Don't Blow up Your Closing before you Even Buy!

Great reminders Larry, hopefully those buyers that read this will take note of the sound advice you offer.

Great advice, Larry. I give buyer my "Don't Get Into A Pickle" document that gives them all the do's and dont's.

Larry,

Sometimes I wish the buyers would just live in a cave after they write an offer. That would avoid so many problems.

Rich

Hear these all too often, now I sit down with clients and tell them they have to live like Monks and Nuns, no fun and no purchasing anything or opening credit accounts however good the offer till they settle on the house.

Great post feature worthy indeed. All good advice to stand firm on. DO NOT BUY THAT NEW CAR and house full of furniture until after you hear close and funded. 

Simple right to the point instructions for any buyer in the home buying/mortgage process.

Oh yes, good advice.  Sometimes buyers have the right intentions but don't realize they are taking the wrong actions.  - Debbie

This is excellent advice. I also tell clients don't finance new furniture until after closing

The most interesting thing happened last week. A friend had reached out to me a few weeks ago about getting ready to buy her first house after her most recent work trip. Then, when she gets back into town, she texts to say that she's decided to buy a car instead of a house. What do you all think about that? 

When I meet with buyers I have "the talk" and I give them a list of thing NOT to do until they close!  I had this situation happen once -- since then "the talk" has worked.

Hi Larry,   Great information for all buyers...even multiple time buyer.

I, like Joan Whitebook, have the talk with my clients and explain why it throws the numbers off.  Rarely have an issue.  Great advice for all to heed!

Surprising really how many people don't know about qualifying for a mortgage. The Do's and Don'ts.

Larry

Well done! This stuff is so obvious to those of us in the business, but it is clearly NOT something that all buyers think about.

The other issues I have run across? Don't change jobs

Jeff

I once had a client ask me if quitting her job and starting a new one would mess things up.  Um, YES.  She did it anyway (without telling anyone) and used her two weeks vacation at the old place while starting the job at the new place.  Thankfully it worked out, but once we found out about it (well after closing), we all were shocked.  Not cool.  

These tips are so important for buyers to follow.  

A funny thing happened with a recent transaction. My buyer client posted on a social media site pictures of his new vehicle; I imediately contacted him to find out what the heck he did - it all worked out fine since he paid cash, no credit impact, and he still had plenty of money for closing. But for a moment I started panicking for him. He's the exception - most of the time, buying a car will mess up the transaction.

Larry...this has to be brought up often because that is exactly what people will do until they don't...good posting

I remember in the early years of selling real estate, I made the mistake of not reminding a homebuyer to not go out and buy a car while their home was in escrow.  They had to squeeze together their down payment, so I never suspected they had it in them to go buy a car.  It caused havoc with the loan process, but we did manage to get it closed.

Larry, all the experienced brokers/agents probably have had these experiences with their clients. Good reminders!

We have the Ten Commandments for Buyers that we give our buyers. I'm sure it's helped us out more often than we know!