Mr. Seller, I Wouldn't Do That If I Were You
Selling a home can be one of the most stressful events we ever have to endure. Because there are so many moving parts to a real estate transaction, many sellers become positively overwhelmed. As their real estate agents, our job is to minimize that stress as much as possible.
Pre-inspections tend to help considerably but, some Sellers opt not to have one, as their home may be 'newer' or the Sellers simply don't want to spend the additional money. I strongly encourage Sellers to have one but, oftentimes, they choose to wait for the buyers' inspectors.
This leads me to the matter at-hand! Mr. Seller listed his well-maintained home on the market recently and almost immediately sold that home for full list price. Mr. Seller then went under Contract on another home as he was confident that his home sale was a 'slam dunk.'
Along comes Mr. Inspector, who found the home to be in fairly good condition, barring just a few items.
Mr. Buyer requested about half of the items be repaired by Mr. Seller's contractor. Mr. Seller refused to repair one item that happened to be a deal-killer for Mr. Buyer. Despite the pleas, recommendations, encouragement by Mr. Seller's agent, Mr. Seller refused to make the repairs.
Mr. Buyer decided to work through the Due Diligence on his own - contacting a contractor of his own to give him an estimate of said deal-killer issue - a perfectly rational thing to do.
Mr. Seller then announced that he has changed his mind and doesn't want to sell AT ALL! Mr. Seller is "going to take his home off of the market and stay where he is!"
But, WAIT Mr. Seller! There are EXPENSIVE repercussions to your decision. Here are some of the costs that you can expect to encounter, should you decide to stick to your decision:
- You will be required to refund the Buyer's Due Diligence Fee
- You will be required to refund the Buyer's Earnest Money Deposit
- You will be asked to refund the cost of the Buyer's inspections (all of them)
- You will be asked to refund the cost of the Buyer's appraisal
- You will be asked to pay your real estate agents' commission - after all, your agent did bring you a ready, willing and able Buyer, as per the Contract (WITH a full-price Offer).
- You will be required to reimburse the attorney for their work, thus far, in the transaction.
-
You will forfeit your Due Diligence fee for your new home - You can likely forfeit your Earnest Money Deposit for your new home (depending upon your Due Diligence Period end date).
- Lastly, the Buyer can also sue you for Specific Performance.
You will definitely want to speak with an attorney prior to withdrawing from a Contract in North Carolina if you are a Seller. The cost of a single repair (or even multiple repairs) is pennies on the dollar compared to what you will be required to pay, should you terminate your Contract.
Mr. Seller, I Wouldn't Do That If I Were You!
© Debe Maxwell | The Maxwell House Group | SavvyBroker@me.com | Mr. Seller, I Wouldn't Do That If I Were You
Comments(33)