Nov
29
I knew the deal was in trouble when the Buyers asked for a $46,000 credit for repairs and updating when the house was only selling for $1,028,000! As it turns out, the Seller should have negotiated with them on the credit to get it closed; however he was being stubborn and seemed to be looking for a way out of it. He never did sell the house and his parents ended up bailing him out and buying it from him. The thing the Buyers did not do in this situation is proceed with their loan application and appraisal, so at the same time they were asking for the credit they were also asking for an extension on the loan contingency because they had not proceeded with their loan process pending the credit for repairs. This did not make them appear to be very serious Buyers and made it difficult for me to engage the Seller in the negotiation. It made them appear to have just accepted the price until they could get into escrow when they had more leverage to negotiate the price down. The Seller had reservations about the Buyer and this just justified them so as a result we gave them an ultimatum that they rejected. So there seem to be two lessons here; Buyers, you need to perform on your own contingencies in order to have the respect of the Seller and Sellers, this may not be the market to make hasty decisions and let your pride get in the way of making the deal work. We are all making up the rules as we go in this market.