Selling property sucks...

[arcas]

Okay. On April 2, I entered into an agreement to sell a piece of land. The contract stated that the transaction was to be completed on or before Friday (May 9). Got a call from the buyer a few days ago and he said that his mortgage company still had some things to do and that closing would most likely not occur by Friday. I called his mortgage company today and spoke with his loan officer. Apparently they still haven't completed the appraisal and they still have "some things" to take care of regarding the construction portion of the loan. She claimed that the closing would be delayed "a couple weeks" but wouldn't be more specific. This puts us well beyond the May 9 date in the original contract and even beyond the 45 day period found in alot of purchase contracts.

Problem: There is another person interested in buying this land.

Do I wait for this guy's mortgage company to get its act together (and hope they don't tack on any additional delays) or do I declare the contract void on May 10, return this guy's deposit and sign a contract with the other prospective buyer? My inclination is to allow an extra week grace time which would bring the waiting period to 45 days but the loan officer implied that even this won't be long enough 🙁

This sucks, Beavis.

 

[StageLeft]

Talk to the other person and find out from them how serious they are and whether they are ready to close now. If so cancel on the original; they blew the date and it's not by 1-2 days but by a larger margin. If they don't understand they should. Then give to the second buyer who is hopefully ready and willing.

 

[Finality]

Check with the other party first and see if they have their financing in order.

If they do tell the buyer and offer him one more chance or you have to sell it, plain and simple.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Talk to the other person and find out from them how serious they are and whether they are ready to close now. If so cancel on the original; they blew the date and it's not by 1-2 days but by a larger margin. If they don't understand they should. Then give to the second buyer who is hopefully ready and willing.

Agreed and agreed.

 

[Vic]

The current low rate refi boom has significantly worsened appraisal turn-around times across most of the country. Some areas are running in excess of 6 weeks. If that is the only (or the main) issue, then I advise you to wait, as every buyer is likely to encounter the same problem.
I would suggest that you contact the loan officer again and inform him/her that if they don't get moving that you are likely to cancel the deal and go with another buyer. Hopefully, that will either light a fire under them or encourage them to be more forthcoming on the delays.
Remember, if you cancel this out and start with another buyer, you will once again have to wait at least another 30-45 days. What you really want to find out is: are the delays because of an unavoidable problem in your market (i.e. long appraisal turn-around times), or has the the buyer delayed the transaction by not providing documentation to the lender promptly or is there a problem with the buyer's qualifications?

 

[grillmasterP]

I would give buyer #1 the benefit of the doubt (unless you have had multiple probs with him) - Delays happen on both ends even when the seller & buyer have done everything possible- Buyer 1's mortgage company could have messed up- I would give them a reasonable extension if they request. - 1-2 weeks. (that's just 5-10 business days)

You basically have to start over with a new contract if you go with the 2nd buyer and the same thing could happen all over again. What if buyer two

I think you could set up a backup contract with buyer 2 in the event that you don't close with buyer 1.

Just put yourself in the buyer's shoes for a minute. - My fiance and I recently purchased a condo. Our loan officer/mortgage company was delayed even though we did everything by the book. We ended up closing the next week.