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How many showings from one buyer does it take to make a sale??

Zoe52
10 years ago

Our home is on the market in Upstate NY. We have a couple who spent a full hour here on there first showing at our home. (I know how long people spend here bc I usually go to my neighbors home and watch for when they come and go so I can get my animals back into the house.) I have a cat with kidney disease and the constant crating is upsetting him. So I try to get him back home ASAP.

After they came the first time, I was pretty sure we would be getting an offer that night bc they were here so long... but none came. Feedback the next day was that they really liked our home, but they didn't like our Master Bath/Bedroom arrangement. They thought the Master Bedroom was way too far away from the other bedrooms and they have a toddler and a baby. (All the Bedrooms are on the second floor ... and really not that far away btw) Have they ever heard about baby monitors??

Anyway, 10 days later they rescheduled a second visit. They brought a contractor with them and their visit which was scheduled for an hour became two hours. Feedback they really liked the house but wanted a contractor to come back to see what they could do to change our Master Bath/Bedroom. We were also told they would be putting their own home on the market that same week.

We had an open house a couple of weeks ago and they came again for another hour. This time with extended family members. Apparently they wanted their input, too.

Tomorrow we have another requested showing from their Realtor. I asked my Realtor to find out if it was the same couple again and he called me this am to say yes it is. Apparently, they did not like what the other contractor told them and they want a second opinion so they are bringing in yet another contractor.

In the meantime, our Realtor found out that their own house is still not on the market or that maybe will be going up on the market soon. He really didn't know what was going on there.

They have now been at our home for a total of 4 hours! And that doesn't even include tomorrow's visit which could end up being another couple hours. I am beginning to wonder if I should invite them in to spend the night!

Anyway, I would love them to make an offer so I can move, but is this getting ridiculous. At what point is a buyer's constant request for showings (with no offer) considered harrassment?

We have been on the market since mid-April, have dropped our home price 50K since then and are now 10K- 30K below what Realtors at a spring open house thought we should get for our home. We even spent 4K to remove wallpaper and repaint 6 rooms after that Realtor Open House to help neutralize our home based on their suggestions to do so. So our home is in superior condition. It is well-maintained, very clean and in move-in condition. We have a dry basement with NO sump pump (unlike everyone else surrounding us) And we have some really nice amenities that not many other sellers have in our area too numerous to mention here.

Since then we have had more people like our home, but many say they just started looking. Apparently, they have a lot of time to do so. The problem is in our area there are too many homes on the market and not enough buyers. Most of the buyers are local and most are not looking to move up, they are moving into starter and lower end homes and those are moving the fastest here. Ours would be considered an above average home for our town with 3300 square feet (an additional 800 square feet finished basement) with a 3/4 acre lot. A number of homes near me in my price range and just above have been sitting and waiting to sell since last spring, as well. We have been told that we are competitively priced to sell, however.

In the meantime, we have had a few more interested buyers whom I am hoping come back for second showings. Just hoping someone gives us an offer soon. I am getting so tired of waiting to sell.

But this one couple is really making me crazy!

Comments (89)

  • robo (z6a)
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Personally I only needed about 10 minutes in our current home (plus inspection of course) to know it was for us. Really knowing what was on the market plus really knowing what we wanted meant that as soon as the appropriate home showed up, we jumped on it right away. I am a decisive person, mind you, and we had financing in order.

    Right now we're shopping for a vacation home with my in-laws and they haven't seen anything that wowed them yet. If it were only up to me, we would have been under contract on the second place we viewed about ten minutes after we viewed it.

    The inlaws who might need a few more visits to that cottage to make up their mind, But really, it's that the right place hasn't come along to strike their fancy yet.

    My feeling is if someone doesn't know after two visits to a place, it's probably the real estate version of "he's just not that into you" - they're either just not that into the house and trying to make it work, or they're trying to reach beyond their limits. If they were into it and could afford it, they would jump on it.

    One of my favorite HGTV shows was Property Virgins with Sandra Rinomato. Even though I know all those shows are fixed, I thought she did a good job of knowing where buyers were at. A couple of people who really waffled, she was like, "You know what, you're not ready to buy. Give it some time and come back when you're ready."

