Selling a house isn’t the easiest and most simple process.
The truth is, there isn’t anything simple about the process involved with either buying or selling a house. Each party involved needs to go through an entire process of signing sheet after sheet of paper before closing. Money has to change hands and home inspections have to be made. Lawyers must review home’s titles for liens and there is so much that can go wrong throughout the entire process. When something does happen to go wrong, a mortgage loan closing date can be actively extended even when both the buyer and seller have a specific date agreed upon. You shouldn’t begin to panic if this is something that happens. A lot of the issues can be remedied and both the buyer and the seller will be able to pick a brand new and hopefully much more permanent closing date.
The Inspection Process
Once a buyer makes a respective offer, they have the ability to choose to order an inspection of the home that they are looking to purchase. This inspector’s job is to thoroughly look over the property in order to identify small and larger problems associated with it. The inspectors are there to uncover problems with the property so the buyer can make a well-informed decision. When they uncover larger issues including foundation or roof issues, the buyers are likely to either ask for the issues to be fixed or for the home’s price to be adjusted to account for it. Another solution would be for the sellers to provide the buyers with the cash needed upfront to hire the various contractors required. While it would depend on the severity of the repairs needed, the negotiations could lead to a stalling point which could cause the closing date to get extended as a result of a lack of agreement on the solution.
Underwriting Problems
A lot of the buyers that are looking to purchase a home get pre-approved for a mortgage loan prior to making an effort on one. However, others don’t get approved. Thus, after making an offer, they will need to find a loan in order to pay for a home. Prior to a lender being willing to loan out the money, they will go through an underwriting process in which the lender will be reviewing the financial health of the prospective buyers/borrowers. This entire process is very likely to take a long time because they need to figure out whether or not the borrowers are worth the risk. In fact, it can take anywhere from 60 to 90 days depending on the business of the lender. If the underwriting process takes too long, the buyers will likely have to request an extension of the closing date.
The Appraisal Process
Prior to getting approved for a loan, a mortgage lender will look to hire appraisers in order to determine the market value of the home the client is looking to purchase. They do this because they want to be certain that their clients are not overpaying for the property prior to approving the loan. The appraiser will be figuring out the market value of the home and if they determine that the market value is less than the selling price, they will likely request the seller to lower their price. There can be major complications from the appraisal and it can force the closing date to be pushed back as they will need to either walk away from the deal or rework it completely.
Title
Prior to the closing date, the title insurance companies will need to perform a search of the home that is being purchased. The entire goal would be to make certain that no other taxing bodies or owners still have a lien or ownership interest against the home. If the title search process brings up a problem, it can cause complications in the transaction which can push back the closing date considerably into the future.