someone this week that frustrates you, questions how you do your job, or may even be more concerned about their own interests than yours.  

Take the high road, bite your tongue and look for the solution.

Because that’s ultimately what we are supposed to do.