The Final Piece
We finally got our appraisal and were elated to hear it was valued at the full purchase price and we were cleared to move forward. The lender had 1 more request – we needed to get a letter from a licensed HVAC contractor to confirm that the home’s ventless fireplace was fully up to code. They gave my buyer special stipulations about what was needed to satisfy this requirement, but they did not provide any forms, or details to me as the agent, but told the buyer to ask me. I reached out to the lender to clarify what they told my client and received no response. Luckily, the listing agent had disclosed to me that she had recently worked on a couple other transactions with VA loans, so I asked her if she was familiar with the request. It turns out that she was, and she could take care of it. Hurrah!
That was 8 days ago. I got a call from the lender on Monday around 4:30PM that said they had not yet received it. I reached out to the listing agent to confirm when it would take place and she let me know that it was scheduled for Thursday of this week. They had had another appointment, but the contractor had cancelled so they had to find a new contractor! I emailed the lender immediately to let them know when they could expect it, but it was after hours by that time, so I did not hear back. I called the lender first thing the next day to ensure she received my email. She told me she had not yet read it, so I told her what it said. At that point she told me that she may need to push the close date because one week would not give them enough time to process that document, she needed the document by the next day at the latest.
Excuse me? They needed 9 days to process a stack of documents they have HAD for several weeks, because they cannot look at any of them until they have this one singular item?! The list of several documents must be sent as a singular package and be reviewed by multiple parties in order to complete processing in time for closing. Oh no!
Now concerned, I reached out to my listing agent to share my concerns. This is where things get scarier… Her sellers are planning on a simultaneous close. That is, they plan on purchasing a new home, on the same day they sell their current home, with the funds from the sale – which means, they cannot delay the close, or they could also risk the deal falling through on the other end as well. What is worse for my buyers, the sellers have a backup offer in cash. That means, if our lender is not able to confirm the funds on time, my buyers will be in default and the sellers can walk away from our contract and accept the cash offer to ensure they can close on time, along with keeping my buyers’ earnest money. They get what they want, we lose more than $5,000 and must start our search all over again. Needless to say, that is a terrifying prospect.
The listing agent reached out to her HVAC contact to request they do the inspection ASAP and was able to get it moved up one day. The inspection was completed this morning and the stellar listing agent sent the forms needed as soon as she received them. I have now forwarded them along to the lender so they can begin to process the loan. This would give them 8 business days, and 10 calendar days to process – though they usually require 9 business days…So now, we hope and pray that nothing else goes wrong and it can be processed as a priority so both buyers and sellers can begin to enjoy their NEW homes.
This little issue could be enough to ruin the whole thing. That is what is so scary about Real Estate. My buyers did nothing wrong. They sellers did nothing wrong. The Listing agent and I have done everything we are supposed to, and yet sometimes timing that is out of our control can suddenly make the smallest detail the most important thing in the world. I am transported back to days as an Event Planner when even the most experienced, seasoned planners would encounter something that threatens to blow everything. Every event planner has a story, I will save mine for another day – but in my experiences in events, we always found a solution and it all worked out, I sincerely hope I can say the same about my career in Real Estate.