I have my house on the real estate market and have a realtor who is serving me as a sellers agent. I would like her to change the closing date on the contract and submit it to the buyers for approval. She keeps telling me she doesn’t think it’s a good idea and keeps dragging her feet about making this change. I feel as my agent, she should be doing what I want done and not what she wants done or the buyer wants done.
How should I deal with this probem.
Would a change negatively impact the buyer? If the buyer has their move lined up based on the current close date a change could very negatively impact them. If your buyer is selling a home their buyer may be depending on their close date. It can start to domino. You may want to rethink your request.
What’s the reason for changing the closing date? If its because you are out of town…that can be handled several ways.
You are the boss. Your agent is your fiduciary and professional consultant. Ask her why she has not done as you have asked.
If you have an accepted offer with a closing date certain or a “within # of days” and the change will not meet that agreed condition the Buyer may object and refuse your request.
Read your contract, violating it may jeopardize the deal.
That’s just it. There is verbage that has been added to the contract, initialized by all participants, that says if the mortgage is not approved within the financing contigency time frame, the seller (me) reserves the right to extend the closing date up to 3 weeks.
Buyer still waiting for approval of their loan
So I would think that’s on the Buyer and their agent. They should be creating an Amendment to change the Closing Date. They have specific performance dates in the contract, such as Due Diligence period, Financing period, Closing date…
Without knowing your market dynamics it’s difficult to give you a meaningful response.
I had assumed that, as the Seller, you wanted to tighten up the close date, not extend it.
But, as the Seller, reserving the right to extend the date for loan approval based on actions the Buyer must take is a tad backwards and weakens your position as Seller. In a neutral or Seller’s market you would want to put the onus on the Buyer to perform, not give the power to the Buyer. Even in a Buyer’s market, I question that it would be wise to do so. You can never get back time off market.
This deal sounds like it’s at risk. If the buyer can’t get financing approved within the allotted time there is something wrong. A strong buyer will always be pre-approved up to X dollars. They either have bad credit, not enough down payment, or not enough income to comfortably afford the payments. Be prepared for this deal to fall apart.
A real pre-approval is when income, debt, and credit, and sometimes assets if you have them are verified
What’s the reason for the delay? Is it financing or lifestyle? Financing is a nonstarter as the “buyer” is just wasting your time. It is possible they are having buyer’s remorse and intentionally trying to get denied
If it’s lifestyle, how can you mutually strike a deal so that each party desires the change?
In 2020
The 1st home we put in an offer at $180 escalation to $190 on a $180 ask. We were beat out by a $205,000 with a person who put $70k down. He walked away from the deal but we were already under contract
The 2nd home we offered $225k escalation to $230k with 1% help. We were countered at $230k with 0% and countered at $227,500 with 1%. So we almost walked away. We received credit at closing. We ended out with a 3.625% par rate and had closing costs of 4% less seller concessions and refinanced with 1/2 point at 2.625% par 2.75%. Refinancing cost about 1.5%
We were thinking of putting in an offer for a 3rd floor condo ready to go with $190 escalate to $200 on a $189k ask with a $192,500 cap without a bonafide offer. But since we went under contract, we didn’t submit this offer
She could change the closing date but you realize that gives the buyer the right to pull out of the contract.
From what was said earlier, it doesn’t sound like it would.
I didn’t see where it was said that you had a “Seller’s Agent” contract. If there isn’t a specific contract binding the agent to the seller only, then in some states the agent technically isn’t beholden to either party. The seller should be able to change the agreement at will, until it is signed into a contract of sale. Then the contract trumps all parties. The contract should be amendable by agreement of both parties at anytime. I made an offer to a seller who said that they needed to close in 3 days, so I offered to close in 3 days and offered more than the asking price, but didn’t get the house bc I was out bid price wise. They offered regular closing. My point is my agent didn’t know much about the seller or what they truly wanted. She said the hook was the 3-day closing not the price. Bottom line is, even a verbal agreement, which my agent said she got, isn’t law. The signed contract is the law, and until both parties sign it, all bet are off. I tried to change a contract after being signed on a house I was selling bc I found out that my agent had told the buyer what I had told her that my lowest price I would take was. That agent was a nightmare! I fired her and bought a house with another agent.
There are two contracts involved. The OP stated: “I have my house on the real estate market and have a realtor who is serving me as a sellers agent.” and also stated " I would like her to change the closing date on the contract and submit it to the buyers for approval." The first statement says the house is listed and the second statement implies that there is an accepted offer. Both are legal contracts.
A licensed real estate broker will not list a real property without a listing contract. That listing contract binds both the Seller and the Seller’s agent.
An offer is written up on a sales contract and the parties signing that contract are legally bound by the terms and conditions of that contract.
There is also this…
So, my understanding is that
1)there is a listing contract naming the realtor as a seller’s agent,
2)there is a purchase contract with an expected closing date, and
3)an initialed amendment to the contract that allows the seller to provide extra time before closing should financing be delayed.
Am I missing something? It seems if all those are in place, the seller’s realtor is out of line in not following the seller’s instructions to extend the closing date. Now if the realtor has concerns relating to the extension, discussing them with the seller is appropriate, but ultimately, it is the seller’s call.
Understanding what is important is important to negotiating but the other person is not privy to your top or bottom dollar and that was unprofessional
The same is true to an escalation addendum. What is good faith on the buyer or the seller? If a buyer wants to offer a firm and conditional amount, should a seller counter or should a seller choose another offer? If the seller counters, should the buyer walk or renegotiate?
If I’m selling a house and I ask $294,500, how do you evaluate offers? What happens if someone offers $325,000 and you don’t think the house will appraise? Is it equally acceptable to think of net proceeds at what you expect the home to appraise or the likelihood the home will close? Should the buyer have to reserve?
Cleanest offer meeting your target net wins. If someone offers over asking, I would require them to waive the Appraisal Contingency.
The primary objective is to sell the house. Its your responsibilty to set the price, if you are serious about selling it set a reasonable price.
If you choose an offer from a Buyer who cannot perform the deal won’t close. I’d reccomend evaluating both the ability of a Buyer’s ability to perform in the form of earnest money deposit and loan commitment or cash to purchase verified w/documention and evaluating all contigencies like inspections, Buyer’s exising home sale, etc.
Once an offer is accepted, time is of the essence, the longer the time between acceptance and closing the greater the chance it will fail to close.
Thank you, and I understand what you are saying, but I was referring to a specific written Seller’s or Buyer’s contract as apposed to the standard listing agreement. I would imagine that an exclusive Buyer’s contract is more prevalent. Until both parties sign nothing is binding, unless one party wants to try to press the “verbal” contract issue, which is a legal doctrine, but real difficult to win. I’m quite literal and as you said, it was inferred, but not stated. I do know in GA it used to be the law that in a nondescript real estate transaction that the agent was technically representing the Seller. But if there was a specific Seller’s contract, the agent would be bound to the Seller’s wishes. That’s what I was referring to.