Yeah! I Sold My House, Now What?

photo courtesy of www.dreamstime.com

So you just accepted an offer on your home and you are thrilled that it has sold! Or has it?  Getting a contract on your home is just the first step of what can be a long nerve racking process of getting your home sold and closed.  In fact I was once told by someone who works for the Fayetteville Association of Realtors that 1/3 of all homes in Fayetteville that go under contract do not make it to closing.  As a listing agent I would say that 40% of my value is marketing a sellers home and getting a contract on it and 60% is getting the home from contract to closing.

On January 1, 2011 the North Carolina Real Estate contract changed and became a due diligence contract.  The way the contract is now, the buyer and seller first agree on the terms of the offer which include price, a closing date, and how much (if any) of the buyers closing expenses the seller is willing to pay.  The buyer and seller also agree on what is called a due diligence date where the buyer will have until that date to complete all inspections and repair negotiations with the seller.  The buyer has until this date to back out of the contract for any reason or no reason at all.  This date also has price associated with it, where the  buyer pays the seller an agreed upon amount of money and the seller agrees to take the home off the market for a certain period of time.  If the buyer backs out of the contract this fee is kept by the seller.  If the home goes to closing this fee is credited towards the purchase price of the house.

The two main reasons that a contract on a home would fall through are #1-the buyer is unable to get financing and #2- the home inspection creates issues where the buyer and seller can not agree upon repairs.  These are two things that can easily be avoided.  By making sure that the buyer is pre-qualified by a reputable lender you can avoid financing becoming a problem.  Much the same way that a buyer can become pre-qualified, the seller can pre-qualify their home by getting a pre-market home inspection and fixing any issues that show up on this inspection.  Certainly there may be other circumstances that can prevent a contract making it to closing but these are the two most common.