Realtor's Fault?

Question:   Our buyer’s loan was just denied 2 weeks before the scheduled closing date. We are furious with our agent for allowing this to happen. Any suggestions for dealing with the next buyer who wants to buy our home?

Answer:  We understand that It is extremely upsetting when you hear your buyer’s loan has been denied. You feel the logical person to blame is your Realtor. Keep in mind that the Realtors job is to find a buyer and sell your home. It is not their job to get the buyers loan approved; That is the job of the Lender.

We have sold over 1200 homes in our career and we have found that it is rarely the fault of the Realtor. The only instance where the Realtor can be of blame is if he/she did not obtain a letter of preapproval from the lender stating that the buyer is qualified to purchase your home at the agreed selling price.

When your agent goes over the contract on your home, they will explain the terms of the offer and the preapproval from the buyer’s lender. Common sense would dictate that the loan officer has sufficiently checked out the buyer in order to receive the preapproval. But, among the vast number of highly qualified loan officers, there are some that are inexperienced, overly optimistic or some that just don’t know what they are doing.

Here is some advice that may help you: When we receive a preapproval, we give our seller all the facts about the lender & buyers finances that we can obtain without violating the sacred buyer “privacy laws”. We say this with some sarcasm, because these privacy laws are there to protect the buyer, but there is no concern for the seller who is also part of this transaction. We ask the loan officer about their experience. We ask that the buyer be put through the lenders auto underwriting system.  Since it is the underwriters who give the final approval to the buyer’s loan, we feel the automated version of this adds to the validity of the preapproval letter.

We also want to know if the buyer has chosen their Realtors preferred lender. This preferred lender has been used by the Realtor in the past and has proven to be competent because of their previous success rate.

All the above increases the odds that your buyer will receive a loan approval and a clear to close on your home.

Remember that nothing is ever 100% perfect. This is why an experienced Realtor who tells you like it is, is much better than a Real estate agent who tells you what you want to hear!