know how to solve it. As a result, the buyer couldn’t obtain financing to buy the home. The agent is confident that if he had been involved in the sale, the buyer would have obtained financing and bought the home. Unfortunately, the seller had to put the home back on the market. It took another five months to sell. The seller had to pay an additional five months’ worth of mortgage payments, property tax payments, and homeowner’s insurance premiums. In addition, she had to maintain the lawn, pay the electric bill, and take care of the property. This reminds us of the old story of the importance of “Knowing Where to Tap.” Have you ever heard the story? Here’s the short version: A huge steamship boiler system was not working properly. The steamship captain hired a top boiler expert to fix it. The expert asked a few questions and inspected the boiler room. He looked at the pipes that twisted and turned every which-way and listened to the boiler and all the machinery. He studied the problem, reached into his tools, and grabbed a small hammer. He gently tapped one valve, and— voilà! —the problem was fixed. He sent a bill for $1,000 to the owner of the steamship. When the owner saw the $1,000 invoice, he was mad as a hornet! He called the expert and confronted him about the bill. “You were only there for 15 minutes! How dare you charge me $1,000!?!” he demanded. The expert heard him out and told him he would send a new bill. The owner received another bill the next day. The bill was itemized as follows:
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