In California, residential real estate is bought and sold through legally binding contracts created and updated periodically by a fleet of lawyers who work for the California Association of REALTORS (CAR), of which most active REALTORS are dues-paying members. These contracts stipulate the terms and conditions of the purchase and sale of houses all over our great state, Orange County real estate included.
These contracts include the price to be paid, the length of time each side has to share information, and when specific tasks must be completed. One of the most important jobs your REALTOR does for you is highlight the dates and actions that you’re agreeing to when you make or accept an offer and any subsequent counter offers.
Boring, right? Well, not so fast.
As you may recall reading here recently, there are approximately 52 individual human beings you’re signing up to help you make your contract dates. And trust me, no one, not even a Super REALTOR, consults all 52 human beings when filling in the blanks on the forms. Yet, once the purchase contract negotiations are complete and the correct forms are all properly signed, you essentially just signed up a whole bunch of people to help you make your contractually agreed-upon dates.
Here are the top three people who hold your ability to meet contract dates in the palms of their sometimes sweaty hands.
1. The Home Owners’ Association escrow processor. This is the person responsible for getting out a complete set of the HOA CC&Rs, budget reports, and meeting minutes within the time frame you signed up for. But the HOA escrow processor doesn’t know you need the documents until the escrow officer orders them. Further, the escrow officer can’t order the HOA docs from the HOA’s escrow processor until the buyers’ deposit has been received and the funds appear in escrow’s bank account.
If the buyer doesn’t get their deposit check in to escrow until the last minute, escrow doesn’t deposit the check and the check doesn’t clear the bank’s processes. The HOA docs take five business days to snail mail to the buyers, this could unintentionally extend the buyers time to remove all their contingencies.
You see, the CAR attorneys planned for all kinds of unexpected delays and built in minimum number of days for the buyers to review documents received from the seller, regardless of the specified contingency removal times.
2. The home owner’s insurance policy underwriter. The person actually getting the written Evidence of Insurance so the buyers’ lender can proceed with issuing the loan documents. Without the loan documents, you can’t close escrow (unless it is an all cash transaction, then never mind). If you can’t close escrow on time, you’re out of compliance with the contract and there could be consequences.
Heaven forbid you discover, on the day the loan documents are due so you can close on time, that your insurance company cannot cover the new house because that house had a claim of $698 last year. Now you’ve missed the dates you agreed to because of something you had no knowledge of. Surprises abound in real estate deals!
3. The lender’s funder. This human being in this enviable position has the final say on releasing the banks money to pay for the house. No one anticipated that the funder would refuse the fully executed loan documents, signed exactly as he asked for in writing because the buyer’s signature didn’t match the way she signed her drivers’ license. Which he never asked for in writing. He asked for the documents to be signed as she signed the real estate contract. So the documents had to be re-signed according to a new set of changed instructions. This could definitely throw your contract off course.
So, as you can see, the California real estate process has you placing trust in many different people who you do not know and will likely never meet. If you would like to work with a real estate professional that knows the ins and outs of each step and can guide you and inform you on what to expect, then reach out to me, Leslie Eskildsen, by calling or texting (949) 678-3373.
This blog originally appeared here:
http://www.eskildsengroup.com/2014/09/19/trusting-people-you-dont-know-and-will-never-meet/
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