When home buying gets complicated.

I try to keep real estate transactions as easy and stress free as possible for my clients.

That involves setting expectations up front, communicating in ways that make sense to them, and keeping them as involved as they want to be throughout the process. More often than not, this results in a smooth to minimally challenging transaction.

However, sometimes the unexpected happens and everyone has to pivot.

I recently sold an adorable second home/rental property with an adjacent vacant lot in Black Mountain, NC. I represented the buyers, who were extremely patient and understanding throughout the transaction.

I often get asked if inspections and surveys are worth the cost. Sometimes a home looks picture perfect, and buyers are tempted to forgo their due diligence. While the temptation is understandable (inspections can add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars depending), it might not be the smartest idea.

In North Carolina, surveys are not required to close (they are recommended). My clients live in a state where they are required, so they felt it was in their best interest to get one done. Surveys are expensive and can take weeks or months depending on how booked up your preferred surveyor’s schedule is. We built the time into the contract so they could gather all the information they wanted to on the property, including a survey.

When we got the survey back, we learned that a crucial portion of the yard was actually located on the neighbors property.

We also had the septic systems pumped and inspected. We learned that the septic system was not where we thought it was, and in fact, the system location impacted the build-ability of the vacant lot adjacent to the home.

Due to these findings among others, we negotiated the price down quite a bit, along with negotiating a seller credit at closing. We also collaborated with the neighbor and sellers, and ended up negotiating that portion of the neighbors land and deeding it to my clients.

Closing was delayed significantly as we worked to communicate with the neighbor, get a new survey done, and crunch numbers to make sure the property was still worth it. However, through negotiations, the buyers walked away getting back more money than they spent on inspections and delays.

In the end, both buyers and sellers walked away happy.

It’s important to hire a team that understands the value of due diligence. If you are a person who values details and wants to know everything you can about a home before purchasing, let your realtor know up front! That way, they can prepare ahead of time and have professionals lined up to help the minute you go under contract.

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