Buyers With a House to Sell

By Robin Shapiro

Occasionally buyers emerge who cannot afford to buy unless they sell their existing home first.  They may make an offer to purchase and even agree on a sale price with the seller. However, they often will not qualify for a mortgage until they sell their existing home.  The contract between the buyer and seller would have a mortgage contingency clause which allows the buyer to bail with no penalty if he can’t obtain a mortgage.  In fact, most sellers’ lawyers will not even originate the sale contract in such circumstances UNTIL the buyer’s home is sold or in contract.  The contract will not even get written until this happens.

More problems:  the seller has no control over who the buyer sells his home to. What if that buyer is “weak?”  What if that buyer enters a contract to buy BUT doesn’t qualify for a mortgage?  In such cases there’d be a DOMINO effect – ALL the deals could BLOW UP!  Unfortunately, the blow up happens MONTHS DOWN THE ROAD, wasting time, money, and effort for all parties. Call me. Love, Robin.