MY HORRIBLY BAD NO GOOD EXPERIENCE WITH BUYING MY FIRST HOUSE

[Anonymous]

Closing date came and went on the 23rd, lender had issues getting appraisal ordered and done. Lender made a verbal agreement with seller to close first week of Jan due to the holidays coming up back to back at the end of the year and unsure if appraisal could get done and reported back in time for end of year, and give us our 3 days clear to close. We had been fully approved no conditions waiting on appraisal report to close. Seller agreed. Fast forward to yesterday evening we receive a phone call that if we are not closed on 1/1/17 he will be taking a new contract/he made a back up agreement with another buyer. He kept saying "your out of contract". I asked him why he was willing to risk not closing at all or starting completely over with a new buyer in the closing process. He says we asked for too many things. We asked for electric breakers to be updated, that is all, he complied had that finished and had us come back to check it. During the visit we discovered the heating up stairs (which is wired into the walls with old style heaters) no longer worked... Mustve connected something wrong or not at all. We are devistated we loved this house invested money into inspections, I am hoping the lender wont be charging us for the appraisal (FHA) since the seller backed out. Will we get our earnest money back?

Starting over Saturday

[Calidreaming]

This really sucks!    Did the seller break the contract??

[Anonymous]

Why would your loan officer make a verbal agreement for a extension? Have you escalated this issue up the chain of command at your loan officers office? You risk more than just losing the home and earnest money along with inspection monies, you risk paying even more if interest rates increase before you close on the next home along with all starting the process all over again with a new property. Did your realtor not recommend getting a signed extension??

[Anonymous]

No we are out of contract technically, the lender accepted a verbal agreement to extend the closing date past the holidays to the 6th.  I have learned more from my realtor now tho, saying that the house did not pass occupancy inspection (as the seller said it did) and the wiring upstairs was what it failed for (where the heaters suddenly no longer work). Maybe this is in fact why? Seller isnt admitting to anything just saying he has a back up buyer he wants to go with now.

[Anonymous]

The lender accepted a verbal agreement to extend the closing date past the holidays to the 6th.  I have learned more from my realtor now tho, saying that the house did not pass occupancy inspection (as the seller said it did) and the wiring upstairs was what it failed for (where the heaters suddenly no longer work). Maybe this is in fact why? Seller isnt admitting to anything just saying he has a back up buyer he wants to go with now.

No one thought to get it in writing as they say the seller seemed ready and willing to close on the 6th. I thought to get it in writing and I voiced my concern via email multiple times to both the processor/underwriter/and loan officer.

[Anonymous]

Loan officer did say that the process will be much faster now as we have all of our requirements done, nothing will need to be updated. possibly a credit pull if it takes us a while to find something new. All our personals are finished at least. We will have to pay for our own home inspection, but the appraisal fee they will wave. I am just not sure if we will find a house in this callibur for price point again. I am 30 years old, I thought I was getting my dream home.

[Calidreaming]

Vblue, I'm so sorry. I can't imagine being almost ready to close and it all falls through. I still can't get over the seller though.

I know it's going to take some time to get over losing the house but it may be for the better. It sounds like the house needed some costly repairs that he's trying to pass off on an unsuspecting buyer, which also might explain the low cost.

[Revelate]

That sucks, my understanding though for FHA is a heater is flatly mandatory even in places it doesn't snow and if it's not in working condition, the house isn't purchaseable.  That's on the seller not on you, and I'm guessing the backup buyer had a different loan type or was paying cash where maybe that wasn't a problem.  

Inspections aren't the lionshare of the cost, if you get your earnest money back in this situation you win... waiving the appraisal fee is just a cherry on top.  It sucks now, and I can empathize, but if there's one thing I've seen over and over on this forum: there will another perfect house, and you'll be thankful on getting a miss on the past one.

Also the LO is right, your next one should have an easy UW decision (mine sure as heck was and that was funny in retrospect) and it's just going to be verifying all the seller stuff (clean title and what not).  It won't be nearly as harrowing unless you increase your price range.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like you escaped a possible money pit and I am one who believes things happen for a reason and I am glad that your lender will waive the appraisal fee. I hope you find your dream home and it is even better than the last, it does frequently happen.

[Anonymous]

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@Revelate wrote:

That sucks, my understanding though for FHA is a heater is flatly mandatory even in places it doesn't snow and if it's not in working condition, the house isn't purchaseable.  That's on the seller not on you, and I'm guessing the backup buyer had a different loan type or was paying cash where maybe that wasn't a problem.  

Inspections aren't the lionshare of the cost, if you get your earnest money back in this situation you win... waiving the appraisal fee is just a cherry on top.  It sucks now, and I can empathize, but if there's one thing I've seen over and over on this forum: there will another perfect house, and you'll be thankful on getting a miss on the past one.

Also the LO is right, your next one should have an easy UW decision (mine sure as heck was and that was funny in retrospect) and it's just going to be verifying all the seller stuff (clean title and what not).  It won't be nearly as harrowing unless you increase your price range.

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Thats exactly what the lender said as well. Not sure if the appraiser checked to see if they were in working order or not, but regardless I agree we may have dodged a bullet. Others have thrown their two cents in sharing their stories from similar situations. We are considering upping the price range but not by much.