Tristan and his WHITEBOARD – LIVE
Sellers – It Ain’t Over Until the Buyer Signs at Closing
Hey Everybody – Welcome to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD – LIVE!
This is Tristan with Mindful Living Realty and yes…there is a unicorn on the board behind me. My daughter likes to come in and draw things on my board while I’m away and I thought it was kind of cool conversation piece so I left it up. Happy Unicorn Day!
So today we’re going to talk about something for sellers, especially.
And that is: It ain’t over, until it’s over.
So we get the Purchase Agreement signed and, yes – it’s good to be excited. We’ve got it sold. But that’s just one piece the process. We’ve got to get it all the way closed. There’s a lot of things that could happen between Purchase Agreement time and closing that we need to kinda talk about so you are aware what all could happen.
The Many Buyer Influences
So – here’s how this scenario works. We have a buyer and they got many pieces involved in getting the deal closed. We’ve got a lender. And the lender has underwriters. We’ve also got insurance agents and they’ve got underwriters. And then we’ve also got their agent – the buyer’s agent. And of course, we can’t forget about parents and family. That can really be an issue. And there’s this one over here – you know – memories. “Well, last time I bought a house…” And there’s a different one over here that I love as well. “Well, my Aunt is an agent in California from 20 years ago and she said this…” Those are my favorite ones.
Now, any one of these pieces, somebody could drop the ball. And it’s nothing you or I can control. Yet each one of these people could have an effect on that buyer purchasing your home.
Buyer Lost Financing
Case in point: I had a deal couple of years ago. I was representing the seller and the lender told me that this buyer was preapproved and we were going to try to get it closed quick so they were going to go to this one procedure. And every time I called them to find out where things were at, he kept telling me, “Oh it’s at underwriting, it’s in underwriting.”
Finally he comes back – basically he was lying to me. He comes back: “Well actually this – this deal didn’t work. This lender wasn’t going to be able to help us. We got rejected so we got start all over again.” So we can’t close for another 45 days.
Obviously, my seller was livid at this point. But it was the best choice at that time to keep things moving along. Well then, the buyer got “non-motivated” to buy the property. Something happened with his job and all the sudden he was no longer approved to buy the property. Hence, he got out of that deal, unfortunately. So my seller – already moved out, already waiting for the property to get sold… has spent money on moving things, spent money on storage units. All that kind of stuff. Out all that kind of money. We had to put it back on the market. Not a very happy situation. But that kind of thing can happen.
Death in the Family
Another scenario we had just recently. [On a house we had listed} Another agent brought us a buyer that had a death in the family or close relative. It happened that their funeral for their relative, I’m not sure if it was a sister or what it was, was in Arizona the day after we were supposed to close. So, of course, what are you going to do? You’re going to let him have the time and of course, it was near Christmas. They also wanted to have that week after to spend time with the family in Arizona. During this time, they had to get some documentation into the lender. Well, the lender did not tell us OR them that “Oh, by the way not only do I need it in, I also need time to send it for underwriting.” They got the documentation n in, finally, near the end of the second week. And then needed another week to process it. We finally got closed three weeks after the original closing date. These things happen.
Stuff Happens…
I’ve heard stories of the sellers – or the buyers… oh no – it was the sellers in this case. The sellers were found dead in their house one morning. We can’t make this stuff up! This stuff actually happens.
I’ve had buyers feel like, well the home needs so much work…even after we had cleared the home inspection. And they decided “No – I got cold feet. I’m backing away.” First time home buyers…
We’ve got scenarios where a husband had bought a home for the wife and then the buyer’s wife decided that she didn’t want to buy the home after a while. The wife said “I don’t know if I really want to be here…” Of course, we talked to them about all the options and they did end up purchasing it.
There are options. There are ways that you can handle these type of scenarios, but my point is… There’s a lot of different things can happen. Got a lot of different stories that we tell you about how things fall apart the last minute.
Go with The Flow
Now…
Don’t freak out.
Don’t create problems for yourself.
Just know that things can happen along the way.
And it isn’t over until a buyer at closing signs that piece of paper and – piece of papers – and the whole deal is funded.
So! Be warned, if I have to give you a phone call and say, “Ah – remember when we were talking in the beginning about THE call if something happens. Yeah, this is that call…” Of course, if the buyers default, you have every right to keep earnest money and sue and all that kind of thing.
But – just keep your chin up during the process. Go with the flow! Things happen… weird things happen. Let everything just happen, roll with it. Roll with the dice. Everything will be fine in the end. The majority of homes end up getting closed and end up getting taken care of. And we work through the process.
But you just need be a little more understanding of this mess and the whole process.
Thank you very much for watching today. Hope you guys are having a great week. Let me know if you have any questions or any comments below.
Have a great day and talk to you next time on Tristan and his WHITEBOARD.