A buyer’s acceptance of your offer on residential real estate sets in motion a series of events that you must take care of leading up to the closing on your home.
You may need to have an inspection performed on the property you’re contracted to buy, and it likely needs to undergo an appraisal by your lender. You may also need to perform a final walkthrough.
These are just some of the many reasons why your closing may be pushed back:
Financing concerns
Lenders can generally process loans requiring minimal documentation within two weeks. Most lenders take more like 30 to 45 days to underwrite a loan, though. Some federal loans can even take as long as 60 days to close.
Any instance in which your lender requests additional information can delay your closing. This is why most purchase agreements contain a two-week extension automatically built into them so that renegotiation isn’t necessary.
Structural or systems concerns
An inspection may reveal problems with your future house’s structure or systems. Your contract will generally allow you to demand that your seller makes these repairs, or else you can pull out of the contract. If your seller does decide to make the necessary repairs, then this can make it where you and your seller need to push back the closing date.
How to deal with obstacles that may result in closing delays
Delayed closing dates aren’t uncommon when individuals go to buy residential real estate. These often occur because there are multiple moving parts within a single transaction. All it takes is one thing going wrong to throw everything off schedule.
Like any contract, you may be able to renegotiate the terms of your agreement if your seller does something to slow the closing process down. When delays happen, it helps to have experienced legal guidance at hand.