Show stopper is a term we use in business when the deal you are working on falls apart for one reason or the other. The buyer or the seller will raise an issue that stops the flow of the transaction and ends the discussion. Usually the issue starts as something simple but escalates into a real problem, hence the term show stopper.

I am working on a deal now where we found out that there were some shenanigans (show stoppers) going on with the buyer that almost derailed the deal. We got it straightened out, but it very well could have killed the deal. I will never forget a conference call we had with a seller and a buyer on a hotel back in 2007. The seller owned one hotel, the one we were selling. The buyer owned 300 hotels and was one of the most respected buyers in the country. We got on the conference call to hammer out the remaining terms of the transaction when the seller got full of himself and started talking like he was the smartest real estate person in the room. I remember it vividly when he asks the buyer in a sarcastic manner, if they knew what they were doing and had ever bought a hotel before. Ha. What a doofus. The buyer just answered very calmly that they had bought other hotels (what an understatement) and they had experience buying his type hotel. Well, I knew that at moment, the comment by the seller was a show stopper. Sure enough, it killed the deal and to this day I remember it like it was yesterday.

Usually, not always, the show stopper is an attitude or aggression that suggest that the person will be difficult to work with and usually, causes the parties to just move on to something else. Attitude, calmness, understanding and flexibility are essential to any real estate transaction. There are always ways to express yourself other than a full-frontal assault and this is something you learn through experience rather than a classroom. This concept applies to not only real estate but many times to life, relationships, jobs, church, children and just about every interaction we have in life. Don’t let one conversation become a show stopper between you and someone you love. KT