House selling frustration. Advice?

[BamaTanya]

We have had a sales contract on the house we're selling since June 6. The buyer just happens to be a friend of ours who already knew our house AND just got full custody of his son -- so he decided to buy it. Through our real estate agent. He was preapproved for the loan before the offer came to us.

 

The paperwork stuff has dragged. I really thought it would be quick since he was preapproved, but we're hearing -- "Oh, we forgot to get this paper" or "Oh, we need this other signature." Etc. As if extra requirements just randomly arise.

 

We were supposed to close last week. It was in the contract.

 

On Friday our realtor showed up with an addendum for us to extend the sales contract through this week. We were told we should be able to close Wednesday. (Yesterday.)

 

The buyer set up cable hookup and ordered a refrigerator and a bed (for his son who will move in with him next week). Hired movers for this weekend.

 

We did not close yesterday. But our realtor showed up with another paper to sign. :confused: NOT an extension - just another stray.

 

We did not close today.

 

TONIGHT (while we're "on hold" to see what time they'll tell us to show up tomorrow) we get a phone call from the buyer (our friend). He just heard the title company wants some other form he'll have to track down tomorrow on his lunch hour. And when he questioned the timing of the closing, he was told, "Oh. The underwriter is off tomorrow. You couldn't close tomorrow anyway."

 

When were they going to tell us we aren't closing tomorrow???

 

Seriously. I thought this would move forward more smoothly than this since the house was empty and in like new condition. And he was preapproved.

 

And I can't believe we've been "on hold" since last week, thinking every day 'we may close tomorrow.'

 

Have other people experienced this?

 

Here's the question: our friend asked if he can go ahead with the movers this weekend since we're planning to close Monday. (Of course, our realtor will have to get us to sign another extension for this to happen.) His lease is almost up at his apartment AND he has no room for his son who's arriving next week. He doesn't have room for the bed and refrigerator that are coming.

 

We want this to go smoothly. Honestly, we've been wanting to get it finished since last month. The only hitch *I* can see is whether or not our homeowner's insurance will cover his stuff in case of some unforeseen event before the transfer is official.

 

What else could happen? Is there any way we can wisely accommodate this request?

 

tia

[Gailmegan]

Yes, you can do it. When my parents sold their house 10 years ago the family wanted to move in prior to settlement, so the contract included "rent" for the days they lived there prior to settlement. I would assume your agent or attorney would know how to add this to the contract, especially since the contract was already broken by the change of settlement date.

 

How frustrating, though. I hope it works out soon.

[Samiam]

Yes, that is par for the course, unfortunately. Not every time, but often enough that, so that it is pretty common that buying/selling a house is a PITA, and always hold your breath until that last "i" is dotted.

 

We had a similiar issue when we sold our house. We had actually moved out of state, and came back specifically for the closing, only to be told the day prior to the closing date, that it was going to have to be rescheduled for the following week...grrrrr!

 

Have heard other stories of the same.

[Mama Geek]

Talk to your realtor about a rental agreement for him. They do this on a regular basis. The realtor should be able to answer liability questions.

 

I would guess that things are getting missed do to the lack of attention by the realtor. It seems like in this day and age a realtor really has to stay on top of things and hound people to get things done. We have dealt with 2 realtors in the last year that were good. They were very detailed oriented and spent all of their time making sure the things got done for the sale of the house. When we bought our current house the realtor did almost all of the work that the selling realtor was supposed to do. The selling realtor wouldn't return phone calls or make arrangements needed for us to do the inspections or find out what the bank needed to settle the foreclosure.

 

Good luck and hopefully you will be able to close on Monday.

[Barb_]

:grouphug: and :glare: Unbelievable. The foot dragging and incompetence is bad enough on a short sale or foreclosure...you'd think they would want a traditional sale to go through post haste.

 

Your homeowners won't cover your friend's stuff. He'll need renter's insurance, I believe. Have him call his insurance company.

 

Barb

[JoyfulMama]

My best friend is a closing agent for a title company- and your case doesn't sound all that different from the many headaches she deals with from lenders/underwriters.

 

I can't offer any advise, and she's already in bed for the night. :grouphug:

[Margo out of lurking]

Have other people experienced this?

 

. . .

