The_Disappearing_Investor

The episode reflects on a vanished investor, Alex, who seemed solid until he disappeared right before closing a real estate deal. The narrator learned not to take silence personally in the business and to differentiate between interest and commitment. Despite the investor's return with an apology, the experience taught the narrator to stay prepared and not assume commitment from momentum in deals. The seller's calm reaction highlighted the unpredictable nature of real estate transactions. Welcome back to Stories on Love, Life, and Real Estate, M2, Episode 3 of the year, following my Deals and Detours mini-series. It is a mini-series where I unpack the unpredictable moments behind the scenes of the deals that shaped us. Today's story is about a buyer who checked all the boxes until he vanished without a trace. In this micropod, I'm sharing what happened when a rock-solid deal unraveled days before closing and what is revealed about trust, timing, and learning not to take silence personally. This just isn't a deal on a real estate story. It's a reminder that even the most promising deals can disappear quietly and without warning. Let's get into it. I like to call this the Disappearing Investor, and just a little background. I began working with this investor in the beginning of 2004, and again by mid-2025. So there's this saying in real estate, it's not over until it closes. Now, I believe with my whole chest, December 2024, and I'm going back, it's 2026 now, I gotta get used to that. I was working with an investor, and let's call him Alex, confident, polished, knew the numbers, knew the market, the kind of buyer that make agents breathe easier. We've been in contract on a multi-unit property, due diligence, food, inspection, clean, financing, solid, or so we thought. We were one week from closing, and then silence. At first, it was small, a missed call, a delayed reply, no big deal, right? It happened. But then it became, how can I say? It became daze. The whole company couldn't reach him. Lenders said he went radio silent, like disappeared off the earth silent. And I started feeling that tightening in my chest, the one you get when you work so hard, and now it's about to fall apart, and there's nothing you can do about it. I text, and my text message went, hey, just checking in, we're on track to close Friday, let me know if you need anything. 30 minutes passed, hours, nothing. I called, straight to WhatsApp. I even tried his assistant. Number disconnected. Gone. No warning, no explanation, just a vanishing act. And here's the wild part. The seller, unbeknownst to me, and in shock, the seller was calm, calmer than I was. They'd been in the game long enough to know it happened. They just turned to me and said, let's just keep it moving. And that stuck with me. Because in this business, you learn quickly that deals aren't promises, they're possibilities. But, until the ink dries, and the keys change hands, I'm sharing this piece now, because Alex just reached back out months later. And it was a real apology, just a casual, hope you're doing well, happy new year, let's work on something soon. And I'll be honest, it brought up more than I expected. Not because I'm holding a grudge, but because I've grown. I've learned the difference between interest and investment. Between words and follow through. This wasn't the first time someone disappeared either, I must admit. And it certainly won't be the last. But every time it happens, it teaches me the same thing. Stay ready, stay steady, don't take silence personally. And don't assume momentum means commitment. That's real estate. It's messy, it's mysterious, and every now and then, I'm ghosted. That's all I wanted to share today. Thank you for listening.