House 3: Back On The Market

My agent heard from the buyer's mortgage broker today. Apparently, the reason for the delay in the loan docs was the buyer had a late payment on his credit report. He said it was the bank's fault and initially, the bank agreed. However, after further investigation, the bank changed its mind and decided it was the buyer's fault after all. That dropped his credit score and he no longer qualified for the loan. The mortgage broker says they can get it cleared up in 15 to 30 days, but I'm not going to wait that long. The house went back on the market today. If the buyer gets his loan situation straightened out before it sells to someone else, he can buy it. Otherwise, it's first come, first served.

House 3: Escrow Update

We were supposed to close escrow today. Actually, the original close date was last Tuesday, but we extended it a week. My agent has called the buyer's agent and has not gotten a response. She also called the buyer's mortgage broker and asked what was going on. She got the usual mortgage broker answer - "Oh, there were some problems that weren't the buyer's fault but they are all cleared up now," etc., etc. My agent then asked if we were going to close tomorrow. He said no, it would probably be next Monday. This is not acceptable. I do not want to hold this property over another weekend and I've already extended the closing date a week.

My agent is putting the property back on the market and is sending the buyer's agent a cure notice to give them three days to close or lose their earnest money.

I am so sick of lenders and/or mortgage brokers waiting until the last minute. They've had 5 weeks to get this loan ready and they haven't done anything.

House 3: Still No Buyer's Docs

We're supposed to close escrow tomorrow. As of 1:45 PM today, the escrow agent still does not have docs from the buyer's lender and no one there is returning his phone calls. This does not make me happy. I asked my agent to contact the buyer's agent and have them start pestering their lender for loan docs as well.

I did stop by the property this morning and it's still in good shape. The window AC unit has been installed. No more vandalism has been seen.

House 3: Sale Documents Signed

I went to the title company this afternoon to sign all the documents. There were several errors on the HUD - as expected. First, they had my agent's commission as 3% when it should be 1%. They also left out the $350 I am kicking back to the buyer for a stove to replace the one that was stolen. Then, they charged me $525 for a termite treatment. This was never mentioned to me and it is not in our contract. The escrow company charged me because the paperwork from the termite company said to bill the homeowner. They apparently meant the new home owner, since I did not authorize this and have never heard of the company. They also incorrectly charged me $325 for a home warranty. My counter-offer, which was accepted, says the buyer is to pay that. So altogether, there was $4,750 in errors in the HUD. It pays to go over these things closely.

The only other surprise was that the close of escrow date is the 13th. I thought it was the 8th. My concern there is that I have to hold on to the property over one more weekend. I may be a bit paranoid, but three break - ins over two months will do that to you. The new window AC unit is being installed today, so there is the potential for more theft. Hopefully, though, it will be ok.

Actually, I do have one more concern - the title agent said he had not yet received the loan docs for the buyer. They were supposed to arrive on Monday. I'm a bit uneasy about that.

Unfortunately, it looks like I will not be making much on this property. That's not great, but I do want to get rid of it and at least it looks like I won't be losing money. I'll post a detailed post mortem of the project after everything settles.

On an unrelated note, I saw Bruce Springsteen in concert twice last weekend - here in Phoenix on Saturday and in Los Angeles on Monday. Great shows!! And in L.A., we went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner before the show and on the way out, bumped into Steve Perry of Journey coming in. Meal in the sky keeps on turning...

House 3: Closing Delayed - But That's Good

When I spoke with my Realtor last night, I got some good news. The appraisal on the house came back at $195,000, not $193,000 as we were expecting. And the buyer's mortgage broker says the lender is okay with that, so I don't have to drop the price as much as I thought. My agent is getting the paperwork to me so I can sign off on the new sales price.

The title company says buyer's loan docs are supposed to be in on Monday, but to be safe, we are pushing the closing date back three days to Thursday. In light of this, I'm rescheduling the appointment I had today to next Wednesday.

I forgot to mention that when I drove by the property two days ago, I noticed that it looks like the house next door is being renovated. This is good news for me - I'm hoping any vandals will be attracted to that place instead of mine.