Made an offer on a house and I’m expecting the sellers to be difficult to work with. What are some steps I can take to protect myself during the closing process?

I’m house shopping in a very hot market where houses typically sell above listing in a matter of days. This is in VA in a HCOL area, as reference a 2000sqft 3B/3B SFH goes for about $800K.

Made an offer on a house that fits my needs perfectly. The buyers are still occupying the house and the house is completely filled with junk, it’s basically on the verge of being a hoarder house. (The house itself is still in great shape, it was fully renovated 3 years ago by the previous owners and whoever did those renovations spared no expense in making sure things were done correctly.)

The listing agent also does not seem very motivated. When we went to tour the house, the lockbox code was not working and it took about an hour to get in touch with the listing agent (keep in mind this was on a Saturday on the third day of listing). The listing pictures were cellphone pics that the sellers snapped before their move-in, you can even see a thumb in one of the pictures, lol. Listing agent also lied a number of times during the initial phone call before I placed an offer. After calling her out on it, she admitted that she has never even been inside the house.

The house itself is priced appropriately at 850K, and that’s what I offered. Because of the poor quality of pictures, the listing agent’s general unresponsiveness, and the lack of staging inside the house, I was the only offer. I’ve seen identical houses get a lot of attention and I’m confident that other prospective buyers were turned off by that initial experience. The only reason I was able to look past it is because I had just toured an identical house in the same sub-development, so it was easier to picture what this house would look like.

Because the listing agent and sellers have basically taken no real steps to actual try and sell this house, I’m worried that they’re not very motivated to actually sell. I want to set strict language in the contract to offer myself additional protection.

Some things I’m going to ensure are in the contract:

• Clearly define timelines, ensure all contract timelines state that if a party fails to perform by the exact date, it is a material breach. Clearly spell out what constitutes a breach and what the penalty is.

• Include automatic daily extensions for myself if the seller delays access. For example: "If Seller fails to provide reasonable access for appraisal or walkthrough within 48 hours of request, all Buyer contingency deadlines shall automatically extend day-for-day."

• Penalties for delayed closing. e.g. “If property is not vacant the Buyer reserves the right to delay closing at the Seller’s expense, e.g. locking in interest rate extension fees.” Include a clause that the escrow holdback can be used toward eviction proceedings (I doubt I would bother to go through with this, I would probably just walk away if it got to this point. That language is mostly intended to motivate the sellers to actually vacate.)

• Buyer escrow of $10K, subtract penalties from the deposit escrow if there are material breaches.

• Seller deposit of $5K, must be deposited within 72 hrs of contract signing. Seller loses deposit if we walk away due to breach of contract.

• Conduct two final walkthroughs. First walkthrough completed 3 days prior to closing, during which seller must have completely removed all personal property. Final walkthrough on day of closing.

• Include a hidden damage clause to the contract, e.g. "If damage previously obscured by personal property is discovered during final walkthrough, Buyer may delay closing until repaired by a licensed professional at Seller's expense, or deduct the estimated repair cost directly from escrow holdback."

I’m prepared to walk away if the sellers push back, but I want to make sure the demands I make are reasonable to the seller while still protecting myself. I’m also trying to front-load some of these issues so that I can walk away early if it turns out the sellers are going to be too difficult to work with. Is there anything I might have missed that I should add? Are there any conditions here that are over-reactive that I should scale back or remove?

submitted by /u/Harry_Coolahan
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/RealEstate/comments/1ucjesw/made_an_offer_on_a_house_and_im_expecting_the/