 

What else could happen? Is there any way we can wisely accommodate this request?

 

 

 

We had a similar transaction, with small thing after small thing that the underwriters kept coming up with before they would approve the loan. We were the pre-approved buyers. We eventually closed, but it was 7-10 days late.

 

In our case, our realtor knew we couldn't close on the original date. The sellers' realtor knew, but he did not tell them until the last possible minute, even deliberately intercepting the seller when she tried to nicely chat with us at an inspection follow up a week before the original closing date (we already knew it was not yet a "go").

 

I'd let the bed and fridge be delivered, but I don't know about letting him move in (if it were me). If I allowed it, I'd definitely run it past my realtor and have another addendum stating that the buyer will rent the house from you for the time he lives in it prior to closing. I'd write it up that he pay with a personal check at closing. If you really do close on Monday, you don't have to accept the check. But what if you don't close for another week?

 

Although our mortgage guy kept telling us the loan would be approved, we were not so sure and didn't actually believe it until we signed all the paperwork. Lenders have become much more strict in the past few years, and we had to jump through many different hoops to satisfy them.

[AuntieM]

Just closed on our tenth house and though ive heard numerous stories of closings delayed, we have never not closed as scheduled.

 

Your realtor should have been birddogging the buyer's agent all along, making sure they were on track. But as it stands, you don't want to lose the sale and mess up the friendship to boot. But if I were in your shoes, any new extension I sign would include not only a daily fee for rent, but a fee payable to you for every day the closing is delayed beyond Monday. That should light a fire under someone.

 

Eta - sorry I didn't answer your insurance questions specifically. His contents will not be covered if he moves it into the house early and the house burns down. If he moves in and takes a fall on the property, he may have a suit against your insurance company. We just did an early occupancy so we could someone repairs before wemmoved in. The seller included a stipulation that anything permanent would become part of the property and they would not compensate us for it if we failed to close (ie, paint, carpentry work, new carpeting).

 

You may want to call your insurance company in the morning.

Edited July 8, 2011 by AuntieM

[Hillary in KS]

Wow. :001_huh:

 

We've purchased 5 homes and sold 4 over the past few years, and I've NEVER experienced anything like you have!

 

If they're making THIS many mistakes with paperwork *now*, I'd be concerned that they'll have everything needed for closing and something won't be skipped.

 

I agree with posters who've suggested your friend get renter insurance and have a contract drawn up by your agent. Once the potential buyer moves in, it's TERRIBLY hard to get them out if something goes wrong. You'll want to protect yourself, and your friend. I'd hate to see a friendship lost because of assumed good intentions/ actions.

[plansrme]

I would side with your buyer, as I could completely believe that the problems are not his fault. We recently refinanced our house, with the same mortgage company that has held our mortgage for 5 years, and had all sorts of problems. We have been in the house for 10 years, have never missed or been late on a payment on anything and, in fact, pay about 4 times the required payment to this mortgage company. We have well over 50% equity in our house and about 10 times the income necessary to qualify for the piddly little payment the refinance would give us (we financed solely for the lower interest rate and continued to make 4 times the required payment). All of that is to say that it should have been the biggest no-brainer ever, and it wasn't. We had to provide all kinds of stuff we've never provided before. One of the biggest annoyances was getting proof of insurance, and our home owner's insurance is through the lender. Yep, exact same company (USAA), and they asked me for proof of insurance about 4 times.

 

I cannot imagine how closings ever get finished in more typical situations. This was nothing like our previous experiences buying 2 houses or refinancing either of them. There should be some middle ground between the not-so-old-days of, "Sign here, and I'll give you $150K," and what it has come to now.

 

And yeah, suggest that your friend have a couple of days' worth of renter's insurance, but I would let him move in.

 

Terri

[DawnM]

You have just confirmed why I don't like doing business with friends.

 

We have had some headaches in buying and selling homes, but we haven't dealt with friends.

 

Are you worried at all that if you hand over the keys before closing that he won't pay? If so, I would halt ALL moving in until it is taken care of.

 

Dawn

[MaMa2005]

No advice about the buyer and his things, but we are re-financing our house because we can get a lower interest rate. Our credit scores are fantastic and we thought it would be a breeze - just like your were saying. We started the first of June and our closing is set for July 28. I have NEVER in all the years of buying and selling houses had something be such a headache. So many pieces of 'stray' paper that have to be signed. Finally, DH asked about it and was told because of the mortgage debacle/collapse, things have really changed and thus, soooooooooo much more paperwork and time.

