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Yes, technically it is the "buyer's fault," but I suggest the actual fault lie with our elected officials that let this country down. You have to do what is best for you. I seriously doubt anyone here is going to tell you to tell your buyers to take a hike without looking for possible solutions. You, yourself have said the buyers have been great buyers and it sounds like all the housing drama has been on your side of the isle with your current residence. Looking for a solution where everyone wins is not being "too nice," it's being human.
People have tried to tell me that it's the buyers' fault for making an offer with a USDA loan in the first place, but I truly believe the buyers agreed to a USDA loan with the same level of naivete with which we accepted one. Both sides were told that USDA was this wonderful, super-great, fantastic program, and that we would close in approx. 35 days. Hence, not their fault, not our fault, but as you said, our elected officials' fault.
I sure wish we would have researched USDA loans online for ourselves (and discovered all the delays and lack of funding and problems the program has had in years past) instead of just basing our decisions on what the realtor said. I bet the buyers are wishing they'd done so, too. But what's done is done. Live and learn.
And you are correct, 100% of all that unwanted drama (ugh--I even hate the sound of the word "drama") has been on our side--the buyers have absolutely nothing to do with that at all.
Hmmm...so many times in the past when we have looked for a situation where everyone won, the other side or people outside the situation used our spirit of cooperation to take advantage of us, hence the fear of being "too nice." These buyers are definitely not the predatory type. It's just hard to let one's guard down after being burned so much.
I guess what we are most afraid of is that both we and the buyers are going to get strung along and strung along and it'll be January and the house will still be sitting there.
Again, I really appreciate these thought-provoking posts! They are very helpful.
I feel for you OP and wish you the best of luck. There is no for sure answer to give you. If you don't extend and get a new buyer, you have no way to know if that might become a worse nightmare. Without a crystal ball, you just have to gamble either way. I will give you my opinion, and I'll point out I know nothing about this type of loan. Its sounds like you have a great offer and wonderful non-complaining buyers. I've had horrid buyers before, so I'd do what I could to keep the good ones.
The next buyers my pick the house apart, demand all kinds of things, even after you accept their offer. We also had buyers that messed up their own loan, days before closing. You just never know, but it appears you have a couple who wants this as stress free as you do. Keep us updated please, and I also would consider letting them rent. Depends on my finances though.
At the end of the day, this is a business transaction. It's causing you stress. . .I would wrap my head around the options and pick the one that is best for me and my family. It sounds like you're going through a lot, and the last thing you need is a buyer who can't perform. Whatever their reasons are, it's not your fault. You need to get your home sold. Their delay is costing you money. If they had to back out of the transaction, I doubt they'd show you the same consideration. . .and it had nothing to do with how nice they are. . .it's just business.
If the buyers cannot provide a USDA written loan commitment at least 3 days before closing, the purchase agreement is null and void. So here's the big question: Do we grant an extension, or do we walk? The buyers are good people and they want to buy the house as badly as we want to sell it. We truly would like to sell to them. However, neither we nor they are made of money. Also, our realtor told us that there are a lot of people on a waiting list who want to view the house. It has been beyond frustrating to know all these people want to see the place and we aren't allowed to have it shown until time runs out on an offer we know is worthless.
Our realtor can't advise us much because he's a dual-agent.
So... Pros? Cons? Thoughts? Ideas? Thanks so much, everyone, for your time.
Well I'm not gonna beat you up but
The buyers may be the nicest people in the world but that's not selling your house at the moment. You're in closing now and I guess I would extend but that hinges on what are their chances to close? Even late close with granted extension. The realtor telling you that a lot of people wanna see the house does not mean its gonna get offers or a sale.
If they don't close then you're back to square one but this deal is baking in the oven now. Let it cook. If you dump it you could be throwing the baby out with the bath water. Worse happens is you relist and those same people the agent is talking about will look at the house
If the buyer backed out I doubt he would lose sleep over it. I know as a buyer I don't. As a seller I tighten the reins and I move to the next on the list if the buyer or agent tries to play with me. Keep the transactions strictly business. That includes you having your own representation and the buyer theirs
I guess I don't need to tell you never to let a agent double end the deal. You learned that on your own.
I would however call the broker and ask to be let out of your contract with the current agent. Make a big enough stink and send a letter to NAR. Don't let people run over you. Get the release in writing saying they have no attachment or claims on your sale as of x date. Then get a different agent.
Never do a double end deal.
I also accepted an offer on my house. Buyer is using USDA loan too. I had no idea to stay away from this type loan.
My home sold early Sept. I'm still waiting to close. I had to pay for 2 homes for a while and finally the buyer agreed to rent my home so I'm not paying for 2 places. It's been so stressful and a headache. What I originally thought was a good deal, no longer is such a good deal.
I never wanted to rent my home ever. I just wanted it sold.
My realtor told me there was nothing to warn me about USDA loans. She says they usually close in the 30 days and she rarely has issues with them. blah blah blah. She also told me after the shutdown that buyer's loan should be approved soon. I told her about the backlog but she tells me the buyer's loan will be approved sooner than later. How the heck does she know. I still hadn't heard a word from her since the shutdown and wonder if it'll even happen before Thanksgiving or even Christmas.
I will never ever sell a home to anyone with a USDA loan unless I'm ok with waiting and waiting and jumping through more hoops, etc.
The next buyers my pick the house apart, demand all kinds of things, even after you accept their offer. We also had buyers that messed up their own loan, days before closing. You just never know, but it appears you have a couple who wants this as stress free as you do.
