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Sorry - I had posted this on the the Real Estate board as well. I asked for this one to be deleted, but the other one was.
So I guess I will post my question here...
My husband and I had an accepted offer on a new construction home (it is already built - some things just need to be finished up) around June 23/24th. We are STILL NOT in contract a month later.
The builder's lawyer took a VERY long time to even write the contract and has been difficult to get in contact with by both our lawyer and our agent.
Is it normal for a contract to take a month to be signed?
No this is not normal. I don't know why the Seller did not have his/her ducks in a row before building the house.
When I read your post, I thought about the term "Time of the Essence". Who has time to wait for such a decision? It is in the Seller's best interest to lock you in or you could continue to shop for another property. What assurance do you have that the builder (even in this market) isn't stalling you in hopes for a better offer?
If you really love the property, I would push your Agent to get an answer in writing. Otherwise, there are plenty more properties on the market.
No this is not normal. I don't know why the Seller did not have his/her ducks in a row before building the house.
When I read your post, I thought about the term "Time of the Essence". Who has time to wait for such a decision? It is in the Seller's best interest to lock you in or you could continue to shop for another property. What assurance do you have that the builder (even in this market) isn't stalling you in hopes for a better offer?
If you really love the property, I would push your Agent to get an answer in writing. Otherwise, there are plenty more properties on the market.
Good luck to you!
Thanks for your response. We have a binder agreement signed by both parties, but we're waiting on official contracts. Our agent is getting annoyed with this too....she says she has never seen contracts take this long.
Yeah, we are getting the feeling that this may be something that he is doing. When our agent called in late last week about seeing the basement (which we haven't seen in the 4 visits we've been there - we haven't been allowed - which is a WHOLE separate issue)... he had mentioned to her something to the effect of well, he's getting all these calls about people interested in the house, but he had already accepted our offer. We have a feeling he wants us to pull our offer in hopes of a full price offer. The kicker is that on the 1st draft of the contract he had us CLOSING ON OR BEFORE Aug. 25. We had to laugh at that one, because at this rate that sure isn't happening!
Now that I have read your response, I think that my initial intuition is correct - he is up to something! What is he trying to hide with the basement
Even when I have negotiated brand new construction, i.e., the foundation has just been poured, I was able to get all the details hammered out (no pun intended) in a "normal time" (2 business days). If every new construction contract took over a month to resolve, I couldn't afford to work
Thanks for your response. We have a binder agreement signed by both parties, but we're waiting on official contracts. Our agent is getting annoyed with this too....she says she has never seen contracts take this long.
Sorry, I reread your post again. So you are Under Contract but are waiting for the "clean" contracts (a copy of the contract that has not been marked up, altered and to have original signatures)? If that is the case, you are Under Contract, so you are protected. Does the Seller have a Listing Agent?
If you are just waiting for the clean contracts (no other changes or amendments), then I think that the Seller and/or his representative(s) are just plain lazy or are procrastinators!
We signed a binder agreement, but no one has signed a contract yet and no money has been given to anyone. The lawyers have been working on writing/editing one, but no one has signed it yet. They are still working on the details of the contract - the builder's lawyer had a lot of things in there that needed changing (there were parts about options for upgrades and such, which is not applicable because the house is done) and other things that were NOT in our interests to have in there (if we failed to get a mortgage, he will finance us at the HIGHEST rate available, stuff like that).
He wouldn't let us in the basement because there are no handrails (and they are still not up over a month later). But before we sign our name on the contract (whenever it gets done!) we want to see the basement (and rightfully so I believe). He is afraid we'll sue him if we fall down the stairs and get hurt. I can understand that, but its like, come on! The house is basically done - except for putting the boiler in and connecting to the sewer system, and landscaping).
Is there an exterior entrance to the basement? Couldn't you go in that way and exit the same way too? Or couldn't you sign a waiver to be able to view the basement?
We actually had our lawyer write a waiver for us after he was giving our agent grief about having us in the basement. It was at this same time he was making comments about having other parties interested in the house. When our agent told us this, she said if we want out we can pull our offer. We aren't 100% decided either way at this point. We do really like this house, but we're just so aggravated with this whole procedure.
Imagine how responsive the builder will be with real issues.
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Contract question - Is this normal???
What is he trying to hide with the basement
