Whose fault is it?

Home Buyers use different techniques to find the perfect home. One Home Buyer put together a full page of questions for the seller on a  Manchester NH area home. Yes, a full page. Before i get to a couple of the questions, while Mr. and Mrs. Buyer were compiling a list of questions, another buyer was viewing the home. They made a full price offer accompanied by a pre approval letter. Their offer was accepted and the questionnaire buyer was literally left in the cold. 

It is very important to ask questions when buying a home. Most often they include questions like the age of the roof. Where are the lot lines? How old is the furnace and when was it last serviced?

I always say you can ask any question you want of the seller. It does not mean though that they HAVE to answer any of them though.

SO when it is put in writing and the first sentence reads "Seller must answer all questions in full and in writing", what are the buyers trying to accomplish?

Let me review some of them. Why are you selling? Why do you no longer like this house? Who are the neighbors? What do the neighbors do for work? Do the neighbors have children? Do the neighbors of pets? Do any neighbors have motorcycles? Do planes fly over the house? List all repairs ever made to the home? How many buyers has your listing agent attracted?

In the end, the seller did not answer any of these question as they accepted another offer when this buyer opted for this instead of making an offer themselves. The buyers response was "they were entitles to a due diligence period." The problem was, they are entitled to nothing when it comes to the seller opinion.

In the end, they lost out. Did they learn a lesson, probably not. What could be done different is their buyer broker take some time to inform them how the buying process works and what is acceptable and not acceptable for actions and attitude. The right question to ask is are there any other offers submitted?