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Wants to "talk" numbers, but no contract for over a month...?
Long version: We took our place off the market about a week and a half ago due to no offers (but much interest/great feedback/many showings) and moving to a new city/all the expenses related to moving.
A realtor called me directly tonight to say that she has a couple that is "interested" but not until 12/1. They are getting married in a week and a half and then going on their honeymoon. (They saw our place 1-2 months ago.) This realtor knows our place is off the market but thought we might want to work with her to sell it.
I talked to my H and we agreed that we wanted our agent in the loop even though we are not under contract with her anymore. After our agent talked to their agent, this was what they requested:
To "talk" numbers now, but not sign anything until 12/1.
We decided to go ahead with having renters in our place (starting now) as we have a free property mortgage company and will be making a small profit monthly on the renters.
My question is this:
Why the wait until 12/1? If you are genuinely interested in a place, wouldn't you make an offer immediately? (Especially given it has been awhile since they visited our place?) I am comfortable with our position to pass on this, but I am confused as to why they had this timeline. Even though they were getting married/honeymoon, it takes time for all of the paperwork to process. So its not like they would be moving in immediately after placing an offer?
Re: Wants to "talk" numbers, but no contract for over a month...?
Why the wait until 12/1? If you are genuinely interested in a place, wouldn't you make an offer immediately? So its not like they would be moving in immediately after placing an offer? They do have a lot going on. There is also a lot of paperwork and documentation you have to provide for the mortgage company. There are inspections to attend, copies of paystubs/tax returns/bank accounts to provide, packing to start, etc. You really have to be on top of the paperwork and make sure everyone is moving along with no problems. Buying a home is a really stressful process and add a wedding and honeymoon in the middle and you could go crazy. Also, Nov/Dec/Jan is usually a slow time for homes to sell so they are probably just assuming there will be no other offers. It's a risk they are taking but I don't blame them. Also, they could have an apartment lease for a few more months and don't want to pay for rent and a mortgage for several months.
It was good for you to get your agent involved. In our contract if the house was shown when we were listed with an agent and they came back after the listing expired or if we went with a different agent, the first agent would have been able to collect commission. We kept the same realtor throughout but he did mention that to us. Something to think about.
I understand most of that-- I guess I find the timing fishy to begin with. Our original last date on the market was 10/31. We ultimately backed that up by a week and half to start looking for renters sooner. However, they called on 11/1-- one day after we were supposed to be off the market. Why would you call on a place that you know just went off the market? (Especially if there is no offer involved?)
I am 100% confident in our decision to not proceed on this, but are there others that would take them at their word that they would actually sign a contract in a month? I guess I just don't have that faith in people.
At mimimum, I would ask if they have a pre-approval letter.
For legal reasons, I wouldn't even discuss numbers with them until a contract is signed. A verbal contract without any earnest money? I would say, thank you, come back when you are ready to put this in writing.
Something to consider, if you've moved forward with renters you may have additional complications. Depending on your state law and the cancellation policies in your lease/local tenant law, the new owner could be obligated to honor their lease.
DS1 born June 2008 | m/c at 9w March 2011 | DS2 born April 2012
These days, buyers will watch a listing for months hoping for a major price reduction, or wait until it's dead in the water before making their move. In your case, I think the buyers were doing the former and were caught off guard when the listing disappeared. They probably do want the house, but the timing is wrong for them.
As I said, I think they do want the house, but there is no way I would wait on them to sign a contract. They are basically asking you to reserve your house for them, because their strategy to wait backfired. If they really didn't want to lose out, they should have made an offer when they saw the place 1-2 months ago.