Dun Dun DUNNNNN… this article is all about the last minute real estate deal killers and why you shouldn’t get excited until the keys are in your hand or the money is in your account.
So you go to to buy a home or sell your home.. you write a contract, get through inspections and the appraisal and you think yes we made it through – now time to close! The Real Truth: Most people don’t realize that the deal isn’t done until the money is funded and fully released to all parties. TRUST US – we have seen some things happen. As the saying goes.. it is not over until it is over..
As local agents who have been doing this a while, we have seen a lot of deals that seemed to be going smoothly.. fall apart (or almost fall a part) at the last minute….
Some of the real estate deal killers we have personally seen:
- Seller or buyer have a debt (or create a new debt) that is unknown until right before closing. We have seen this both ways.. we had buyers (after we had told them not to do this) who purchased a car without telling the lender.. and guess what?! Their debt to income ratio (with the new car) became too high to get the loan… LOAN DENIED. Luckily for them, they had family with money who swooped in and closed the deal. With sellers.. we recently had this happen when we represented an investor on a deal where right before closing a lien on the seller’s home was discovered and unfortunately this lien would have required them to bring money to the table.. that they didn’t have.. so the DEAL WAS DEAD.
- Seller or buyer do not perform – okay basically they means they stop all communications with the parties, stop acting in good faith, or they don’t perform. We have personally never had this experience.. but this does happen. We know some agents who had a multi million dollar listing that accepted a deal that seemed a little too good to be true and the international buyer just never performed… and they never heard from them again. In that case, you just have to start over again and find a new buyer.
- Final Walk Through Disasters – so this can happen to both buyer and seller… so you think the deal is done… and during the final walk through something pops up. We represented a seller.. and during the final walk through the buyer decided that a fixed repair wasn’t fixed to their liking and they refused to close. We were able to save the deal by offering a small credit to the buyer that appeased them and closed the deal. Now – for a buyer – you may do a final walk through and find something that has been hidden by furniture, something has broken since inspections, or the movers have ruined some part of the home.. these are things that can really wreck with a deal at the last minute. At that time, people need to really work together to come up with a solution to save the deal and appease everyone.
- Natural disaster… yes, this does happen. Floods, tornadoes, fires etc. can obviously ruin deals. We actually had buyers from California who had a home sale contingency to purchase a home here in Nashville during the wild fires. Luckily for everyone involved their home in California was not affected.. but I remember thinking that so many factors play into the buying and selling of a home.
- Death… this is one of the hardest ones to deal with… it can happen that one of the parties dies during escrow. We actually had this happen two days before closing. At that point, the deal doesn’t matter..
- Government Issues/Federal laws/Changes to loan programs: this is another one that is out of our hands… I had a client who was approved for an FHA loan and RIGHT BEFORE closing.. there was a change regarding how student loan debt was factored into the debt to income ratio. This disqualified them for the program.. luckily they were able to go another route but some people are not so lucky. Similarly, things like government shutdowns like we saw recently, etc can really affect a buyer’s ability to close on a home potentially at the last second.
So you may be asking? What can we do to avoid these last minute disasters? The number one way to avoid these last minute real estate deal killers is to hire a professional real estate agent. We have been able to SAVE almost all of our deals before they completely fall apart but of course there are the ones that cannot be saved (as you can see above we are unable to control things like natural disasters, death, irresponsible people, etc). But things like deals falling through because of financing, title issues etc can be prevented by working with professional agents who partners with professional lenders and title companies.
If you are thinking about buying a home or selling your property –call or text us anytime at 615.310.8661 or lisa@nashvilleonthemarket.com
xoxo, Lisa Stigliano
Greater Nashville Realtor | Co-Owner Nashville on the Market Real Estate
