Broker Olivia Hsu-Decker was about to close the sale of a $6 million mansion in Napa Valley last month when the deal suddenly stalled. The reason: fish fossils.
The buyer had agreed to buy the house along with all of its contents, from the linens and lamps to the couches and silverware. Yet there was one item the seller insisted on keeping. It was a giant sculpture featuring several fish fossils that hung above the dining room table.
The buyer insisted that without the fossils there was no deal. It was only after Hsu-Decker pitched in $60,000 from her commission to the price that the deal closed.
"That fish fossil almost ruined the deal," she said.