Dympna Fay-Hart of Century 21 McMullen Real Estate was tantalizingly close to closing out a sale for her clients. Their home was an older property on Chicago’s Northwest Side. In the six years since they bought it on a foreclosure, they completed extensive renovations and turned the once vacant house into a beautiful home. They put it up for sale as the market was gaining strength, and Fay-Hart quickly found a buyer and the house went under contract.

And then at that point, the deal quickly unraveled.

“When it went under contract, the purchaser’s inspector revealed that there [had been] a fire in the home,” Fay-Hart said. “My sellers had no knowledge of that, and the contract was terminated.”

Fay-Hart, a seasoned professional with 20 years in the business, was able to bounce back  and quickly found another buyer, but her experience showed just how quickly a sure-thing sale can go south. Home inspections, appraisals and buyer’s remorse can wreck deals for top agents and novices alike. However, the old adage that there’s a buyer for every home usually holds true, and there are often ways to either pull a deal out of the fire or find something better for a client.