Selling a house can be a long, complex process with any number of speed bumps and obstacles along the way. In fact, there are quite a few things that can go wrong at the eleventh hour, as any experienced home seller knows. But if you’re prepared and armed with some foreknowledge of these things, it won’t be as bad as it might otherwise be. With that in mind, we offer these 4 surprising things sellers face in Oxnard.
1. Buyers Who Want Spur-of-Moment Showings
You have a busy life and a tight schedule, but some people just have no discernible schedule at all. And you’ll find that out when you start showing your home.
It usually goes like this. After a long, hard day at work, you’re ready to eat dinner and chill in front of the TV because you have nothing scheduled for the evening. But then the phone rings. It’s their agent saying that a potential buyer wants to view your home. You’re tempted to say something your mother wouldn’t approve of, but you bite your tongue and agree to the showing because you need to sell your house.
This doesn’t happen often, but it happens often enough. Typically, you will be notified a day or two in advance about an impending showing. If you have a good agent, she can usually head off such a scenario and schedule the showing for a more convenient time. (Find out more by calling 805-232-8503.) And keep in mind, too, that some people are extremely busy and just can’t fit it in any other time.
2. Buyers Who Don’t Show Up for Showings
An even more infuriating thing sellers face in Oxnard is buyers who don’t show up for showings at all. A showing is scheduled, so you frantically straighten up and clean and get the kids quiet . . . and wait. And then you wait some more. But no one shows up.
This happens more than you’d think. And the best way to avoid such an event is to have an agent who will help you weed out the mere tire kickers who are likely to be no-shows. But it could be the buyer’s agent’s fault, and you really have no control over that.
3. Damage At the Last Minute
One of the more disastrous things that sellers face in Oxnard is damage that occurs at the last minute, sometimes just before closing. It does happen that a buyer swings by for a last look, and, unknown to either of you, some last-minute damage has happened.
Suppose, for example, that extremely heavy and hard rain fell the night before. So you open the front door, and there on the living room floor you see gallons of water and most of the fallen ceiling drywall. Your insurance will probably cover the damage, but the sale can’t go through till the repairs have been made.
4. Buyers Who Make Major Purchases Before Closing
You may think you have the sale in the bag, but it’s not a done deal till the dotted lines have been signed at closing. And sometimes before closing buyers make major purchases, and, as a result, their financing falls through. It’s just one of the things sellers face in Oxnard because people do foolish things.
Real estate professionals will tell you that financing is the area of a real estate transaction where most problems arise. A lot of buyers aren’t aware that their credit will be rechecked by the mortgage lender at the end of escrow. And if they make a major purchase, their credit will be worse than it was at the beginning of the process.
Hire a Good Agent to Avoid These Things
The 4 surprising things sellers face in Oxnard that we’ve listed here are sometimes inevitable and unavoidable. But you can definitely increase your chances of avoiding the accompanying headache by hiring a qualified, committed real estate agent.