Today I celebrate the closing of a home that was on life support for the past 43 days. No bank problems, no appraisal problems, no inspection problems - what's left? A title problem of all title problems!
In this case, it was because the owner died after we went under contract. I had been hired by the conservator for the owner, who was terminally ill and in hospice care. The conservator was his grand daughter, and was very motivated, but was handling multiple complicated issues with her grandfather's estate and graduate school finals, and really wanted to get this house sold. It was once a lovely home in a very nice neighborhood, but had been vacant for 5 years, and before that had been poorly remodeled by some less than honorable contractor/real estate agent who left the home in pretty bad shape. Not as bad as some REO's: walls were good, newer (5 year old) appliances, roof was good, no MAJOR issues, but a lot of little ones such as the electrical was amateurish, paint over the bathroom tiles, and the floors were coated with 5 years of drywall dust and stale, musty air.
So on the distressed property Richter scale of 1-10, 10 being catastrophic, this was about a 5, but bad enough to put it in the "handyman special," and "below market value," categories.
We got 3 super lowball investor offers, that were below below market value and then one owner occupant offer that was really good. One of the investor agents threw a little tantrum over text message when the conservator did not respond within 48 hours (even though I explained her circumstances and did not prepare him for a rapid response). The "winning" buyer had a class act of an agent and they were amazing people themselves. They were former Tibetan refugees who had been in the U.S for 4 years saving up and were about to get their piece of the American dream! We all wanted them to get this house.
We negotiated, ratified and waited to close. There was no inspection because the seller had already paid for one, that was given to the buyer before they made an offer. We had it inspected after being on the market for a couple of weeks and not being able to answer the questions people had, offered it up to let them know exactly what they were getting in this "as-is" sale.
Then, the owner died, intestate (meaning without a will), and put the contract in limbo. The conservator was not the heir, rather her mother who was suffering from myriad health problems. The death certificate was delayed due to an autopsy, and that was our first closing delay. Then we discovered that the estate had to go through probate in "Apple" county where the house was located, even though the seller died in "Orange" county, and they had already done so there. So the conservator and the heir who were named co-administrators by one county, then lined up to sign the probate papers in "Apple" county.
Fortunately, the sole heir, mother of the conservator DID want to sell. If that had not of been the case, I have no idea of what would have happened to the validity of this contract. Lawyers were consulted and said the contract was valid even though the conservator was not the legal heir, but the conservator was unable to sign after he died - only the mother, the sole heir and now owner of the house, could actually sell.
But then, the mother's health took a turn for the worse, and she had to be put in the hospital - for 10 days.
But amazingly, she got better, and they made it out and made it to "Apple" county to sign the probate papers a week later.
I feel like this closing is worthy of an award acceptance speech. The buyers and their agent, his assistant, the title company and the bank (a credit union) should all be sainted for the patience they exhibited during this process. No one got bent out of shape, threatening to walk. Obviously these delays were no ones fault and heart wrenching for the seller family. The circumstances cost the seller a little bit more money as the buyers had to extend their rent by two months, and asked the seller to pay, but that was the least of the seller's worries.
A sale like this really puts life into perspective, and makes me wonder how and why people do throw tantrums and get so worked up about the little things such as "the inspector says the toilet doesn't flush fast enough," or when sellers threaten default due to bank delays.
Last but at all not least, the person in this transaction who deserves major kudos is this original seller/conservator/granddaughter who shouldered graduate school finals, the death of her grandfather, the hospitalization of her mother, incessant check ins by me, and then multiple trips to a far away county, the notary at the bank, and of course, the Office Depot fax machine to get this done. She's the real little engine who could. And yes, she graduated too.
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Coral, congratulations! it sounds like your tenacity paid off in a final settlement but with alot of pushing and thinking you can!