Things That Go Wrong with Real Estate Sales

In life, things can and will go wrong, and selling real estate is no difference. We are going to look at some of the things that go wrong with real estate sales, but more importantly, we will also look at some things you can do to mitigate any unforeseen issues.

First, let’s talk about some of the things that can go wrong. One possibility is that your house sits on the market with no buyers. The longer a house sits on the market, the more money it costs the seller because they’re still paying mortgage payments every month. It’s also nearly guaranteed that the seller will have to reduce their asking price which means that after having their house sitting on the market and costing them money, they lose even more money selling the house cheap just to make sure a sale happens.

Another thing that happens pretty frequently is deals falling through. You may list your house and have a buyer lined up, but then something goes wrong. It could be anything. Maybe the buyer dies, maybe they lost their job, or maybe they just had buyers remorse. Even after signing a contract, there is usually some kind of weasel clause in the paperwork that allows a buyer to weasel their way out of the deal if they don’t like something.

A deal may fall through for completely legitimate reasons as well. A lot of buyers will have to sell their current home before they can purchase a new one. If they put a contingency into the contract that says they will buy your house as long as they can sell their own house first, something that goes wrong with their sale now means that your sale won’t happen.

Sometimes it’s not the buyer so much, but the property itself that has problems. If you have mold, termites, a crack in your foundation, or any number of other problems, that can be more than enough to stop the deal from going through.

Sometimes your property is perfect, you have a buyer eager to make a purchase, but there are other third parties involved in the deal. There are lenders and title companies involved and if anyone involved in this deal makes a mistake on the paperwork or even misplaces the paperwork, that can be enough to make a deal fall apart.

The good news is that there are ways to avoid a lot of these potential problems. Of course no one can foresee everything that could possibly go wrong, but if you do your homework and you work with professionals you will give yourself the highest probability of a hassle free transaction.

One thing you should always do is get a professional property inspection done before listing your property. If the inspector finds mold, structural issues, or other problems, you can address these problems and get them fixed before a buyer makes an offer.

Another thing that you can do to avoid a lot of problems is to work with a good real estate agent. A good agent has a lot of experience at sidestepping all of the potential landmines that could pop up in a real estate deal. They also have lenders and title companies that they work with on a regular basis to make sure that one of these third parties doesn’t drop the ball and ruin the deal. Working with a good real estate agent is the best way to avoid potential problems because it is their job to put deals together and get them done.