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Handle a Deal Collapse

The deal fell through. The pipeline has first-class support for this — collapsed deals are analytical signal, not a failure to track. There are two reverse transitions back to QUALIFIED depending on how far the deal had progressed, and both require a reason code.

Pick the right transition

Section titled “Pick the right transition”
The deal collapsed…Click this buttonTransitionEvent
Between buyer’s agreement and contract executionDeal collapsedCOMMITTED → QUALIFIEDdeal_collapsed
After contract execution, before closingContract voidedIN_CONTRACT → QUALIFIEDcontract_voided

The two transitions look similar on the board (both demote to QUALIFIED) but the events are different, each has its own list of reasons, and the timeline preserves which one fired. That matters when your broker later asks “how many of our IN_CONTRACT deals voided this quarter?”

Steps

Section titled “Steps”
  1. Open the lead’s detail page from the COMMITTED or IN_CONTRACT column.
  2. In the Lifecycle card, look below the forward buttons for the Setbacks and exits row. Click Deal collapsed (from COMMITTED) or Contract voided (from IN_CONTRACT). The dialog header confirms the move: Committed → Qualified or In Contract → Qualified.
  3. Pick a Reason from the dropdown. It is required; the dialog will not submit without one.
    • Deal collapsed offers: Financing fell through, Inspection issue, Buyer changed their mind, Seller withdrew, Lost to a competing offer, Agreement expired, Other.
    • Contract voided offers: Financing fell through, Inspection issue, Appraisal gap, Title issue, Mutual release, Buyer withdrew, Seller withdrew, Other.
  4. Add a Note with the specifics. The reason code is what the funnel reports on; the note is for the people reading the timeline later.
  5. Click the red Deal collapsed or Contract voided button to submit.

The board offers the same thing: drag the card onto the QUALIFIED column, or open its ⋯ menu and pick the action under the divider. Either route opens this dialog, so nothing moves without a reason.

Greg Schultz detail page. This capture predates the current Lifecycle card: the Status dropdown and Quick Actions panel it shows have been replaced by the Next step buttons and the Setbacks and exits row, and the Reason dropdown now lives in the action dialog.

Be specific in the free-text reason

Section titled “Be specific in the free-text reason”

The reason you pick from the dropdown is the structured signal, and it is what the funnel reports on. The note is for the humans reading the timeline three months from now: your broker, the next agent on the lead, you yourself.

Useful:

  • “Buyer’s financing fell through after rate lock expired”
  • “Inspection found foundation issue; seller refused to negotiate”
  • “Mutual release — buyer relocated for a job”

Not useful:

  • “Deal died”
  • “Buyer backed out”
  • “Inspection issue”

The first set tells the next reader what happened. The second tells them only that something happened. “Inspection issue” is already a dropdown option; the note should say what the inspection found.

What changes after the transition

Section titled “What changes after the transition”
  • The card moves back to QUALIFIED on the board.
  • The timeline records a Deal collapsed or Contract voided row with the stage change, the reason code in monospace (for example inspection_issue), your note quoted under it, and your name as the actor.
  • The legacy buyer_status projects back to searching (the default QUALIFIED projection).
  • The lead remains assigned to you. They stay in the active pipeline.

What the lead is NOT

Section titled “What the lead is NOT”
  • Not archived. A collapsed deal doesn’t mean the relationship is over. The lead is back in QUALIFIED because they’re still working with you, just on a different property.
  • Not closed-lost. There’s no separate “lost” terminal column. If the relationship ends entirely, the move is QUALIFIED → ARCHIVED through the Archive: no progress button.
  • Not retried automatically. No drips re-fire. You’re back to the searching/touring phase manually.

A worked example

Section titled “A worked example”

Suppose Marcus Williams was in IN_CONTRACT and the inspection found a structural issue the seller wouldn’t address. The contract is voided. Open Marcus’s card, click Contract voided under Setbacks and exits, pick Inspection issue as the reason, and put “Foundation issue, seller declined repair credit, mutual release filed 2026-05-15” in the note.

He goes back to QUALIFIED. His temperature stays whatever it was. His timeline now has a full audit trail of the failed deal, including why. When he finds a different property and signs a new agreement, the transition QUALIFIED → COMMITTED fires fresh — the previous failure is history, not state.

Section titled “Related”