My Deal Fell Through, Now What?
Just when you think things are going so perfectly, they can fall apart at any minute.
Selling your house can be a lot like riding a roller coaster.
You have your ups and downs but in the end, it's worth the ride.
A deal can fall apart for many reasons. When someone writes an offer it has multiple contingencies added to it.
Contingent upon a home inspection. This means that the buyer would be able to have a home inspection on your property. If they find a major defect wrong with the house, they can usually get out of the contract if you are unwilling to fix the issue.
Contingent upon getting approved for a loan. If they lose their job, or somehow their credit score drops and they can no longer get approved for the loan, then this would also let them out of the contract (most times).
Contingent upon selling their house first. This means that they can't buy your house until they close on their personal house. If that deal falls through, then so will your deal with them.
So how do you fix a deal that has completely fallen apart?
What I normally will do when we accept an offer on a house is list the home Active/C. This means it is active but you can still have showings as a back up. Once things are looking like they are going to close and all negotiations are over, that is when I will change it over to Pending.
Once the deal falls through and before I list it back to Active, I will revisit my marketing plan and double check the comps. I want to make sure that the values are still good. In some cases, you could be in the Active/C stage for 30 days and the prices could have dropped. So before you go back to Active, you will want to check the pricing first.
After checking the pricing, I will list the home back to Active. From there, I will notify all agents who showed the property and explain to them that the previous deal has fallen through. This will give them a good heads up so they can either show it again, or go ahead and move forward with writing an offer.
At the end of the day, these things normally work themselves out. If you received an offer within the first week of listing your home, chances are you will probably get another offer just as fast. Hang in there, take a deep breath and relax.
Remember, this is why you hired a rock star real estate agent such as myself. :)
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me and I would be happy to answer them.