What's the LONGEST you've ever been under contract for???

Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes

After 8 months and 7 days of waiting for bank approval on a short sale... I'm still waiting. COVID has CERTAINLY not helped but unfortunately, I feel like this is going to make it to the one year mark.

This got me thinking though... What's the longest that any of you have ever been under contract on a property?

LET'S HEAR THOSE SOB STORIES! (Especially if they closed successfully)

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Sylvia B.

Rental Property Investor · Douglas County, MO · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

We do cash deals, so we normally close in 1 to 2 weeks. One deal took considerably longer due to title issues.

We bought a house at auction (not tax or foreclosure, just a regular auction) and assumed it would be smooth sailing, but no. The land was originally part of a large tract of land (the whole block) owned by a prominent family. In 1964 a portion was donated to the Methodist church, and a house was built for a parsonage. It had never changed hands since.

A few days after our purchase the lady who does our title work stopped in to see us, "There's a problem..."

The property description was wrong. Not only wrong, it made no sense. The original sellers were all deceased, so it couldn't just be corrected. A few years ago their estate sold the rest of the original tract, and the legal description for that sale reads, Beginning at the Southwest corner of [blah, blah, blah] except [parcel deeded to church].

A survey was done, and besides the completely nonsensical property description, in the original plat of that neighborhood, which was never officially changed, the city had planned a street right through the garage. So the title company requested that the city vacate their claim to that strip of land, which they were willing to do, but the man who needed to sign the papers was on vacation, so there was a delay.

Multiple corrected deeds needed to be signed, and several of the people who needed to sign were out of state - more delays. There were questions about the marital state of some of the people who needed to sign. More delays. One of the local signers has a rather mercurial temperament. First she is quite agreeable, then can't be bothered, then contacts the title agent and wants to know why it all hasn't been finished yet. It's difficult to schedule meetings with someone like that, so more delays.

After more than 3 months, it finally closed. Success.

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Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Mike Mocek Yeah I'm sure there was a bunch of learning! That's great, congrats on a good deal!
1 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Brian Ploszay Oh wow so that's awesome then that you were able to get out of that without TGR affecting you. Congrats on an awesome deal!
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Peter Mckernan Ha yeah that sounds like it has a lot of moving parts. Which loan is it?
0 Reply
Bill O'Donnell
Rental Property Investor · Newburgh, NY · Member since 2018 · 160 posts · 117 votes
6y
@Thomas Enright
It was 2012/2013 Bank America just dragged their feet for what seemed like forever..
At the time all banks were slow. But prices were great, so it turned out great.
Not a short sale or foreclose.
1 Reply
Ujwal Velagapudi
Investor/Agent/Entrepreneur · Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 464 posts · 564 votes
6y
Outside of negotiations and all, which was several months already, the longest it took for me to purchase a property was about 4 months under contract. The financing hit a roadblock with site environmental assessment, and then the seller tried to back out of the deal twice just days prior to closing.
The same property I had under contract for 5+ months when I sold it. It was a foreign investor, and what was originally supposed to be a cash purchase but their funds got tied up with their other purchases, and it took quite a long time to find financing given their profile & lending criteria.
Some of the toughest to close can definitely be some of the most rewarding & profitable.
1 Reply
Alyssa Dyer
Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 694 votes
6y
~7 months while the buyer was out of the country and couldn't sign due to the embassy being shut down for corona. No he's closed cash on one though, so at least we got that locked down!
0 Reply
Scott WolfPro Member
Lender · Boca Raton, FL · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 959 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Thomas Enright:
@Scott Wolf Wow yeah that's a long time for a hard contract. Were you on the listing side of that then?
Yes, I was the listing broker. I tried to get my client to get out, but it was an estate sale, he was rich AF and bleeding money on it, but didn't care because he didn't want to hear about it from his brother in-laws anymore.

