Going, going, gone?

I mentioned a while ago that I’d had an offer on the house I’ve been trying to sell. Yippee, right? But the deal is not perfect, the buyers have poor credit; I’m assisting with closing costs and holding a second mortgage. However, it’s the only offer I’ve had and it achieves the basic objective: To cover the outstanding mortgage and the selling expenses, and of course, no longer be responsible for the property. I won’t be out-of-pocket to complete the transaction and any payments the buyers make on the second mortgage is profit to me. Given the deteriorated state of the neighborhood, on top of a glut of houses in the area, I never expected to make any money on the sale. So this is not too bad of a deal.

Two days ago my realtor called me and told me that she had another potential buyer that wanted to see the house. We had agreed that we would keep the house on the market until the day the property transferred… just in case the buyers I’d contracted with couldn’t get financing. Interestingly, this new buyer had already looked at an income property on the same street as my house and wanted to buy it. It was apparently the first house she’d looked at. The mortgage broker, a friend of my realtor, who also is the broker for the buyers I have the contract with, suggested to her new client that she consider looking at other properties before committing to the first one she’d seen. The mortgage broker put the woman in touch with my realtor.

This second buyer is apparently a much more qualified purchaser. Okay, that’s nice. I tell my realtor to go ahead and show the house. Oh, but what about the contract I already have going? My realtor tells me that my attorney can have that contract canceled because the buyers haven’t complied with some of the terms of the contract. Huh?!? Well, they were supposed to have applied for mortgage financing withing five days of signing the contract. They hadn’t done it. They were also supposed to have given the 2nd portion of the deposit to my realtor. They hadn’t done that either. The contract was signed on May 30th.

It didn’t hit me until I thought about it later… Is someone asleep at the wheel here? If so, who?

The buyers sign a contract and are responsible to initiate and execute the subsequent steps to complete the contract themselves? In theory, yes. In practice, I don’t think so. Particularly not with first time home buyers who aren’t exactly responsible (remember they’re not too credit worthy) and haven’t got a clue about the process.

So, what about their attorney? He approved the contract. Would he not have reviewed with them what the next steps were, and when they needed to do them?

How about the mortgage broker? She pre-qualified them. She also knew that she would need to submit a loan application to a lending institution on their behalf as soon as the attorneys approved the contact. Not only is her fee paid by me, but I believe she also gets a commission from the lending institution. Would she not follow through with the buyers so that she could get paid?

And what of the realtor? In this case, she is both the buyer’s agent and the selling agent. After her brokerage office gets its overhead share, she gets 100% of the commission. She gets paid for double duty because she sold her own listing. You’d think she’d be interested in moving things along and following up with her clients.

I’m not making accusations here. In fairness, I don’t know for sure that any of these professionals didn’t counsel the buyers or follow through with them. For all I know, they attempted to do so and the buyers themselves have been lackadaisical about following through. Also, the realtor is a long-time personal friend of mine and I really don’t believe that she would drop the ball… if it were her ball to drop.

Now this deal that’s been shaky from the beginning seems as if it may crumble. I could accept that if the buyer that looked at the house yesterday makes an offer. Supposedly, she is very interested and was going to see the place again today with her family. Mel helped B.E. move out today and they never saw the buyer or my realtor, so we’re not sure they were ever there. My realtor never returned my phone calls today either and I now have no idea what is going on.

I’m worried. Keep your fingers crossed for me.