Yup—anecdote time.
I was in a closing on my first house. At the closing the mortgage lender’s attorney had put new fees on the document—in pen—at the last minute.
I said “take them off the contract or I am walking”.
He said “no”.
I said “fine, I am out of here”.
I stood up and began walking out of the room.
I heard a loud voice behind me: “No, OK, we will remove the changes. Please come back.”
We did the closing.
I should give proper credit—the book that prepared me for that moment was Robert Ringer’s classic “Winning Through Intimidation”.
He taught me that there are two kinds of people in the world:
—Those who watch things happen
—Those who make things happen
I did something similar. New house had poor drainage. I said “I am not closing.” They said I would be “default.” I called my lawyer. She said, “they have to send you a letter that says you are in default, and under state law, you have 21 days to answer.” So I told them, “so I’m in default. So what.” I left. Within hours the drainage problem was fixed and we closed on schedule.