Dear Olivia,
I’ve had my home on the market for quite a long time and finally got an offer. But the excitement of an offer quickly went away because the buyer ended up not qualifying for a loan. Now what do I do?
Sincerely,
Worried About Selling
The reality of real estate is that sometimes things don’t work out. Going from the emotional high of being under contract to the emotional low of the contract falling through is tough. But there is still a light at the end of the tunnel!
Here are a few options you might explore to get your home under contract again – and sold!
You Might Still Be Able to Work With the Buyer
Since your home has been on the market for a while, it sounds like this buyer might be your best chance of getting your home sold. If that’s the case, all might not be lost.
One option is to give the buyer time to find another lender to see if they can get approved from a different bank. Of course, the viability of this option depends on the reason why things didn’t work out with the first lender. For example, if the first lender required a down payment that was too high for the buyer to afford, a different lender might have a smaller required down payment. But, if the deal fell apart because the buyer has too much debt, you might have to move on and try to find another buyer.
You Can Keep Your Home on the Market
Just because your home was under contract, but isn’t any longer, doesn’t mean that your home isn’t still on the market. As long as the contract with your Realtor hasn’t expired, they will continue to market the property to potential buyers.
Sometimes, lowering the asking price can help renewed interest in your property. Even if it’s a price adjustment of just a couple of thousand dollars, it might be enough to get on the radar of a new set of buyers that hadn’t previously considered your home because the price was out of reach.
Your Realtor will be able to guide you through a price reduction and can recommend a new price that still maximizes your potential profit while enticing as many buyers as possible.
Take Your Home Off the Market and Re-List at a Later Time
If your contract with your Realtor is up and you haven’t found a new buyer, you might also consider taking your home off the market for the time-being.
There is nothing wrong with taking your home off the market for a while. You might feel a little defeated, but market conditions might change for your home in a few months, and re-listing it at a later date could get you the results you’re looking for.
Again, your Realtor can guide you through this process and recommend a timeframe for taking your property off the market and listing it again. For example, springtime is usually a busy time of year for homebuyers, so re-listing your home in April or May might generate some buzz and get you another offer.
In the end, as frustrating as it might be, having an offer fall through isn’t the end of the world. The important thing is to try not to get discouraged and work with your Realtor to get more buyers interested in your property.
If you have other questions about buying or selling real estate, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at 307-856-3999!