Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery Counties Real Estate. Tips for home buyers, home sellers by Gita Bantwal,Realtor at ReMax Centre Realtors.

Settlement usually takes place in an hour and we set up settlements at our office every hour on the hour. The last Friday of the month is when it is busiest.

Many of us have experienced an all day settlement or one that was postponed on the day scheduled for settlement.

I have had a few of these over the years. May be some of you might want to share your experience as well.  We can all learn from these and take care that it will not happen again.

Many years ago I sold a condo to a buyer with great credit.  She was a FHA buyer.It was a quick settlement . We received the mortgage commitment with requirement that they needed the condo questionnaire. The mortgage company informed me the night before settlement that there was 1 more investor in the development  that changed the ratio.  I looked at the number of units rented and realized that the unit I was selling was considered an investor condo and actually when my buyer bought it the ratio would change.  But I could not talk to anyone the night before.  My buyer had gone to spend the night at her mother's house as she had packed everything and I could not reach her. The phone was disconnected.  I met her at the scheduled walk through as planned  at 8 am and had to tell her the news.  I had also told the listing agent the previous evening so the seller was prepared.  I called the department of Housing in Philadelphia and the mortgage company but had no luck.  The buyer had already got the movers and they were on the way. ( These days there are more owner occupied units so it is not a problem.)

The seller being an investor agreed to rent to her for a month.  We got a different mortgage, not FHA, and she settled a month later.

Now I am cautious if there are too many investors in a development.