I Thought That House Was Under Contract?

You're watching a home for sale.  You've watched it go from Active to Pending back to Active.  Maybe even more than once.

What's the deal with the no deal?

The amount of time involved can tell you a lot about the most probable "why" reasons the deal may have fallen through.

3 days or less from contract accepted to back on market?

1.  Off site conditions.  (e.g. that sex offender on the county sheriff's registry a few houses down...adios deal).

2.  A review of the HOA rules (or financials) and the buyer saw something they couldn't live with.

3.  That preapproval letter was worthless and preliminary confirmation went south in a hurry.

4.  Buyer needs a FHA loan and the condo community IS NOT eligible.  Ooops.

7-14 days?

1.  Most probably, inspection issues that either couldn't be worked out, or the buyer didn't want to work them out.

14-28 days?

1.  Appraisal issues

2.  Other financing issues for the buyer (you mean I SHOULDN'T have bought a new car??)

Wildcards that can show up at any point?

1.  Cold feet

2.  A better home came on the market

3.  Loss of job

4.  Major life event (uhhhh...my wife isn't going to be my wife much longer, the kids are moving back home, the doctor's diagnosis was NOT good).

5.  Zoning issues (but I thought I could have chickens!!)

Bottom line, there are a lot of ways a home can lose it's contract. 

The good news in Ohio is that if the deal falls through to inspection issues, the seller has obligation to disclose major issues. 

Most of the other issues?  They don't really have much to do with the home, so if you're interested, you might find out there's opportunity in being the 2nd mouse to the house.

Serving Greater Cincinnati home buyers and sellers,

Bill of Bill & Liz aka BLiz