Sellers are raking in the money in 2021. Ask any home seller how they did, and you’ll usually see their face light up with a big grin. Here’s three reasons a few of them won’t.
1. Buyers who have waived their inspection contingencies could still come after the sellers for damages if the sellers don’t reveal known defects in the home. Regardless of whether an inspection is happening or not, sellers must always be honest about known defects to the property that may impact value and disclose where appropriatte. You can get your own seller pre-inspection to get a handle on what problems could come back to haunt you.
2. Buyers who waive the appraisal contingency can also play havoc with the sale of your home. If the home doesn’t appraise for the value on the contract, and the buyers has to bail out, it puts the home back on the market. If the seller were to retain the buyer’s earnest money, they’re probably going to take a much bigger hit because the listing is going to have a bit of a stink on it. There’s just a presumption, ‘Oh, the transaction failed. It must be something to do with the property.’
3. Waiving contingencies such as home inspection or appraisal generally turbocharges the closing process. And this is supposedly good for sellers, except for one problem: What if you had hoped to buy a new home before moving out? Then you may suddenly find yourself in the same crazy seller’s market as your poor buyers—and it may take you much longer than you’d ever imagined to buy a new house. This is one area where home sellers would be smart to add a contingency of their own to their real estate deal.
Many home sellers are realizing that they should include a contingency in the purchase agreement that they have a certain amount of time to locate a house of their own. Home sellers who don’t include this could be faced with moving in with family members until they can find a new home.
Due to market conditions, home sellers should request more time than usual to buy a new place, adding a contingency giving you 45 days minimum