  • camlan
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "My feeling is if someone doesn't know after two visits to a place, it's probably the real estate version of "he's just not that into you" - they're either just not that into the house and trying to make it work, or they're trying to reach beyond their limits. If they were into it and could afford it, they would jump on it. "

    Or one of them loves it and the other half of the couple doesn't/wants to look further/has some concerns about the cost, etc.

  • gyr_falcon
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    10 minutes! While it is true that the perfect house can be a very quick decision, most buyers don't encounter the perfect place during their search. So, decisive or not, they have to weigh serious pluses and minuses.

    Our first viewing of the house we bought was a 25 minute blur in a 8 house viewing day. I didn't take enough photos to remember everything about it by the end of the run. Because it was a contender after discussion with my husband, who admitted he did not see "my vision" immediately, we made a return visit to really see what we were getting into and the tradeoffs we needed to consider. There were quite a few major minuses, but square footage and the overwhelming likelihood we would come out ahead financially should we decide to sell at any future time period played a huge role in the decision.

    I doubt most buyers have the luxury of having an appropriate home, with an appropriate price tag, readily available when they are searching.

  • robo (z6a)
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    But Gyr_Falcon do you think you would have needed four visits?

    I agree completely that most people would take two visits. But four seems like a lot for a serious buyer.

    Even so, I know as a seller you kind of have to suck it up and hope they come through. We had a lot of lookie-loos for our condo, but none came more than twice.

    For us it was easy because you're right, the "almost perfect" home wasn't available when we started our search, so when it came up we snapped it up. I think it helped a lot that we knew exactly XYZ that we were willing to compromise, had studied the listing carefully before we went to see the house (same for every house), knew our financials and knew the market. A fast-approaching closing date for our old place was a big motivator too...

    Re: vacation property, same deal. I know the vacation market inside out in our area of interest going back five years. I can predict confidently that nothing "better" (as far as I'm concerned) is going to come along in our price range. But my in-laws aren't into it so we'll wait and see. It's great for me that they want to partner in this at all so I'm hoping something comes along that they love.

  • nightowlrn
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I wouldn't care how many times a potential buyer wanted to see my home. This may be the most your buyer will ever spend and the biggest risk to lose their savings they may ever take. After 2 though, I wouldn't turn my life upside down and clear out for them to see it again. We have purchased 7 homes and always knew within a few minutes if it was the right one for us. We would visit a potential purchase a second time just prior to writing an offer and ordering an inspection. But, we are generally pretty fast decision makers.

    Good luck - I hope you sell soon.

  • kswl2
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I find it interesting that so many seller's think buyers should commit to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars after spending an hour or two in a home."

    Exactly.

  • msgreatdeals
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, after thinking about it.....probably the so called buyers like something about your house that they want to add to their's and that is why 2 contractors so far.....getting bids!
    We mostly buy brand new properties but the few that were not new, one or two showings and about 1/2 hour at the most each time. I am a big believer in home inspections before purchase. Money well spent!

  • sylviatexas1
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    'so called buyers like something about your house that they want to add to their's and that is why 2 contractors so far.....getting bids!'

    Oh, that brings back a not pleasant memory!

    I once had 'buyers' who came back time after time after time to look at a house, saying that they needed to measure for furniture, or drapes, or show the kids, etc., all without making an offer.

    Then they dropped off the face of the earth.
    vanished.

    until I saw them a year or so later, in the front yard of the house they'd had built.

    It was a clone of the house I'd had listed.

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Got our offer from this couple today. It was a low ball offer, of course They offered 50K less than our current price with a 48 hr. contingency (they would need to sell their home in order to buy ours) On top of that they asked for us to include our brand new freezer which wasn't even included in the home sale ($500 purchase). We were insulted by their offer, of course. We had no problem with their contingency offer, but we did not like their offering price. We could have just ignored them completely, but countered with a price of 5k less of our current price and we would throw in the freezer, but they need to reply within 24 hours to our price. Otherwise our offer would be withdrawn. I also told my Realtor no more showings for these people unless they are under contract with us. I don't expect to hear back from them. They have a home they were going to put on the market only if we agreed to go under contract.

