Congratulations! Your offer for a new home was just accepted, so you can go ahead and pop the champagne to celebrate, right? While getting your offer on a home accepted is a great thing and the home will most likely be yours soon, there are a few final obstacles you may have to overcome before the house is officially yours. We will inform you of the most important obstacles you might face and how to handle them.
Home Inspection
There is still a chance after your offer on a home has been accepted for defects to show up during the home inspection that could delay your ability to move in or even get the home at all. If your new home reveals some really serious problems and your purchase offer contained a home inspection contingency, you may prefer to pull out without losing any money. However, if you did not include this kind of contingency in your purchase offer, you may lose several thousand dollars in the event that you choose to back out on your offer.
If you decide that you want to still go through with the purchase of the home the whole process can still be delayed because of negotiations with the seller to repair your home.
Damage from pests such as Termites and Ants can also create problems, but you should make sure you complete an inspection before officially completing the purchase of your new home. If problem areas with visible infestation are found they need to be resolved before escrow can close. If the damage is too severe and the seller refuses to pay to fix them you may have to back out of the offer entirely.
Financial Complications
When you get your home appraised before closing on the purchase offer, you may find that your new home is valued to low, and you are overpaying for it. This can become problematic because banks want to ensure they can recoup their loses should the home get foreclosed. If the appraisal is too low then either the seller must lower the price or you will have to cover the difference in cash. If you do not have enough cash on hand to cover the difference, it might force you to pull out from your offer.
Problems may also arise surrounding your own personal finances during the closing process that will complicate things. You could lose your job, your credit score could decrease, or interest rates could even increase dramatically. All of these situation could potentially lead to you losing the financing that you need in order to afford the property.
Insurance Issues
Prior insurance claims from past owners could be a problem since they will show up on insurance records. If these problems make your new home too much of a risk, insurance companies might outright refuse to insure your home. If you are unable to get insurance for a home, you may be unable to buy it at all. Not to mention, it probably is not a good idea to purchase a home that can not be ensured in the first place.