Typically you will have contingencies for an inspection, an appraisal and the completion of the loan. Each of these come with deadlines that are set when you make an offer to purchase the property. The offer is then accepted, countered or rejected by the seller.
It has been argued that a buyer’s agent should try to put the deadlines as far out as they can. Since the buyer’s agent is protecting his client, this makes sense to me. For example: if the inspection deadline is for 28 days past the acceptance of the contract, then you can cancel the contract on the 28th day “Just Because.” However, a listing agent that is protecting his seller will look at that and say, “We will give you the time you need BUT we are not going to give you that much time.” Sometimes when the deadlines favor only the buyer, the seller will consider it a bad offer and may reject it. If another buyer were to come along and make an offer with deadlines acceptable to the seller and the home was sold out from under the first buyer, that agent didn’t really serve the first buyer.
To make a really strong offer you should take the time needed to do your diligence but be aggressive and do it quickly. A seller will notice that you are serious buyer and this can help when negotiating the price. I believe that an inspection deadline should be around seven days and no more then ten. Personally, I like to do the inspection immediately. If the buyer gets the inspection done on the property and decides that they no longer want to purchase the house, that is perfectly fine and is well within their rights to cancel the contract or make an objection. If so, let’s do it quickly and move on.
Once it is determined that the inspection is okay, then I order the appraisal. I do not like to order the appraisal and make you liable for the payment until we get past the inspection. The appraisal deadline should be about fourteen days, followed by the loan denial which should be about twenty one to twenty eight days, depending on the type of loan and the underwriting time.
When I help you make an offer the idea is to make an offer with such good terms that we get a better price. As long as I’m watching your dates we are ok.
Summary:
- Inspect the property.
- Appraise the property.
- Finish the loan (a pre-approved buyer must have the property approved before the loan can be completed).
- Close.
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