Hurray, we have our home UNDER CONTRACT! Now we just sit
back and wait until the day we all meet to close the deal.
Right? Well, believe it or not, getting your home under
contract may be the easy side of selling it. For most Sellers
and Buyers, the real work is about to begin.
FROM THE BUYERS’ POINT OF VIEW – Two
major items to be done!
FINANCING: Get on with it! Your contract probably
says you need to apply for your financing almost immediately.
Since getting a financial commitment takes the longest,
it’s a great idea anyway. Since we know you were
smart and got yourself pre-approved prior to looking for
a home, your financial agent can move quickly to order
a title review and an appraisal for your new home. In an
active market these items take quite a bit of time so do
not hesitate in contacting your financial agent that you
found the right home so the application and other paperwork
can get started.
INSPECTIONS: Buyers should
walk into the inspection process knowing that the house
they are buying is not going to be perfect. There are
items wrong or in disrepair with just about every home.
You and your inspectors should be looking for major items
like rotted sills, the roof leaking, safety related issues,
and whether or not the furnace last until next week.
Always attend your inspections, if you can, and ask a
lot of questions about the house. The inspectors are
ready to help you understand how your new home will work
not just what is bad or good about the house.
FROM THE SELLERS’ POINT OF
VIEW
INSPECTIONS: If you have been reading these monthly
articles, you know that we previously suggested that you
do some home inspections prior to listing your home to
catch repair items and fix them before Buyers even see
your home. This is a good idea since home inspections accounts
for a lot of Buyers backing out of contracts. If you have
completed some inspections, you can feel pretty confident
that the Buyer’s inspector should not catch anything
major that you don’t already know about.
Now, if you haven’t done those pre-listing inspections,
it’s now time to face the Buyers inspectors like
the General Building inspector who may also do Radon Testing,
Water Testing, a Pest Inspection and other tests and inspections.
You can look forward to having your lawn dug up to inspect
your Septic System if you are not on a sewer system where
you live.
Now, grab a chair and watch it happen. Please try not
to be offended that these inspectors seem to be writing
lots in their notes. The truth is that inspectors tell
Buyers both what is actually in your home as well as what
is good and not so good about your home.
THE OLD ADAGE…”Everything
is negotiable!”
Whether you are a buyer or seller, the results of inspections
and the inevitable questions around who will pay to repair
or replace something found during the inspections comes
up.
SELLERS…remember, if this deal falls through, you
start marketing your property all over again unless you
were lucky enough to have a back-up contract on your home
just in case the first one doesn’t work.
BUYERS…remember, if this deal
falls through, you start looking again and will still
have to go through this with every property you want
to buy.
The objective of this buyer and seller soul-searching
is for everyone to try to act reasonable and negotiate
to a mutually agreeable conclusion on issues found. Try
not to dig your heals in when asking for something. Try
to give a little too.
A FEW OTHER THINGS TO REMEMBER:
- The Seller is responsible for preparing the deed. Your
agent will ask you who you would like to prepare it.
It may be easier to just have the Closing Agency prepare
it.
- Gather up all your utility account numbers for the
new owners. This will help insure that your accounts
are closed out properly.
- Don’t forget to bring picture
IDs to the closing to verify that you are who you say
you are.
- Buyers: Don’t forget
to bring your checkbook with you. Most times you will
need to buy the remaining heating fuel and other personal
property you wanted and not already in the contract.
This is usually done with a personal check.
- Buyers: When told how much money needs to be
brought to the closing, PLEASE REMEMBER…Your check
needs to be in the form of “Cleared Funds” like
a Bank Check. Closing Agents will NOT accept a personal
check.
- Sellers: Bring any remaining
keys and your garage door openers with you to the closing.
- Sellers: If you have a
copy of your tax bill, please bring it along to the
closing.
CELEBRATE:
The big day has finally come. You’ve done the final
walkthrough, negotiated all the issues to everyone’s
satisfaction and your agent has told you when and where
to show up for the closing. Put a smile on your face and
get over there. You are NOW READY TO CLOSE!
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