The folks at Inman released the news that the House has approved an extension of the closing timeline for 1st time buyers and move-up buyers to get the tax credits offered for purchasing during the specified time limit. However, we’re still waiting for final news that the Senate has also approved it. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for it, but in the meantime all of the escrow offices I know are working full-tilt to get as many contracts closed today as they humanely can do.
Some of the frustrations that home buyers have experienced are that a large amount of the sales going on today involve either bank owned or short sale transactions – both of which aren’t always following the deadlines put to them in real estate contracts. With short sales taking, on average, around 6 months or more to close these types of transactions have really strangled the buyers who are trying to purchase them, if they were going for the tax credit.
At Team Reba we’ve seen the reality of the concerns that buyers have had with at least one listing having had a contract cancelled due to concerns that the buyer wouldn’t be able to close in time for the tax credit. Now it’s too bad that they did so since the extension is likely here. We also had another contract where we had to push hard on behalf of our buyer because the family was purchasing a bank owned home where the Trustee and the bank were slow to respond on every deadline and request for documentation, taking upwards of 3.5 months to close the deal. We just closed that transaction last week, much to the relief of our clients.
For the rest of you out there waiting to get your closing done today, you might cross your fingers, toes and legs and knock on wood – let’s hope the Senate gets moving on this bill.