    In the meantime we had a Realtor come through our home today to preview it for an out of town buyer. He thought our home was "spectacular" and that we should be getting another call for a showing either Friday or Saturday by this couple. Hopefully, we will find a buyer with a reasonable offer soon.

    This post was edited by zoe52 on Wed, Nov 27, 13 at 21:19

  • kats_meow
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Two comments.

    First, I don't really get the being insulted by offers. I might find an offer too low, even much too low or misguided but I wouldn't be insulted about it.

    Second, being insulted about offers can lead to bad decision making. It may well be (and probably is) the case that this offer is too low for the market.

    That said, I have to remember two houses that I made offers on during the last 2 house purchases we made.

    On one purchase (this was several years ago), we looked very carefully at the market and the comps and felt that house was significantly overpriced. We made what we felt was a very fair offer and I explained to my agent how I got to it. The seller, however, refused to even respond to the office. We moved on. Weeks later, seller's agent approached our agent to see if we would like to make another offer. By then, we were under contract on the house we bought.

    The other example was when we were looking for our current house. We liked a house a lot but felt the kitchen needed renovation. We brought in a contractor to look at it (this was the second showing - house was vacant so we weren't inconveniencing anyone). We really liked the house a lot and looked at the comps very closely and felt it was overpriced and made an offer. Sellers came back with a high counter which didn't bother me, so we made another offer. We were then told that the message from the seller's agent was that if we couldn't make an offer in X range that we shouldn't keep working on it. That range was not close to what we felt was right for the market so we moved on. A week or so later we found the house we have now and went under contract. While we were under contract, the agent of the first house approached our agent to see if we were still interested and wanted to try again. Of course, by then it was too late.

  • _sophiewheeler
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Be really really really sure that you aren't over valuing your home. A lot of time, "lowball" bids are closer to the actual market than you may be comfortable hearing. People tend to give emotional significance (translated to a higher price) to their home that the actual house doesn't support. I realize that you've gone from thinking you have a 500K house before putting it on the market in April, to pricing it almost 100K lower, to now 389K 6 months later, but in a location with downward trending prices and some very personal choices for the home, you may have to think fire sale if you want to move.

  • azmom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "In the meantime we had a Realtor come through our home today to preview it for an out of town buyer. He thought our home was "spectacular" and that we should be getting another call for a showing either Friday or Saturday by this couple."

    At this point, you don't know for sure if the othe couple would come to view the house. Why not work on a counter offer, it would also give motivation to other buyers if words get out that you have an offer on hand.....

  • sas95
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you are insulted by an offer, you are emotional about what is really just a business transaction. Chances are you may also be blind to the actual value of your house.

    The seller I described above who was"insulted" by our offer ($100k under his inflated asking price) after we came back 4 times was a realtor and thought he "knew" the market. He, like you, countered at 5k less than his asking. The house ended up selling a year later for $95k under asking. For an extra 5k over our offer, he had to carry the house for another year.

    Sometimes buyers who have been out looking for a while have a better idea of real market value than those who are emotionally wrapped up in their own houses and the price they want to get. Just sayin'.

  • sylviatexas1
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    don't know if your house is overpriced or not, but:

    1) it may be that the buyers want to spend $50,000 on it & they want you to subsidize that &

    2) buyers don't usually look at homes that are $50,000 more than they want to spend.

    You might get your agent to give you a really tight market analysis to be sure that you're pricing is within reason.

    I wish you the best.

  • wethepeople
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    originally posted by sas95:

    "Sometimes buyers who have been out looking for a while have a better idea of real market value than those who are emotionally wrapped up in their own houses and the price they want to get."

    THIS!

    These are people who looked at your house several times . They have probably spent some time considering the appropriate price as well. While you may think that 50k off asking is impermissibly low, you may want to take a look at recent actual SALES in your area to see how your pricing compares. It may be best to work with the buyer you have rather than the potential buyer you do not. From personal experience, if a seller only came down 5K, I would think they are not serious about selling and probably not bother to counter. But that is just me.

