How long should house sellers give buyers to complete a deal?

Selling a home can be filled with lots of unknowns, stress triggers and mountains of work, but finding a buyer should be an area that alleviates a lot of the stress. Unless, of course, you find yourself with a lagging or delay ridden buyer who can make the process almost unbearable. If you have a buyer who continues to ask for extensions in order to procure financing or is having trouble selling their current home, should you keep waiting or call off the deal?

Mortgage trouble

Unknown to many sellers are the mortgage mishaps that have the potential of delaying or destroying a sale. Since pre-approval letters used by most buyers do not guarantee financing, delays can be caused when financing doesn’t come through on time.

One of the advantages of having an experienced Realtor is relying on their ability to screen potential buyers as well as their relationships with local lenders and financial institutions.

An excellent Realtor can spot potential problems in advance upon reviewing the finances of an offer letter as well as the mortgage structure. The delicate process of deciding among multiple offers should come down to the seller’s needs and the realtor’s direction in order to determine which offer has best potential of following through.

Buyer circumstances

Some buyers fail to realize that obtaining new debt while waiting on mortgage approval can slow or even ruin the entire deal. Changes to employment or income during the process can make significant problems.

In many cases, buyers are looking to sell their current home as well as purchase a new one. It is possible for one home to sell and settle on the same day that a new home is purchased, but with a fast moving marking, more and more people are waiting to sell in order to be sure they have a place to live while they search for their new homestead. Sometimes, this causes a delay when the first home hasn’t sold, but the new home is under contract, causing a need for the closing date to continue to be pushed back.

Even if lenders, buyers, sellers and Realtors do everything right, there is still potential for delay issues.

When to call off the deal

Deciding to cancel a deal shouldn’t be done in a hurry. If a buyer is giving you the run around and if you are legally able to break contract, talk to your Realtor about finding another buyer or, hopefully, turn to a backup offer on the table. Your realtor should be able to

scoop on the situation surrounding the delays and hopefully help to determine if the delays are merely circumstantial or if it seems the financing looks like it has no hope of going through.

Another option is to simply tell the buyer you are considering backing out unless they meet criteria that works for you (but only if you have a backup offer option). If the delay is significant enough, you could ask

for funds to cover the monies you will spend during the delay, such as your mortgage and taxes.

I have discussed the great benefit for potential buyers to view homes and submit a backup offer on homes currently under contract. In situations where delays are plentiful, backup offers are extremely valuable for both parties. If you have attractive backup offers available and are currently faced with a unreliable homebuyer with documented delays, or a buyer whose financing isn’t coming

through, you should work with your realtor and consider moving to a backup if you are legally able to do so.

GRAPHIC FROM MAUREEN HUGHES