Relocating to Southern Oregon: Closing an Off-Market Home Despite a Difficult Transaction

Buyers we'd worked with before on a second home were relocating to the area full-time after their jobs shifted to remote work. They found an off-market listing, and the agent representing the seller had a reputation in the local market for being difficult to work with.

We wrote a competitive offer that was accepted without much friction — but the transaction turned tense around the inspection period. We later learned, through a third party, that the listing agent had been holding a backup buyer in her own favor and appeared to be working against the deal. It came to a head when our clients received an unexpected call: the seller had fired her agent and asked to deal directly with us going forward.

With quick thinking and some flexibility from our buyers, we kept the transaction together through a tense final stretch and closed successfully. Even after closing, the situation stayed unusual for a few weeks before fully settling. Looking back on it since, our clients count it as one of the stranger deals they've been part of — and one of the most satisfying to have come out the other side of. They've been happily settled in their Rogue Valley home ever since.