Sacramento Sellers Who Sell a Home Twice

Words a Sacramento home seller never wants to hear — and no, it’s not anything like we need to catch the Chihuahuas, but runs close — are: the buyer needs to cancel escrow. Especially at the last minute, when contingencies have been removed and everybody expects the loan to close. Part of the shock is the seller has already in her mind mentally closed escrow. She’s generally moved on and is just waiting for the check.

It’s jarring news to find out the buyer can’t close. It means a seller must sell a home twice. And why can’t the buyer close? Because the buyer can’t get the stinkin’ loan. The first thing sellers question when this happens is what about the preapproval letter? They believed the lender who said the buyer was qualified to buy a home, and I don’t blame sellers for feeling misled. Mortgage lenders don’t guarantee preapproval letters. But there’s more to it than that.

Sometimes, you don’t know that one of the parties has a lien filed against that person until the preliminary title report discloses a judgment. If there are two people buying the home, the lender generally removes one of those persons from title and proceeds with the remaining individual, providing the remaining individual has enough income to qualify.

Which reminds me, a teacher yesterday in Redding wrote and asked what piece of advice I would give first-time home buyers today. That piece of advice is: don’t buy a home for which you must rely on two incomes to meet the mortgage payment — because people split up, get divorced, become sick, die or lose jobs. Things don’t always stay the way they are.

That’s good advice for anybody to follow. But the really important thing I tell sellers is if the buyer does not qualify at the end and needs to cancel the escrow it could actually be a good thing! When I say this they look at me like I’m dense, this goofy, overly optimistic agent. However, it could mean that the seller will put her home back on the market and sell it for more money, perhaps even to a buyer with cash.

That’s exactly how it generally works out, too. It can be a good thing if the buyer cancels. And because I’ve closed over the years hundreds of short sales in Sacramento, this Sacramento real estate agent has unparalleled experience in selling a home twice.