    Also, I would not waste time pondering the 'insult'. It is a business transaction between two sides with opposite goals. The buyer wants to pay as little as possible for your house and you as the seller, want to get as much as you can for it. Being 'insulted' by the process will indeed, as kats meow said above, lead to bad decision making.

  • weedyacres
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lowball offers can also be feelers. Buyers can feel like "might as well try" and see how the seller responds. It's certainly well-advised for the OP to consider their pricing, but it's also possible the buyer is shooting at a dartboard.

  • nightowlrn
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WTP -- I don't understand the comment about the seller not being serious about selling if they stick close to their asking price? That makes no sense to me.

  • sylviatexas1
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No seller can control what someone offers.

    The house may be priced well within the market value, & someone will still offer an unreasonably low price.

    As I said above, it does happen that people who look at houses that are above their budget will offer a price that *is* within their budget, & it does happen that people who want to re-model a perfectly liveable house will try to get the sellers to pay for it in the form of a lower price.

    As far as insulted...
    homeowner/occupants are not in the business of selling a product; they're selling their homes.

    When someone comes in with an extremely low offer, they do feel insulted.

    Even builders, who aren't at all emotionally involved & who are experienced & 'market-hardened', get aggravated/teed off/insulted at some of the stuff that people come up with.

    My experience is that the longer a potential buyer takes to actually make an offer, the more visits to the property he makes, & the more people he brings in, the less likely it is that he'll make a workable offer.

    If a buyer really wants your home *& can afford* it, he'll generally negotiate the contract to be sure he has the house, & then use the option period to be sure he really can make the house work.

  • sas95
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Being "aggravated" is different than being "insulted." Being insulted makes the whole transaction into a personal one, which tends to bring ones emotions more into play.

    We don't know here whether OP's house is well priced or not. Some here are assuming it is. Others are assuming it's overpriced. Without knowing the details of the home and the market, it's all assumptions. But the fact that OP hasn't received other offers leans more to support the assumption that the house is overpriced.

    If a buyer really wants your home *& can afford* it, he'll generally negotiate the contract to be sure he has the house, & then use the option period to be sure he really can make the house work.

    I think that's a regional thing. Here in NY (albeit we are in a different part of the state than OP), there isn't an "option period." Your contract might have some contingencies such as obtaining financing, selling your present home, passing inspection, etc. But barring hidden inspection issues, there is no real renegotiation after the contract is signed. There certainly isn't an out if the buyer decides for some reason that the house "won't work" for them. You need to be sure of that before you sign a contract.

    This post was edited by sas95 on Mon, Dec 2, 13 at 16:28

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Where I live, an inspection as contingency is basically a way to opt out for whatever reason because there's always something in the inspection one may not "like."

  • wethepeople
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    My comment about non-serious sellers was based in my experience. In a year of house-hunting, I think I encountered two or three houses that were exceptionally well priced. When a house has sat on the market for a while, with little activity and no offers, a seller who is unwilling to negotiate or move off of his or her initial pricing strikes me as someone who is not that serious about doing what the market has told them needs to happen in order to sell. Again, this is my experience and my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

  • nightowlrn
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WTP - we stuck to our price and we are serious about selling. We close in 2 days at our price and mostly on our terms. We want to sell our house, the buyer wants to buy our house. We weren't willing to go lower and the buyer had the option to take it or walk. It didn't matter to us either way. But, it certainly didn't mean we weren't serious about selling.

    ETA- "the market" is fickle. Had the prior owner of our house had the ability to hold out for 3 years, they would have about lived in the house for free these last 3 years instead of us.

    This post was edited by nightowlrn on Mon, Dec 2, 13 at 23:30

  • Acadiafun
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't understand from reading the comments on this thread and others why people write that if the seller does not make significant price reductions that they are not serious about selling. To me it just means the seller has time to sell, and are sticking to their price. It's those of us who need a fast sale who need to drop the price and make our house an irrisistable deal. Others have time for the right buyer to come along.

    The OP has two problems. She has a nicer house in an area of starter homes, and there are more houses than buyers. It just may take her longer to sell, but if she has the time, I see no reason for her to keep dropping the price.

