If it wasn’t tough enough buying a home or selling a home out there today between jumpy prices and tight lending there are an increasing amount of difficult buyers and sellers in the market who complicate things even further.
Some are just uneducated, some are vindictive and out to be ruthless from the start and others are just plain clowns. The last thing any home buyer or seller can afford in this market is to get stuck in a contract with one of these ‘outstanding’ individuals. They’ll make your life hell, make you lose sleep, lose hair in the wrong places and even cost you the little money you have left after the last few trying financial years.
Whether you are buying a home or are selling one it is crucial to know the signs and recognize problem characters early on. As much as you want this dream home or need to sell it just isn’t worth it. Listen to your gut.
Having your own real estate agent or attorney to represent you can be a great move but it doesn’t always work out that way and sometimes these pros can be a big part of the problem too when they are out of touch or purely worried about their own paychecks.
Watch out for:
- Unreasonable demands upfront
- Picky buyers & sellers who rip offers or the condition of a home apart from the start
- Lowball offers that aren’t even in the ballpark
- Sellers asking unrealistic prices with no justification
- New investors who haven’t invested in an up to date education course
- Sellers who are too desperate
- Buyers or sellers who try to change things after an agreement is made
- Sellers requesting too much deposit
- Buyers offering too little deposit
Don’t be bullied into agreeing to items or terms you aren’t comfortable with or leave yourself open to lawsuits. It’s OK to play hard ball. If they want you home bad enough or they want ot sell bad enough they’ll bend but don’t be unreasonable.
Both those selling and buying a home should make sure there are sufficient contingencies in contracts to allow a graceful exit if the other party becomes awkward and isn’t living up to their end of the deal. This is especially true for buyers who have deposit money on the line and sellers who are running out of time in the face of a foreclosure.
