Fast Turn Times

I wanted to do a video about fast turn times. I’m constantly asked about this in the current market. But for years now, the first thing that a realtor or a client will ask me, is how fast can we close? Can we do it faster? Can we do it faster? It’s never fast enough. And it’s a really important discussion. Because if we commit to a 25-day closing date in the contract, heavy emphasis on the word contract, if you don’t close by that timeline, you’re in breach of contract. And there could be serious repercussions. So I wanted to do a video talking through some of the important points of what would make a fast closing happen,

Fast Turn Times – Can we get an appraisal fast enough?

Literally, every realtor wants a 21-day closing. I’ve had some asking me for 14-day closings. I can’t even get an appraisal in 14 days, barely right now. And that’s one step of many. So it’s really situational, it depends on the time. It depends on how quickly I can get an appraisal, it depends on my buyers and how responsive I think they may or may not be, and it depends on the volume that we have. And are we really bogged down and does it take two, three, five days to get a loan underwritten or is it a day? So it’s a really hard question to answer.

Buyers have to get aggressive on all aspects of their offer

The answer is going to be situational, depending on a number of different variables at the time I’m being asked the question. But I just wanted to make it clear, it’s almost never fast enough for a realtor. And I partner with a lot of realtors, I respect a lot of realtors. I don’t know if it’s the realtors putting pressure on me and lenders as much as it is the marketplace. We have to offer above asking price. So they’re going to be pushing you to make your best offer. We have to give the largest earnest money deposit, we have to remove all of the contingencies appraisal contingency, financing contingency, home inspection contingency. And we have to close really fast. So it’s like they’ve just defaulted to giving away the farm on everything to try and get the offer accepted.

Fast Turn Times – Do we “have” to close quickly?

But that’s the marketplace. So I don’t know that I fault them for it. But it’s a really important discussion. So I want you to ask me as your lender, if we’re working together, what’s the reality here? How quickly can we really close? How quickly do we need to close? What if the house that you’re looking at has been on the market for a month? Which is probably pretty rare in the market that we’re in right now. But if there’s no offers and it’s been on the market in a month, we don’t have to do a lightning fast closing. Because there’s probably no other offers or maybe there’s one other offer. But even if there is multiple offers and we have to get aggressive on every little point of the contract and the offer, are we really gonna lose the offer if we have the best offer, the highest offer price?

Does the seller really “need” his money that fast?

You’re well qualified, let’s assume you’re well-qualified. You’ve got a large down payment, a high credit score, you’re a really great solid offer. Are you going to lose the offer, are they not gonna accept your offer if we’re asking them to close in 30 days versus 25 or 24 or 21? The seller really can’t wait to get their money until, let’s say a Friday versus some other offer that’s deficient to ours? And that offer is willing to close on Monday that week, and we want them to wait till Friday. Maybe we’re a 30-day close and the other offer is 25. Really?

The seller really is going to reject our offer for five days? Come on! So it’s a really important discussion to discuss all of the different particulars of that scenario, the seller, the house, other offers, competition, your offer. How strong is it? Like, let’s make this a decision based on some reality and data points. And not just caving in and doing everything that the seller wants and closing really quickly and throwing the most money at it unless we have to. That’s a really important part of the discussion.

The buyer has a role in making a fast closing happen

And another part of the discussion? If we agree I feel I have the capability to deliver a fast closing, whatever that is, 21 days, 24 days. It’s based on some things that I can’t control. Some of which we will need your help on, some of which will need your realtors help on, and some of which will need the listing agent’s help on. Your role, for example, gets compressed. If we’re going to close in 21 days instead of 30, you don’t have the luxury of slowly providing some updated bank statements that we might need. Those need to be same day maybe even immediately. We send you some disclosures to review and sign and return. It’s a DocuSign, so it’s pretty simple. But you don’t have the luxury of sitting on those for two or three days. Oh, it’s Tuesday, but I’ll take a look at them over the weekend. No way we can lose that kind of time if we’re agreeing to the seller and putting it in writing in the contract that we’re going to close quickly in, whatever, 21 days, 24 days.

So everything gets compressed. And you’ve got to be more on your game and more responsive. So it makes life a little more difficult for you. You have to drop everything at work at home one evening. So let’s not forget your role in this.

Fast Turn Times – The appraisal process is very important

The realtors, the listing agent, has to get the appraiser in the door more quickly. That’s pressure on the listing agent. When the appraiser calls the listing agent and says, Hey, Brian Martucci has ordered this appraisal as a rush. Which by the way, you’ll pay for as buyer. If the standard appraisal fee is, let’s say $600, you might pay $800, $850, $1000. That will build in a premium on a rush appraisal so that costs you money as the buyer.

Well, then the appraiser calls the listing agent and says, “Hey, this order was placed as a rush, it’s Tuesday. Can I get in there tonight or tomorrow morning?” Well, the listing agent doesn’t have the luxury of saying, You know, I’m really busy, I’m just… I’m slammed. How about Thursday afternoon or Friday afternoon? A, that’s not acceptable. B, invariably what the appraiser is going to say is,” I don’t have time then, how about the following Monday or Tuesday?” Well now we’re just wasting too much time, it’s never going to happen.

The listing agent has to play ball, the title company, you, me, everybody has to perform quickly because you’ve put your name on a contract with certain tight deadlines, that we all have to meet otherwise you’ll breach contract.

Fast Turn Times- Appraisal contingency

Also, it’s not just about the closing date. If you’ve not waived your contingencies, appraisal contingency and financing contingency are the ones specific to the financing part of the contract. Let’s say 14 days for the appraisal contingency, 20 days for the financing contingency, 25 days for closing. So what we’re telling the seller is, as a buyer, you’re agreeing to get the appraisal in 14 days. And then either remove the appraisal contingency if the place satisfactory appraises for the contract price. Or if it doesn’t and you’ve left your appraisal contingency in the contract, you get to renegotiate the price or void the contract. Or just pay the difference and agree to move on.

Fast Turn Times – Financing contingency

Then in that scenario I just laid out, we’re going from 14 days to 20 days. That means you’ve got six days after the 14-day appraisal to get the financing approved. By day 20. And then we’ll tell the seller, “Hey, we’re removing the financing contingency. We got loan approval, so we’re going to remove the financing contingency. And now we’re going to be ready to close on Day 25 or whatever was agreed to.

Conclusion

So those are some really important discussions on the timelines that you’ll be asked about. Appraisal contingency, financing contingency, closing date, and just some of the details in the minutia of what goes into making those dates happen and why it’s so important. And finally the fact that we should all just discuss it upfront before you signed the contract offer. Buyer-lender, buyer-agent, your realtor representation, we should all discuss. What do we really need to do, what do we want to do, what does the situation require that we do let’s have a serious discussion about it. And make sure that we are not putting something in the contract that we can’t all agree to, and that we can’t all meet those dates. Really important stuff. Thanks for watching. Let me know if you have any questions.

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