When you are selling a home, it’s important that you are careful because there are a lot of red flags that you should be on the lookout for. Below are some of the most common red flags and warning signs that you may run into when you are selling your home.
1 – Many Viewings Without Follow-ups
Is your home getting many viewings but you’re not getting any follow-ups from buyers? You should ask why. Obviously, it’s worse when you aren’t getting any viewings. But that problem’s easier to understand. Maybe the property’s priced too high or the listing isn’t a good one. However, it’s more challenging to figure out why buyers have lost interest in your house once they’ve viewed it.
If you don’t have one already, you want to hire an agent for marketing the home. you also want to invite some friends over to get their feedback. Chances are that there are some flaws in the house that you lived with so long that you don’t know them, but visitors notice them. this could be dated décor, a noisy neighborhood, or unpleasant smells.
2 – Lowball Offers
One of the things that sellers hate is lowball offers, particularly when it comes to the beginning of negotiations. Even though negotiations are very normal, offers that are really lower than the price you’re asking are setting off warning bells. It’s quite possible that the amount you’re asking is too much compared with the local market. Lowball offers also could mean that the property needs upgrades or repairs. It also could mean that buyers aren’t prepared financially for purchasing your home and they’re trying to make it a lot more affordable.
3 – Contingency Clauses that are Restrictive
There are often contingency clauses in real estate that let both of the parties to stop the sale under those circumstances outlined in a contract. One of the common kinds that you are going to encounter is the sale & settlement contingency. This is used by a buyer who is selling a home themselves for financing the purchase. this will stipulate that if they are able to sell their home prior to a certain date, they will purchase your home. if it falls through yours falls through.
Other kinds of clauses that often come up are:
• Appraisal – The buyer has a certain minimum amount it must appraise for.
• Inspection – Buyers can inspect the house in a certain amount of time.
• Mortgage – There’s a certain amount of time that the buyer will get their financing.
A lot of times, these kinds of clauses get added by the buyers trying to secure that property they want or because of due diligence. But they aren’t any guarantee that the house is going to sell. The truth is that they let a buyer back out without having any penalties when the conditions aren’t met. Not only that, but the clauses can keep you stalemated which might prevent the sale of the house to any other buyers while it’s going on.
4 – The Buyer Didn’t Get Loan Pre-approval
Even though it’s not necessary to have this for buying a house, it’s very reasonable that you expect that they are. When you are selling, you are going to save a lot of valuable time when you are dealing with buyers who are pre-approved. Of course, waiting for the letter from the lender also can slow everything down because you might miss out on better offers. You also should be careful of the buyers who aren’t pre-approved yet show up with contracts with lots of contingency clauses. This can delay the sale big time.
5 – A Buyer Wants Cash Back
Even though this might seem like a harmless request, it’s a huge red flag. Requests from buyers for cashback usually will take one of two shapes. In the first scenario, they are going to offer to pay more for your house, and then ask that you wire the difference back at closing. The other scenario is when a buyer sends an amount that is too much for a deposit. Then they realize the ‘mistake’ and request that you are sending the extra back. You should know that it’s an illegal practice. This method is used by many scammers for defrauding a lender. It can land you both in jail.
6 – Buyer Doesn’t Want Legal Parties Involved
You shouldn’t ever sign contracts that you don’t understand fully. This is especially true with real estate. Legal terms are often complicated. And you are well within your rights to request professional assistance to help you understand something. However, if this is something that your buyer is refusing, this is another huge red flag. You also should be curious if the buyer doesn’t want to work with a notary or title company for formalizing the deed. It’s also something to be concerned about if they’re really pushy about you signing.
7 – Something About Your Buyer Feels off
So you have found the buyer who is interested in the house finally. However, you have a feeling in the gut that is warning you. maybe they’re not asking the right types of questions that home buyers are asking and they’re simply going right to signing your contract. Maybe they’re really interested in purchasing it site unseen. Or maybe they’re just really hard to contact their agent or them. if you feel like something’s off, you want to double-check things.
As you can see, there are a lot of red flags that you can run into when you are selling your home. Want to avoid all of these problems and the whole rat race of real estate anyway? Let us give you a fair cash offer. We are glad to give you a quote when you contact us.
