Why Do Real Estate Deals Fall Apart?

You and your realtor have invested a tremendous amount of time and effort to put together a deal on your home for sale in Nanaimo.  Finally all of the marketing, open houses, showings and work have paid off and you've got an accepted offer to buy your home.

Then the worst possible thing happens and the deal falls apart.  But why?

Here are four common (and not so common) reasons why a deal to sell your house could fall apart:

1.  The buyer hasn't been thoroughly qualified by a lender.  Most purchase contracts allow a contingency for the buyer to obtain financing.  While this is fair, it's important to determine to what extent the buyer has been qualified to avoid the chance of the lender saying 'No' to financing after the offer to purchase has been accepted.

2.  Contract contingencies on the purchase offer can cause a deal to fall apart.  One example of a deal-breaking contingency on the contract is where the buyer needs to sell the house that she's in now in order to qualify for a your house. 

3.  On the seller side, defects found during a home inspection by a buyer can be a deal breaker.  That's one reason why it's always a good idea for a seller to go through her own inspections before listing her home for sale.

4.  Also on the side of the seller, an unwillingness to make reasonable repairs that the buyer requests can make a deal fall apart.  Many times sellers feel that if their home is reasonably priced the buyer should accept the house 'as is'.  The problem with this approach is that smart buyers will keep looking for backup homes to make an offer on just in case the contract on their first choice falls through.