It seems that now everyone has heard a short sale nightmare story. A few of our clients have some. After submitting a legitimate offer they wait patiently. One month, two months, three months. It drags on and then finally the bank comes back with a demand that the sellers fork over big chunks of cash and the buyer needs to pay a price higher than the appraised price. While not the norm, it does happen.
Patience can be rewarded too. One example is that we had been showing a client a number of homes in their price range and in the area where they were looking to live. We found a few that were good but none that seemed to be “the one“. Then it arrived. We jumped all over it and got our offer in immediately, only to find out that there was another offer, which the sellers had miraculously accepted. It was a disappointment but we spoke with the buyer, the seller and the listing agent and we agreed that we would execute a backup contract. There are specific forms and language that determines what happens with a backup contract. In essence, if the contract in first position is cancelled then the backup contract moves up and becomes the primary contract.
We kept our eyes open for other opportunities for our buyer and even went to take a look at a few. After a few months we received a call from the listing agent that the first buyer was cancelling the contract. The terms and conditions changed slightly, so went back to the house, took a final look and moved forward with the contract.
Patience will be rewarded in achieving your goal of buying a home. Don’t rule out short sales and don’t rule out submitting backup contracts. Just remember that the most important factor in making either of these decisions is to ask all the right questions up front to understand your chance for success.
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