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We have another offer from another buyer now. They are going to pay cash and there will be NO contingencies. They want to buy in mid-Jan but don't want to move in until the spring. So we could rent it back from them if they want or move in Jan. (They don't want to move in in the winter so we could stay until Spring. This is a win win for all of us. They were aware we were building elsewhere and that we planned on renting a home in the community where we will be building anyway. We wanted to sell BEFORE we started building. So even if we have to move in March or early April that gives us time to sort out stuff that needs to go to storage vs stuff that needs to go to the rental home.

    Our home is not scheduled to be finished until next December if all works out with the build. He only builds one home at a time and we are supposed to be breaking ground mid-May. With full crew on the ground by July until finished.

    Sooo this offer is much better than the last one and more realistically priced. We are still in negotiations with them. They are the buyers that came in to see our home over Thanksgiving. And they are from out of town so they definitely appreciate the price for what they are getting.

    The other buyers who were mentioned in the first posting here countered our offer with a rise of $10K but they still have a contingency and they could not really afford this home. We did not counter their offer at all since we knew we were going to get another offer from these buyers. Anyway, they are out of the picture even if they offered us full price right now. Their contingency makes it just a possible sale instead of a done deal and they could actually not sell their home and put us right back on the market. We are not going to chance it.

    As for comps we ARE priced well below the rest. We are probably the nicest home with the best amenities on the market right now for our price. Buyers are aware of that if they go through other homes in our area even priced 10K-40k higher than ours. We had buyers tell our Realtor that right after they attended our open house in October when we dropped our price. There were a couple who mentioned they had seen other homes more money than ours that were not as nice as this one. That is why we are having so many showings right now and why we are getting offers. And there were homes that sold here for more than what the first buyers offered us that had less square footage, less acreage and less amenities with older roofs and windows (ours are brand new). So our home is VERY competitively priced!

    Tomorrow we have yet another showing. So things are moving for us right now.

    So if they accept our counter offer with a few additional things thrown in we are hoping to work out a rental agreement with them. I wanted it in contract BEFORE we sell though.

    Can any Realtors give us any advice on that? What do people do if something major breaks while an ex-owner is still living in the house?? I don't forsee that happening but I certainly wouldn't want it to happen??

    We will be calling our lawyer this afternoon to get more input from him on how it all works, too.

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great news. I'm glad things seem to be moving along with other people showing interest in the house, too. If I were you, I'd remove any links to your property from these forum threads, or maybe even edit some of the threads as long as negotiations are going on. That's in case, someone posted a link to your property, and you obviously can't remove it form someone else's post.

  • sylviatexas1
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Congratulations!

    Once the sale is closed, you are no longer the owners of the house;
    you're the tenants.
    & the buyers are your landlords.

    You can put a home 'warranty' (it isn't really a warranty but a service agreement, but 'warranty' is the term still widely used) on the house before closing-
    for good karma & pleasant relations with your new landlords if nothing else.

  • Acadiafun
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Glad things are moving in the right direction for you. Congrats!

  • wethepeople
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Congratulations!

  • lazy_gardens
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you sell with a "lease back" ... you are the tenants, they new owners are your landlords and it's subject to your state's Residential Landlord-Tenant laws.

    Landlord pays to keep the home working, not the tenant.

  • sas95
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Congratulations. That's a great outcome.

  • Debbie Downer
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yay- congrats! So do you think.... possibly.... even though the first couple were a pita .... at least they served the purpose of getting the ball rolling? It's like serving notice: hey this isn't going to be available forever, let's get moving here.

    It's a common phenomenon at flea markets - stuff sits all day but then the minute someone shows an interest in something then everyone else comes swooping in to take a look and grab it when the first person puts it down.

  • nosoccermom
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There's also research on ebay bidding. Items that had a bid, sold for more than the identical item without a bid. Go figure.

    This post was edited by nosoccermom on Wed, Dec 4, 13 at 11:12

  • deegw
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We looked for a house for a long time and I noticed that when we made offers on a few stagnant houses, all of a sudden other buyers came out of the woodwork.

    So, as mentioned above, even though the first potential buyers were a pain, they seemed to have nudged your current buyers into making a decision. Congrats!