 

:grouphug::grouphug: I really feel your pain.

[Murmer]

The paperwork stuff has dragged. I really thought it would be quick since he was preapproved, but we're hearing -- "Oh, we forgot to get this paper" or "Oh, we need this other signature." Etc. As if extra requirements just randomly arise.

 

 

 

Sadly the extra requirements probably did just randomly arise...when we bought our house we would do everything they asked and then all the sudden would have to "prove" something else or find some other random piece of paper...I want to say we closed well over a month after we ha already moved in...thank goodness the person selling the house was very accomodating because we didn't have anywhere else to live because the house selling should have been over in the 2 months before...but the mortage market sucks right now and its hard to get a mortage with a lot of hoops to jump that change weekly literally.

[Lawana]

I would side with your buyer, as I could completely believe that the problems are not his fault. We recently refinanced our house, with the same mortgage company that has held our mortgage for 5 years, and had all sorts of problems. We have been in the house for 10 years, have never missed or been late on a payment on anything and, in fact, pay about 4 times the required payment to this mortgage company. We have well over 50% equity in our house and about 10 times the income necessary to qualify for the piddly little payment the refinance would give us (we financed solely for the lower interest rate and continued to make 4 times the required payment). All of that is to say that it should have been the biggest no-brainer ever, and it wasn't. We had to provide all kinds of stuff we've never provided before. One of the biggest annoyances was getting proof of insurance, and our home owner's insurance is through the lender. Yep, exact same company (USAA), and they asked me for proof of insurance about 4 times.

 

I cannot imagine how closings ever get finished in more typical situations. This was nothing like our previous experiences buying 2 houses or refinancing either of them. There should be some middle ground between the not-so-old-days of, "Sign here, and I'll give you $150K," and what it has come to now.

 

And yeah, suggest that your friend have a couple of days' worth of renter's insurance, but I would let him move in.

 

Terri

:iagree:We just bought a house. Preapproved through a lender. Way less house than we qualified for. Ended up changing lenders midstream because of the absolutely crazy things that just kept "popping up," including having to write a letter explaining why the *lender* requested our credit report. Went four weeks over the original schedule. What a pain.

[Dobela]

Don't blame the buyer. Title companies and banks around here are notorious for cauing delays. My dad paid cash on one not too long ago and the closing was delayed for nearly a month thanks to title companies.

[AuntieM]

Don't blame the buyer. Title companies and banks around here are notorious for cauing delays. My dad paid cash on one not too long ago and the closing was delayed for nearly a month thanks to title companies.

 

This is part of your realtor's job, to be on top of the title company to make sure all is clicking along. S/he shouldn't be waiting to hear what the title company needs next, but should be proactively trying to get all the i's dotted and t's crossed. When I think about the commission I'm paying the realtor, I don't mind demanding (albeit nicely) that my listing agent earn that chunk of change. Marketing a house is only half the job, getting to closing is the other half.

 

I do understand that things are nuttier with lenders these days. But still, a good realtor and efficient title agent should be able to foresee some of the things which might cause delays.

[mandymom]

Don't blame the buyer. Title companies and banks around here are notorious for cauing delays.

 

We just purchased a home last year, and it was the single, most frustrating thing I had been through. We've sold/purchased 4 homes since we've been married, and it was NEVER like this last time. The lender kept throwing all these things at us one at a time (a few right before closing was supposed to happen) and some were nearly impossible for us to get the info. Thank goodness my dh owns a franchise through a VERY UNDERSTANDING company since THEY had to fill out all sorts of paperwork, including a letter to the lender that explained exactly how the franchise agreement worked (actually TWICE, because the lender didn't like the first letter).

 

Our closing date got shuffled around I don't know how many times. And it didn't have ANYTHING to do with us, the buyers. It was the title company that kept changing it. We were in a rental too, and our lease was up 5 days before we ended up getting into our new house because of a last minute delay on the title company's part. Our things were already loaded into moving trucks before we found out too, so that's where our things sat...in the U-hauls :001_smile: