This remains an extremely memorable sale. The seller was relocating to live near their son, who was disabled. The home was extensively modified to accommodate a wheelchair bound person: a fully compliant ADA bathroom, ramps, and even an elevator.
I was unsure how ling this might take to sell, as the pool of buyers who would need a home like this and not want to revert it to a more conventional layout appeared to be quite small. I didn’t need to worry- it was under contract in a month with someone who needed that very layout. Good fortune there, and I was also happy that the new buyer found their needle in a haystack.
It would take 15 months to get it closed. It’s almost like Murphy’s Law; if the early part of the transaction is easy, the next phases are more difficult. That’s what happened here. The seller’s moved out a few months into the transaction, and we expected that we wouldn’t have to manage a winter with the home vacant. We were wrong.
As I’ve written before, a short sale on a vacant home has an extra layer of difficulty because being vacant for an extensive period of time puts the property at risk for pipes freezing, vandalism, and squatters. Luckily, the buyer was acting as his own agent and lived nearby, so the real headache was simply dealing with the lender to get the short sale approval. That, and the buyer wanted to buy as an LLC with a mortgage.
Our best short sale attorney was retained by the client, and she did great work, but the main source of the slow pace was the second mortgage holder. Every time the first mortgage issued their approval, we went back to the second for what should have been a perfunctory approval. Instead, they dragged their feet until the first lender’s approval was expired. It was frustrating for everyone. The seller wanted to move on, the buyer needed the house, and I was rather eager to get paid.
It got done. The seller was finally free of their obligation and closer to family, the buyer had the house his family member needed, and we were able to close it out for our own books.
Two takeaways:
Subordinate mortgages can be difficult.
Buying a residential property with a mortgage as an LLC is challenging. I give the buyer credit for pulling it off.