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    FWIW the buyers who this entire topic is on lost the home, but not before offering us a decent offer which they finally came up with on the day we were still negotiating with the current buyers. And I believe the fact that this initial couple had presented us several offers and counter offers helped push the second buyers forward. (Thank you for that!)

    If the first buyers had made their last offer to us in the beginning, instead of waiting UNTIL we had another interested buyer they would most likely have been under contract back in October when they first came through our home. It was more realistic. And these second buyers didn't come through our home until Thanksgiving weekend.

    And if the first buyers had listed their home right away in the Fall, they may well have been sold by now and have had the money in hand to make the offer with no contingencies! They had decided they only liked our home and that they wouldn't put their home on the market unless we went under contract with them. So they lost out.

    In the end, they were too late with too many hurdles to overcome. I told my Realtor even if they offered us the full asking price we wouldn't accept their offer after receiving a cash offer from the second buyers. We would not have even contemplated their offer because they needed to sell their home AND qualify for another mortgage. Whereas the second buyers had none of these hurdles to overcome.

    In the meantime, according to our lawyer we are still not fully under contract with the current buyer (although my Realtor seems to think we are) until we work out a rent back agreement that is in the contract. We are getting closer, however. Things ARE finally moving ahead. A building inspection will be completed this coming Thursday. Once we pass the inspection and we agree on an amount that we are to pay to them to rent back our home, we will be closing in mid-January. It is ACTUALLY a good thing the closing is sooner rather than later because BOTH of them are in their mid-80's!

    I say a prayer every night that they stay healthy and no one dies before the closing. If anything like that happens.. they have already asked to be able to back out of the offer... at least until closing. Only one month to go... but anything can happen when you are in your eighties!

  • nightowlrn
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    LOL -- wishing all involved in your deal good health!

  • ncrealestateguy
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If your contract refers to the lease back addendum, and it is not signed, dated, and initialed, then legally you are not under contract. All addendums are part of the contract. Therefore they all need to be signed before you truly have an executed contract. Also, if any where in the contract refers to the contract executed date, this date will be when the last addendum is signed and dated. For example, if the contract says that the buyers due diligence period ends 15 days post executed contract, the 15 days do not start until that addendum is signed.
    If the contract does not refer to a lease back agreement, and both parties are executing the lease separate from the contract, then the above info does not pertain. But you really do want the leaseback to be a condition of the sale, and vice versa, to protect both parties.
    Congrats on the cash buyer.

  • weedyacres
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    There's a new twist on a contingency: both parties must live until the closing date.

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh yes, there is that wild contingency. Both buyers not only need to just live before closing but also be mentally capable of making a decision!

    Thus the sooner we close the happier we sellers will be.

    Closing is being planned for mid-Jan. So until we close they could potentially still back out if someone dies or becomes very ill. They both appeared to be in very good health. However, closing is just a month away and with them so old... anything could happen.

    I will be very happy AFTER we officially close for sure!

  • sail_away
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I say a prayer every night that they stay healthy and no one dies before the closing. If anything like that happens.. they have already asked to be able to back out of the offer... at least until closing. Only one month to go... but anything can happen when you are in your eighties!"

    I can appreciate why that would be a concern, but when you say (or write) it out loud it does sound kind of cold. Here's hoping that they don't just survive the closing but have a long and happy life, with many years spent enjoying their new (your old) home!

  • kswl2
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I say a prayer every night that they stay healthy and no one dies before the closing. "

    .....speechless....

  • sylviatexas1
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, good grief.

    Not only have you taken one sentence out of context, but you're expressing some prissy princess-&-the-pea sensitivity about someone else's entirely legitimate concern.

    Here's what OP wrote:

    'I say a prayer every night that they stay healthy and no one dies before the closing.
    **If anything like that happens.. they have already asked to be able to back out of the offer...**'

    asterisks mine for emphasis.

    so *buyers* actually brought up the subject, facing it head-on.

    By the time we reach our eighties, we have to face the possibility of sudden death or incapacity, & it sounds like the buyers have indeed developed a very honest, practical, realistic way of dealing with it.

