Morrow County, Ohio Real Estate

OK, We've got a buyer ... Now What? (Homes for sale in Morrow County)

OK, this is great!  We've got a buyer for our home with a signed contract ... But what happens now?  When do we close?  When do we have to be out of the house?  Can we negotiate time to stay after closing?  Will there be inspections?  When can I start packing?  Is this a sure thing?  Can we go ahead and buy another house now?  

These are just some of the many questions swirling around in the minds of buyers.  Some are asked and others are forgotten before they can be expressed.  There are so many emotions during the first few hours and days after receiving a signed (accepted) Purchase Contract from a buyer.  I won't try to cover all of them now, but ....

I wanted to take just a couple minutes to talk about one part of this sale process; inspections.

Generally, there are two types of inspections, those being; buyer ordered inspections and lender ordered inspections.

Generally, after a Purchase Contract is signed (accepted) by both the buyer and seller then the buyer's agent or buyer will order property inspections.  These inspections are typically for the benefit of the buyer.  The purpose is to have a professional home inspector look for both deferred maintenance items and more serious safety items or potential repairs that would require substantial money, effort, or both to remedy.

This inspection gives the buyer an overall "heads-up" of property condition and then the buyer has the opportunity to ask the seller to remedy the unsatisfactory condition or the buyer can terminate the contract.  This opens the contract back up for negotiation and the buyer can proceed or terminate.  The seller can agree to remedy, but is not required to do so.

After the first home inspection is completed, by this time the lender has most likely collected detailed financial information from the buyer and may well have the buyer "appoved", but now it's time to see if the property qualifies for the loan.  This process is completed by the buyer's lender ordering an appraisal.

Most often, in Morrow County, it seems that today's buyers are either FHA buyers or USRD buyers.  By that I mean that the loans that buyers are getting are backed by FHA (Federal Housing Administration) or USRD (Rural Developement) and propety condition requirements for these loans are very similar.

When the buyer's lender appraiser visits the home, he/she is not only working to determine value of the property based on the sale price of similar properties that have SOLD, but will also look at the property to determine if it meets minimum property condtion requirements.

Factors considered will be; Are the mechanical systems in good working order (heat, plumbing, etc.)  Is the electrical system in good working order and safe for the occupants?  Is there NO peeling paint?  Are there handrails on stairs?  Are there GFCI outlets within 6' of wet locations (kitchen, bath, laundry, etc.) .... and more.

Now, when the results of the appraisal inspection come back, the property condition will affect whether or not the loan and subsequent purchase continues forward.  The buyer's lender is requiring some improvements and generally, in my experience the buyer and seller work together to get the property into the condition that will allow the sale to move forward.

With a buyer who wants to buy, and a seller who wants to sell, there is typically a way to get it done.

I'll dedicate some time in the future to addressing some of the other questions buyers and sellers most often ask.