Real Estate Deal Breakers

Published by julia | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Miscellaneous, Real Estate, Shout Outs

Buying a home is both fun and stressful. Once price and terms are met between buyer and seller comes the time to take care of a little business.  Get that loan finalized, have the home inspection and tests done, and then once the appraisal comes in, it is smooth sailing.  Usually.

Once the paperwork is all signed and all conditions have been met it is mostly just a matter of waiting for the money and the “clear to close” from the lender.  We like to be excited at this time and start planning the move and imagining life in the new house.  We go about this with a smile, but keeping in the back of our minds the five most common things that go wrong when nobody is looking.

1.    Closing figures are often not available until a day or two before the closing and if any discrepancy in the money is stressful to all parties.  Often times the seller’s pay off or closing fees comes in higher than quoted.  If the seller cannot come up with the additional money, the deal is potentially off unless the buyer agrees to bump up the sale price.

2.    Sometimes a buyer is qualified to buy the property at the time of writing the offer, but conditions change before closing.  Either the buyer makes foolish purchases before the loan is approved or more likely, the property taxes, maintenance fees, interest rate, etc. increases if the loan is not closed by a certain date, bumping the payment out of the buyer’s price range.

3.    Property use…  More common in a situation like an owned apartment, if the co-op board or some other ruling entity decides that they don’t want you running your catering business out of your home, they can deny your application at the last minute.

4.    Lien on property discovered.  Sellers sometimes forget that they borrowed against the house to pay off a student loan or some other expense and the title company uncovers a lien against the house just before closing.

5.    Personal problems.  Cold feet issues, marital problems, or death in the family are extreme conditions that cause buyers to back out of the deal.

Sometimes these deal breakers can be handled or avoided.  The point isn’t to worry and expect the worst all through your transaction.  But be aware of their possibility and be proactive in making sure everything on YOUR end is covered.