The First 17 Days Are Critical to Mission Viejo Home Seller Success

Congratulations!  You are one of the successful home sellers in today’s fast moving Mission Viejo Real Estate market.  You put listed your home for sale when you realized it really is a seller’s market right now, that money is almost free, and your house is not working for you anymore.  Three hours later, you have five offers, and the quality problem of deciding which of the all cash offers, over your asking price, you are going to accept.  Whooo Hooo!

Yes, in case you’ve been spending all of your spare time watching past seasons of Downton Abbey to be up to speed for the beginning of Season 3 OR watching your favorite So Cal MLB team trying to make the post season, homes in Mission Viejo are selling like designer cupcakes.  Literally flying off the shelves and out of the hands of the happy Mission Viejo home sellers.  But be warned –just because you are IN ESCROW, there’s no guarantee that you will CLOSE ESCROW.

The standard California Association of Realtors Residential Purchase Agreement (the form that you and the buyer sign that says you’ll sell and they’ll buy) gives the buyers 17 (yes, seventeen – just like the magazine) days to decide if they really want to buy your house.   Yep.  When you open escrow today, unless you negotiate for a shorter time frame, the ball is totally in the buyers’ court for two and a half weeks. 

Here are a couple of things not to do if you are just opening escrow to sell your Mission Viejo home today. 

• Don’t underestimate the impact of the Home Inspection.  The Home Inspector is not a seller’s best friend.  He or she is your worst enemy.  They’ll rip the cover off of those magic pictures your buyer fell in love with on-line and instead, show them pictures of mold inside the furnace, cracks inside the chimney, and rat poop in the attic.  As a Mission Viejo home seller, please realize that the buyers are going to be terrified when they read their inspection report.  And it takes some negotiating between you, your agent, the buyers, and their agent to smooth things over, come to a reasonable agreement, and keep the buyers in the deal.  And sometimes you just can’t.

• Don’t underestimate the impact of the Termite Report.  Some people really don’t know that Mission Viejo is a resort destination for termites.  The sun, the warmth, the wood – it’s all good for our local termites. If your home is infested (doesn’t that word alone scream “don’t buy this house?) and needs to be wrapped in a tent so that toxic gas can be pumped into it to kill the pesky bugs (commonly know as fumigation)  – this could be the kiss of death.  Some buyers just can’t come to grip with the fact that the gas works and the bugs will be gone.

Great to know you’ve sold your Mission Viejo home and are in Escrow.  Just don’t forget there are those 17 days and a couple of potentially scary reports you have to get through before you can be completely sure your buyers are still in the deal.

I'm Leslie Eskildsen.  Just keeping it real in Mission Viejo Real Estate.  And other great Southern California neighborhoods like Coto de Caza, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, and Ladera Ranch.

Call me: 949-678-3373 Text me. Email me. Fill out this form. I'll get back to you.  Unless it's 3:00 AM. I'm asleep. I'll call you tomorrow.