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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
House Buying help
So we are thisclose to closing on a house. We are waiting on the appraisal and the response from the seller to the inspection (are they going to fix it or give us $). This whole process has me a nervous wreck becuase our last house contract fell through and I was heart broken. In your experience, this far into the process how likely is it that we wil get the house?
And imagine that we do get the house: Anyone want to recommend their alarm system/company? TIA
Hold me.
Re: House Buying help
Aside from you walking away if the seller won't fix/give you $ on that stuff, I haven't heard of many homes falling through at this stage. It's true that appraisals can come in lower than the purchase price but IMO a seller is an idiot to not lower their price to match that so the loan can go through. I mean, presumably they want to sell & have wasted time already...who knows if another appraisal would be different.
Anyway....good luck! good house dust flying your way!
Actually, as a seller I had a sale fall through at this point. The appraisal came in way, way below the contract price. The appraiser was from Springfield, VA and had never appraised in DC proper before and the comps he used were terrible. The buyer backed out and I relisted and got my original price. The appraiser the 2nd buyer used came right back at the much higher number my place was listed at.
That being said, I think it's a pretty rare circumstance, and OP it sounds like you will be homeowners shortly!
How has the negotiation been up to this point? Were the sellers reasonable? How far into the contract process are you? I guess past 7 days, because that's the typical contingency period for the home inspection. They should have about 3 days to get back to you about the items that they are going to fix. the good news is that the contract covers HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and appliance issues if they aren't in normal working order.
Appraisals take a little longer. Some lenders don't order it right away...and if it's FHA, it can take longer to get on the schedule.
Did you have to compete for your home? Were there lots of comparable sales, and did you come in under the comps? Which lender are you going through?
You should probably find out within 14 days about the appraised value is.
If the appraisal gap isn't too big, I've seen sellers lower the price to the appraised value. If you get a conventional loan, and you get a lower appraised value, you might be able to get another appraisal done through someone different.
Good luck!
Thanks for the positive thoughts and support! I really appreciate it! i did not anticipate how stressful this whole process was going to be!
Dawnmichele- The inspection was last Thursday and the sellers realtor said that someone (I assume a handyman) was going to the house to check/work on the items soon. We have a conventional loan and have started that process so we will see when they get to the appraisal. As for the sellers, they are interesting. The house is a flip and they way over priced it at first. We saw it after it had been on the market for over 60 days and brought them down a significant amount. But the negotiations were tough. So they could go either way with being reasonable or not. They are motivated to sell since every day they hold on to the house is costing them profit::shrug::.
That's good that you're going conventional with a flip. FHA makes it harder to buy flipped properties, and the appraisal process is difficult if the owner can't document all the improvements.
Even though he made a hard negotiation on the price, the good news is that real estate investors usually don't make a big stink over a minor appraisal difference. It sounds like he's being cooperative with getting on the inspection issues right away. And the time on the market should've made him more willing to get rid of it. I think your situation looks pretty good. But if you have any more questions/options, let me know! dawnpace at gmail.