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Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Bill O'Donnell Oh wow that interesting. Glad it worked out!
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Ujwal Velagapudi Yeah that definitely seems to be true. How long did you hold that property for between those two closings?
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Alyssa Dyer Oh wow so is that one still going on then? I'm sure dealing with that is interesting with the time differences and everything.
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Ujwal Velagapudi
Investor/Agent/Entrepreneur · Dallas, TX · Member since 2016 · 464 posts · 564 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Thomas Enright:
@Ujwal Velagapudi Yeah that definitely seems to be true. How long did you hold that property for between those two closings?

I held it for 3 years on the dot, ended up being 6x equity return, and not even including cash flow. The reason was primarily because most of it was made on the front end during the lengthy purchase that nearly fell apart a few times, and negotiating a great deal. The hassle and headache of financing given the environmental studies, bypassing them, seller difficulties, etc. but it's turned out to be one of my best.

1 Reply
Alpesh Parmar
Investor · Dublin, CA · Member since 2016 · 344 posts · 228 votes
6y
I will reply to this post on August, 3rd. I may have a sob story ending with success.
1 Reply
Aaron Poling
Realtor · WV · Member since 2018 · 454 posts · 310 votes
6y
It wasn't my personal sale, but I was the listing agent on a short sale when the market was really bad after the market bust. The short sale took 11 1\2 months from contract to closing. It was a tough one.
0 Reply
Mya Toohey
Real Estate Agent · Tampa Florida · Member since 2013 · 630 posts · 303 votes
6y
@Thomas Enright, funny you should ask that! I just got an email from the selling agent with a final cancellation today. They are finally going to send back my buyers $3675. My buyer thought it was Christmas, he was so thrilled to hear it. I didn't even look to see who signed it, I just saw buyer sign to get escrow back...LOL Needless to say...when getting into a short sale, knowing the reasons for the liens is always a good thing...I'm crying and laughing at the same time!
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Todd Groom
Rental Property Investor · Tampa, FL · Member since 2020 · 77 posts · 42 votes
6y
@Thomas Enright I want to say 90-120.
1 Reply
Jonathan Soto
Lender · Newark, NJ · Member since 2016 · 695 posts · 252 votes
6y
Originally posted by @Thomas Enright:
@Jonathan Soto Oh well congrats for getting that thing closed! What did you end up doing with that property?

rehabbed it and still own it. its fully rented out. i hold most of my properties.
0 Reply
Alyssa Dyer
Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 694 votes
6y
@Thomas Enright yeah that particular investor is just planning to buy cash for the rest of the year! There are systems in place where you don't have to wet sign for loans, but the lenders aren't up to speed with that yet. I'd be curious if anyone knows of a lender that is.
1 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Ujwal Velagapudi Wow that's incredible, congrats on a killer deal!
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Alpesh Parmar Haha I'll hold you to that! How long has it been going on for?
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Aaron Poling Yeahhhh that's a long time. I'm really hoping mine doesn't make it that long.
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Mya Toohey Ha well if your buyer is happy (even if it's just because it's officially over) then that's good! Yeah I'm sure you're happy that it's all over lol
0 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Jonathan Soto Yeah that's really good. I definitely regret selling my first property. Oh well, live and learn.
1 Reply
Thomas Enright
OP
Investor · Silver Spring, MD · Member since 2020 · 127 posts · 58 votes
6y
@Alyssa Dyer Yeah I've seen stuff like that! Are you talking about digital notary signing with video chat and what not? Or something else? I've done it a few times. It's a really neat set up and I'm surprised it's not more commonplace. As for lenders that use it, that's anybody's guess. I'd like to know if you find one too.
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Peter MckernanBusiness Member
Residential Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
6y
Hey @Thomas Enright it's a CalHfa loan... so long!!! And it's continuing to get longer!
The McKernan Group4.957 Reviews
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1 Reply
Alyssa Dyer
Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 694 votes
6y
@Thomas Enright It's tough because I have lenders that I and the investors I work with LOVE, but we have lost a deal because they're not up to speed on the video notary stuff! My title company is ready to go, but yeah the lenders are lagging.
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