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My purchase of a home has been delayed by two days past closing (so far) due to seller inaction.
As the buyer, I submitted EVERYTHING that escrow asked of me completely and promptly. The listing agent even faxed advisories to my buyer's agent for me to sign on the morning before the closing date. We signed and returned them within 30 minutes. I was all set to move-in the next afternoon. However, the escrow company said the seller had missing signatures; so escrow would not close the sale.
Day Two passed without the signatures received from the seller. The seller called the listing agent to say the signatures will arrive tomorrow morning. So, closing will be delayed by two days at minimum. Escrow will adjust the prorated taxes to reflect the new closing date.
The property is vacant, so the sellers are not trying to buy themselves more time to move-out. Probably just unorganized, very lax, very busy, or they had a family emergency. But, who knows if the signatures will even be returned tomorrow in time to close the sale on Thursday?!?!
If I, as the buyer, held-up closing then the sellers would pounce on my earnest money deposit and cancel the contract. Is there any penalty for the seller delaying the closing date?
When Mrs. Seller on my last house didn't show up to closing, the escrow officer and my lender went directly to their house to get them to sign. Mr. Seller couldn't get his wife to closing. When she opened the door, she took one look at the mortgage guy, who was a BIG guy, and she signed instantly, no questions.
She didn't show up because she didn't want to and she thought we would just allow the contract to default. I put too much into the house at this point, that I wasn't letting her get off that easy.
Why has no one made an effort to go to the sellers for signatures? Why does it take 4 days to get them to sign something when someone could have driven to wherever they are?
You could have asked your agent to negotiate early possession for a couple of days while you waited for the signatures to come back.
This would probably require another signature of the seller!
Quote:
Originally Posted by manderly6
What's in your contract?
Do most buyers assume the sellers are flaky, and write clauses into the initial written offer to cover this scenario in advance?
Quote:
Originally Posted by FalconheadWest
Why has no one made an effort to go to the sellers for signatures? Why does it take 4 days to get them to sign something when someone could have driven to wherever they are?
The listing agent has called the seller and either talked or left a message. The listing agent seemed confident the seller would come through with the signatures two days ago. The seller didn't follow-through for whatever reason (busy, ill, emergency, etc). One signature is required to be original, so it can't be faxed, scanned, or electronically signed.
One other scenario I'm envisioning is that the seller can't let go: The longer the seller doesn't sign, then that means the seller still owns the property (even though moved out a week ago).
Why has no one made an effort to go to the sellers for signatures? Why does it take 4 days to get them to sign something when someone could have driven to wherever they are?
Seller could be at work during business hours. You wouldn't just march in there would you?
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