All Forum Posts by: Maria Amaro

@Maria Amaro are they asking because they "want" to wait or are they not qualified without waiting therefore they can't buy the house without this rent period (although will it even help them enough to buy)? If they want to, I'd say tough and make them close on their commitment. If they don't qualify for the mortgage and can't buy the house, I would most likely not risk them somehow being able to in a few months and move on to a new buyer.

 I vet the buyer, the buyers agent, and the lender. I want to know the buyers ficos, I want a financial information sheet on them, and I want proof of funds. I want to know how many offers they have made on other properties, how many they lost out on, if any contracts have fallen apart and why. 

Im equally vetting the buyers agent and their lender. Are they using some chop shop internet lender, or are they using a lender who has a reputation for closing, closing on time and closing without issue. Has the lender preunderwritten the buyer. Have they verified assets. How long have they been working with the buyer. Are they the actual lender doing this deal or are the buyers going to shop around and end up with a hack lender. With the agent, does the agent have a strong reputation for closing. Are they able to keep their clients expectations for the process realistic. Or are they some hack who has nonserious buyers who squirm out of deals. Are they going to keep this with the lender I vetted or allow their clients to shop around. (If they are shopping around, better believe there is going to be a nonrefundable EMD involved)

Maybe you guys dont do that on the west coast like Chris said, but the vetting of the buyers, their agent, their lender is one of the most important aspects of my job on the listing side.  If I let a property go under contract, then have it fall apart and need to come back to the market, I literally could be responsible for tens of thousands of dollars of damage to my client. Im not going to cost my client $25k on a lower sales price because I didnt vet all the players involved. And often, I dont need to do much vetting because Im going to work with the other strong agents and lenders in the market time and time again. Reputation is paramount in this business.

Well now you have to decide what poker strategy you want, bluff and have them walk or possibly win the hand. If you're open to extending this to them I think you should make a big fuss about it and let them be aware of the repercussions if they do not perform - holding the deposit and walking away with nothing - lender doesnt make money, agents dont make money... Make them see your pain and what you're allowing them to do is really a large sacrifice for you (because it is!!). Buyers are emotional and they will take it more seriously - esp. with that much money at risk. 

I think the trouble you're having is perhaps feeling like you've gone too far into the process. At this point you are allowed to cancel the contract and have the right to keep your EMD, that portion goes completely to you and not the agent. You can use your discretion in this if you'd like to share of of that with him or her for their time. Having this right will be the wakeup call for your buyers to not waste anymore of anyone's time through this transaction.

I Just went through this myself and buyers tried to reneg at the CLOSING TABLE and after some back and forth and I reminded them of the 5% that is in escrow with my name on it and they quickly changed their tone.  

Why did your agent allow you to go under contract with these buyers? Did he do absolutely zero due diligence on them? They really dropped the ball on this.