Hey Dave, I am purchasing my new house, we are under contract to close April 24th and my lease is up April 30th on my current place. My agent keeps telling that everything is going to be ok, but not providing much in the way of specifics and it truthfully has me a bit anxious. I am concerned that she may not be completely informed and with everything shutting down, I am afraid I will be homeless if I can’t close on my new home. How worried should I be? Liz, Fruita, CO
Liz,
I am so sorry, as I know how stressful this is for you! Honestly, everyone has so much on their plates right now that the “unknowns” are starting to just wear people down. On our team, our attention the past couple of weeks has been to make sure that our under contract properties stay under contract and make it to the closing table! If I told you not to worry, you still would and to be truthful you have some reasons for concern as things are not operating “business as usual” even though everyone tells you that it is “business as usual”. Trust me, right now everyone in my line of work, Realtors, Appraisers, Lenders, Title Companies etc…. are all working double-time to try and make things as “business as usual” for all of their clients.
My bet is, your agent is telling you that it's all going to be ok because she honestly believes it will be ok! It is hard to get full control on everything right now, but all of the local title companies have been amazing at creating closing environments that are safe for both the buyers and the sellers and are bending over backward to make it as easy as possible for all parties! The lenders have been amazing at answering calls and being very responsive to everybody’s concerns about funding because they know everyone is on edge, as are they. Thankfully, for everyone, funding has not proven to be an issue with any of our residential properties and all the lenders are closing and funding like they always have in the past. Appraisers are where part of the system bottleneck lies, but that is due to the number of refinances that were applied for when the mortgage rates shortly dropped a couple of weeks ago. This spike in demand created even more of a log jam in an already narrow body of water, as we have too few appraisers for the demand in just a normal real estate landscape. I would be willing to bet that all parties to your transaction are working as diligently as they can to ensure your closing goes off without a hitch, but ultimately no real estate transaction happens without some risk or inconvenience.
I promise you that NOBODY wants you homeless as that word is taboo in my line of work. At my office over the past two weeks, we have never worked harder to ensure our contracts are moving forward and we are proactive in making sure that we limit surprises. I hate surprises, even on my birthday! I would not worry, as you can not control anything that is going on right now and you have good people who are working hard to make sure your outcome is exactly what you expect. Trust who you have hired, keep in contact with your agent and lender and get ready to move!
Dave Kimbrough
The Kimbrough Team