The buyers do seem to want this as stress-free as we do. And yes, we do very much fear jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, especially now that winter is coming soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by patrick85395
It sounds like you're going through a lot, and the last thing you need is a buyer who can't perform.... If they had to back out of the transaction, I doubt they'd show you the same consideration. . .and it had nothing to do with how nice they are. . .it's just business.
That is also very true--a buyer who can't perform is the last thing we needed. After all we've been through, it may have been better for us if our house had just sat on the market without an offer all this time. Having our hopes up and dashed and up and dashed over and over (including all the stuff that happened in the several months before we bought another house and put this one on the market) has just worn us out. We are so emotionally exhausted that when one of our closest friends passed away earlier this month, we couldn't even grieve--it was like both our minds simply went numb and rejected it out of self-preservation.
And as nice as the buyers appear to be, I think you are right regarding if the shoe was on the other foot. This is why I keep saying we get burned all the time for being "too nice." We assume people will treat us a certain way because that's the way we'd treat them (kind of like the Golden Rule in reverse) and then we are too slow to realize when we're being taken advantage of. That's how the sellers of the house we just bought got away with so much.
Last edited by wide-eyed; 10-25-2013 at 10:55 AM..
If the buyer backed out I doubt he would lose sleep over it.
Well, one thing we're increasingly confident of--the buyers *are* losing sleep over this. They desperately want this house and are truly scared they're going to lose the chance to buy it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Electrician4you
I guess I don't need to tell you never to let a agent double end the deal. You learned that on your own.
I would however call the broker and ask to be let out of your contract with the current agent. Make a big enough stink and send a letter to NAR. Don't let people run over you. Get the release in writing saying they have no attachment or claims on your sale as of x date. Then get a different agent.
Never do a double end deal.
To be fair, the agent is not the one who brought up that idea. We came up with it on our own, and we can't fault him for saying yes to a scenario *we* offered to him. Just like with USDA loans, we should have researched the idea, but we didn't know it was a big enough issue to research. Another lesson learned.
Last edited by wide-eyed; 10-25-2013 at 10:56 AM..
I also accepted an offer on my house. Buyer is using USDA loan too. I had no idea to stay away from this type loan.
My home sold early Sept. I'm still waiting to close. I had to pay for 2 homes for a while and finally the buyer agreed to rent my home so I'm not paying for 2 places. It's been so stressful and a headache. What I originally thought was a good deal, no longer is such a good deal.
I never wanted to rent my home ever. I just wanted it sold.
My realtor told me there was nothing to warn me about USDA loans. She says they usually close in the 30 days and she rarely has issues with them. blah blah blah. She also told me after the shutdown that buyer's loan should be approved soon. I told her about the backlog but she tells me the buyer's loan will be approved sooner than later. How the heck does she know. I still hadn't heard a word from her since the shutdown and wonder if it'll even happen before Thanksgiving or even Christmas.
I will never ever sell a home to anyone with a USDA loan unless I'm ok with waiting and waiting and jumping through more hoops, etc.
I feel for you OP. Good Luck!
I read a thread you posted elsewhere and definitely feel for you and wish you the best of luck as well!!!
I would be very interested in knowing how your renting situation eventually turns out. We have already decided not to go that route with our buyers, but would sure like to know what happened with someone in our same situation who did rent.
Yeah, we got sold the same story you did from our realtor about the great and wonderful USDA loans. Now we are being told that there's not much of a backlog at all in our area (office is in Tipton, Iowa).
Bolded type here for everyone to see our update: Our realtor and the buyers' lender are extremely confident that we will close soon. We did end up agreeing to an extension last night, so now our closing date is 9 days later than it originally was. However, while typing this post this morning, it just occurred to me to do the math: If the government was shut down for 16 days, there's a 24-to-48-hour turnaround time at our USDA office, and the buyers' lender didn't have the loan in the USDA's "pipeline" before the shutdown, then why only 9 days?Wouldn't it be more like 17 to 18 minimum?
Back to addressing diddlydudette (like your screen name, BTW): I hear you on your feelings about USDA loans. We'll certainly never do that again. This experience, plus the continuing deterioration of our government, probably means that from now on we will never sell any homes to buyers with any type of government-program loan at all. Our best friends, coincidentally, are moving now also, and they decided based on seeing what we are going through to accept conventional or cash only buyers. They have multiple offers and will be choosing one shortly.
Well, one thing we're increasingly confident of--the buyers *are* losing sleep over this. They desperately want this house and are truly scared they're going to lose the chance to buy it.
Ok its understandable. At this point you might as well wait it out rather than starting over with the showings and negotiating etc. It's either gonna go through it its not. A few days week etc won't make much of a difference.
To be fair, the agent is not the one who brought up that idea. We came up with it on our own, and we can't fault him for saying yes to a scenario *we* offered to him. Just like with USDA loans, we should have researched the idea, but we didn't know it was a big enough issue to research. Another lesson learned.
Oh gotcha. I guess you tried to keep part of the commission. What exactly is he not doing that you feel he should do?
Oh gotcha. I guess you tried to keep part of the commission. What exactly is he not doing that you feel he should do?
Well, we weren't thinking about any commission stuff. It's just that so many times we ask him questions or ask him for advice, and his hands are tied because he's working for both us and the buyer.
There are also sometimes concerns we have regarding negotiations that we are afraid to tell him about because it could affect what he turns around and tells the buyer.
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You just never know, but it appears you have a couple who wants this as stress free as you do. Keep us updated please, and I also would consider letting them rent. Depends on my finances though.