  • Acadiafun
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "Oh good grief. Not only have you taken one sentence out of context, but you're expressing some prissy princess-&-the-pea sensitivity about someone else's entirely legitimate concern. "

    Yes. As a seller I think most of us just want the sale to go through. We are hoping our buyers stay in good health, keep their job, and do not change their mind. We are just human that way.

    On the flip side I think as a buyer my seller was hoping I would not slip on the ice and break my neck when going to and from my daughter's house to my proposed "new" house. So much so that they put rock salt on the path. I think the bank should pay someone now to put rock salt on that path. lol

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Even our lawyer IS concerned about their death and infirmity contingency. In all his years as an estate and realty lawyer, he said he has NEVER seen that kind of contingency. Especially their infirmity contingency. He wanted it defined. It was defined by their lawyer mostly as a loss of the ability to make a decision. So NO, I am not heartless when I pray for them to live and be healthy up until our closing. I only wish them to last until I sell them my home.... I wish to close without having to worry about putting my home back on the market once again!! I don't think I could bear going back on the market again if anything happened to this sale.

    These people may be paying cash for the sale of our home, but they only put down 1k as a good faith gesture to purchase. Paying cash for full amount.. with only 1K in cash as a deposit could mean they could walk at any time until closing! They would not be out much if they did so. However, I doubt that they will do that, but you never know.

    Still I will not really RELAX until we officially close a month from now. Rental agreement is now in place, they didn't budge much on their rental price but we don't want to rock the sale of our house at this point. They only made the offer to buy because they knew we could rent the house back to them. So they will be making a nice profit on us from renting it back to us for 3 months. And we are alright with that... considering we actually were better about giving them a good price for our home.. we didn't dicker as much as we could have.

    In the meantime, our house inspection turned up with no major problems (which I assumed would happen- but who knows if there is anything lurking beneath the surface) although we are still being tested for radon... which who knows what that will be??? Never had one in all the almost 30 years we have been here. Hopefully, we will pass that.

    The building inspector will be picking up the containers on Monday at noon and said he will be able to get the results before the time expires for us to go under full contract.

  • ncrealestateguy
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If the contract is signed, isn't it a little late for your lawyer to wanting the contingency language changed? All of this should have been negotiated before the signing.
    Unless, of course, any addendums are not yet signed, and then you are not under legal contract anyhow.

  • rrah
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Actually this is not that odd of a contingency. Contracts often bind and inure heirs and assignees to a contract.

    The standard forms used by Realtors in my state contain this clause: This agreement shall bind, and inure to the benefit of, the parties and their heirs, personal and legal representatives, successors, and assignees, and shall be interpreted under the laws of the State of....

    Perhaps these buyers were concerned with a similar clause in the contract. I would be at that age.

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We are NOT under full contract yet. We agreed on price of home and the rental agreement. As to their age issues, that contingency language was changed a week ago. My lawyer was very concerned with the Infirmity clause.. because of their ages. He did not want them to back out for any little thing. So Infirmity had to be defined by their lawyer. It turned out to be mental incapacity.

    They NOW have until Dec. 20th to make sure they are done with ALL their contingencies... so the contract is NOT final yet until they are done. We still need results from the radon test and it should be back from a lab in a couple days. Hopefully, it will NOT be a problem, but having never had one done in all the years we have lived here we have no clue how it will turn out! As for the regular inspection we passed without any major problems that would impede the sale of our home. But who knows what they might consider a problem in the report which has not been given to them yet. The building inspector is in process of writing it up and said he will be giving them the complete report before the 20th.

    This post was edited by zoe52 on Mon, Dec 16, 13 at 15:45

  • Debbie Downer
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yep it's not over til its over - hope all goes smoothly.

  • Zoe52
    Original Author
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We are officially sold to the elderly couple who came through over Thanksgiving holidays. Made it to our closing last week and are now renting the home back from the buyers. In the meantime, we can now move forward on a new build out of state. What a relief it is to finally be sold!

  • Acadiafun
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great news! I hope the new buyers love the house when they move in this spring. Good luck with your build and move.

  • c9pilot
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yay! Congrats!