It Takes a Village to Close a Sacramento Escrow

Pia is stressed at the vet.

Welcome to home buying stress. Anybody who is buying a home in Sacramento today is stressed out. I don’t care who you are. There is no way to buy a home and not be stressed about it, so don’t feel alone. Even if you’re lucky enough to have beat out all of the competition and get your purchase offer accepted, you still need to get through underwriting. Lenders are much more strict than they were 5 years ago, more restrictive than a year ago or last month, it seems. Just because your lender says you’re fully approved does not mean you will get a loan.

I’m not trying to give you one more thing to worry about but getting approved by underwriting is a concern. I had one seller cancel an escrow a few months back because the buyer asked for too many extensions. It wasn’t even a short sale, it was a home with equity in Elk Grove. No matter what the buyer did, she could not close her loan. The reason she could not close her loan was because the IRS was backlogged. She needed her tax returns from the IRS. She couldn’t get them. My seller got tired of waiting and canceled. I didn’t blame her.

Another buyer in Lincoln could not close on her approved short sale. Something happened to her financial situation so the USDA loan she was trying to get was no longer a reality. She could not afford the FHA loan under its program terms, so she ended up losing the house. She lost her earnest money deposit, too, if I recall correctly, or maybe they are still fighting over it. My seller sold to another buyer who could perform.

Just last night, a Roseville buyer found out her “fully approved loan” did not pass underwriting. She needs to now haul in her parents to be cosigners, which means escrow will be delayed. All I can say is thank goodness this escrow is not a short sale and we don’t have to beg and plead with a short sale bank for a short sale extension that we may or may not receive. My seller expected to close this week, and now she will have to wait another couple of weeks or start with over with a new buyer. Oy.

My cat Pia is feeling very stressed. In fact, I had to rush her to Davis last night for an emergency vet visit. We are not ruling out a urinary tract infection but it could just be stress. She is stressed for a number of reasons. The vet says my work stress might affect my cat. Working as a Sacramento real estate agent can be stressful, even if it’s suppressed. Who knew stress could transfer to your pets? She is also very upset because I sold the dining room table, not to mention, her buddy, my husband, has been unavailable to her. Her environment has changed. Cats hate environmental changes.

The real estate environment has changed in Sacramento. This is not your mother’s residential resale market. It’s a world with wacky mortgage and appraisal guidelines, extreme competition, not only from other home buyers but from cash investors; and very few homes for sale. Better hope you have a good real estate team on your side. Believe me, it takes a village to close escrow these days. I won’t sugarcoat it for you. But the Elizabeth Weintraub Team will do everything in our power to get your escrow closed.