Special offer

What can keep us from getting this home?

By
Real Estate Agent with Atlanta Communities 303302

I have a client and good friend who is looking for a home. He is, unfortunately, looking in the price point where 1) homes are scarce, and 2) they sell like hotcakes! We found a home on Friday that he liked. It is a HUD home and had been on the market for all of one day. We went to look at it and while we were there another couple and their agent showed up to look as well.

Since my client liked the home, we immediately went back to my office and wrote a better than full price offer. Feeling really good, my friend and client asks me, what could go wrong. Well, I could finish up this year's blog posts discussing that one! There are many, many things that can keep someone from getting a home they have bid upon. The first being overbid by someone else. My business partner has made offers on HUD homes for $10,000 over list price and still lost out to someone bidding even higher!

My friend and client went back to the home on Saturday with his wife to show her the home. We were greeted in the driveway with a couple standing there awaiting their agent to show them the house. The front door and garage doors were both open. Breathlessly they explained that the copper pipes had been removed from the basement area and water was flooding the area. I went in to check and sure enough, the home we had made a good offer on the day before was spouting a water geyser in the basement!

So the moral of the story is that something can always go wrong. I have mentioned just two in this post, but there are as many issues that can come up as you can imagine. Until the keys are placed in your hand, you can never be too sure that your deal will come through.

Posted by

Peter den Boer, Associate Broker, Realtor

Atlanta Communities Real estate Brokerage

 

Ph. 770.713.1545

www.denboerhomes.com

 

I write about daily life as a Realtor in the Towne Lake Community in Woodstock Georgia.

Comments (4)

Karen Feltman
Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, IA KW Legacy Group - Cedar Rapids, IA
Relocation Specialist in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Yikes! Good thing that the home was getting regular activity! Otherwise, the damage could have been far worse. Most HUD homes in our area have the utilities shut off to prevent that, but wow, what a mess.
Mar 24, 2013 11:25 PM
Scott Larson
BHHS/Utah Properties - Park City, UT
Park City, Utah Real Estate News

I have been on the wrong side of things going wrong as both a Realtor and a consumer and yes the list is to long to ever complete.  But you can add these two that I have experienced.  One of the buyers gets a potentially fatal disease during the process and there are multiple properties involved and one of them was providing innacurate information leading to a collapse of the entire deal.  I have personally experienced both of those.  Of course the potentially fatal disease is much more consequential than a deal falling apart, but the point being there are a limitless number of possibilities here. 

Mar 24, 2013 11:26 PM
Tom Arstingstall, General Contractor, Dry Rot, Water Damage Sacramento, El Dorado County - (916) 765-5366
Dry Rot and Water Damage www.tromlerconstruction.com Mobile - 916-765-5366 - Placerville, CA
General Contractor, Dry Rot and Water Damage

Things can go wrong in the transaction Peter, but many things do go right.

Good luck with the home purchase.

Mar 24, 2013 11:30 PM
Peter den Boer
Atlanta Communities - Woodstock, GA
MBA,GRI, Associate Broker, Realtor

Karen - Here too. Not sure why the water was on...

Scott - I think we should all get together and write a book. Noone would believe us!

Tom - You are right! Most of the time things go right, but I always try to prepare my clients for the unexpected.

Mar 24, 2013 11:34 PM