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As I write this, I am hoping that my Puyallup Valley listing finally closes today. It has been a saga over the past many weeks to the point that the buyers, sellers, and both agents (me and the buyer’s agent) are almost at the end of our ropes. We have actually agreed that if the deal doesn’t close this time, we will all walk away. At least that was the opinion of everyone yesterday. Here’s how we got to this point of frustration.
The Backstory
In August 2023, I listed a beautiful, gated home with sweeping views of the Puyallup Valley. It was near transit, commerce and had incredible spaces for entertaining. A dream. I did the competitive research and we arrived at a list price that I was sure would quickly land us a buyer.
But, as it has been all year in 2023, what worked in the past may not work at any given moment in time. Maybe because it was summer? Maybe being located so far south? I wracked my brain for what I had missed because we weren’t getting any interest. And this house was gorgeous and fairly priced given the comparables. I was stymied.
We laid low for a few weeks and tried marketing again in mid September. By early October, we had a hit. It was a contingent offer and the original closing was set for Halloween. But then things went sideways. The would-be buyer, thinking that since they were under contract for a new home and assuming their house would sell, stopped making payments on their house! They didn’t talk to their agent or their lender…they just stopped paying their mortgage. This created a massive ripple effect for their ability to sell their existing home and purchase the Puyallup Valley home.
Over the ensuing many weeks, we had to draft and approve 3 extensions to keep the deal alive to keep their lender satisfied. On the second extension, I recommended to my clients that we ask for a non-refundable release of the earnest money as a way for the buyers to show a commitment to close. The buyer’s agent liked it so much, that she required her buyers to do the same. That kept the deal together for two more weeks until the next closing date. When the buyer’s of the contingent house had their credit score drop due to lack of mortgage payment’s on their existing home, they couldn’t close. Our buyer’s agent found them another loan. That loan would take another 12-14 days and a third extension. We required our buyers to pay a friendly penalty fee of $3,000 to cover their expenses (mortgage, utilities, and taxes).
On the 2nd one, the lender required more earnest money. By the 3rd, the buyers had to pay a non-refundable deposit assessed as a penalty.
All of the errors on the contingent buyer’s closing were due to mistakes made by the buyer and their lender. What ultimately saved the Puyallup deal was that their buyer’s agent was amazing. Together we got creative and somehow kept it from falling apart. It took 7 weeks post offer to close on this house. Yes, the market is wonky these days, but even today, 7 weeks is egregious. Until I received definitive word that the deal was done, I still feared more delays – or a total collapse.
The Bottom Line – Good News! We closed! But lessons learned
The bottom line is, who you work with is important. Experience matters. Communication between all parties is critical. Yes, delays and complications will crop up – that’s life – but if you have a good team working with you, hopefully those challenges will be more manageable and shorter in duration. At the end of the day because they and the buyer had committed, knowledgeable agents, my clients ended up with a sale. It took much longer than expected (5-6 weeks to get a contract, then 7 weeks to close), but they have happily moved on to their new dream.
Are you looking to make a move? Of course, I would love to be your agent. I truly believe in my team’s ability to get you the most value for your home with the smoothest process possible. But, whomever you hire, make sure they have the knowledge and experience to handle the bumps in the road. Otherwise you could be leaving money on the table, or find yourself with no deal at all.
