If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, or are considering it, there are things you should be aware of. Even though your house might be under agreement with a buyer, or if you’re a buyer and have found a house, that doesn’t mean everything will be all right.
I’m going to be the “bad guy” to tell you there are still several things that can go wrong. A house is never considered “sold” until you’ve left that closing table with keys in your hand.
Here are some reasons that typically cause a sale to fall apart.
Bad financing
The buyer might have a pre-approval, and that’s good if they do, however, things can happen along the way to make financing not approvable. Sometimes the finance rate will come in higher than the original quote, making monthly payments impossible for the buyers to afford. On the flip side, sometimes a buyer will make a drastic change in their lifestyle, which will make financing impossible. Some examples of this might be quitting a job, or buying a new, expensive car.
Bad lenders
This isn’t as common as it was even a year ago with sub-prime lenders on the news constantly. Banks that originally promised loans to high-risk buyers are fewer and farther between. They are still out there though, so be wary. It’s best to deal with someone locally, if there is ever a problem, you’ll have a place to go and speak with a person who cares about you.
Home inspections
Home inspectors are hired by a buyer to perform an inspection on the home. Occasionally, you’ll run into a home inspector who will scare a buyer away. While this is perfectly accepted if there is something wrong with your house, sometimes home inspectors can go a little overboard, and something that might be minor, can turn into a major headache.
Human factors
This is unfortunately the case sometimes where a buyer, for no particular reason, decides to back out. Chances are they will lose their deposit money, but sometimes that’s a risk they are willing to take. The worst side of this story can be caused by divorce, death, or a whole host of factors.
Lien discharges
Prior to closing on your house, the attorney will check the title. There can be past liens from other lenders that haven’t been discharged which starts a whole laundry list of “to do’s” for the attorney. Banks can be hard to trace down, but it can be done. This can take a long time, either delaying your closing or possibly losing your buyers if they don’t want to wait.
So goes the saying “it’s not over, until it’s over.” Unfortunately when buying or selling a house, you have to take that into consideration. There are several processes to selling a house, and the opportunity for any one of them to go wrong.