We all want everything to go smoothly when selling a home, and sometimes they do! But more often than not, they don't. Here's some common hiccups in

 the real estate transaction and how an experienced realtor can guide you through them with minimal interruptions to closing the sale. 

1. No one comes to view the home.

Marketing is a key part of the plan that should be set up with your listing agent. What is their plan for driving traffic to the home?  What is the typical buyer that would be interested in your home and how are they finding out that your home is on the market? A focused marketing plan should communicate to the buyer's agents (that have a buyer looking for a home such as yours) through 'reverse prospecting'- a system available to all realtors in the MLS. Have you discussed with your realtor why YOU liked this home? You are one type of

buyer that would be interested. How do you find someone like you?  If all the marketing profiles for potential buyers have been established, and the home is marketed correctly, it could be a matter of price. But price is the last option, not the first, as many will come see the home even if it's overpriced.

2. The home has been on the market too long without an offer. 

The first phase of a thorough marketing plan is in driving traffic TO the home. The second phase is to maximize the experience IN the home for the prospective buyer. You want the prospective buyers to fall in love with the home, connect with it and feel that it's the 'only one' for them:  features, stories of happy experiences, etc.  all assist in them envisioning a wonderful happy life in this home. It starts with making sure it's clean and staged as well as possible for convenient viewing.  If you have properly profiled the types of buyers in item

#1, then you address their desires, and point out why they would like this home in the second phase of marketing.  If you have had lots of traffic and no offers, the buyer's agents can give feedback on why an offer was not forthcoming and price may be mentioned at this stage. But again, if they fell in love with the home, they may make an offer but not one that is as high as list price.

3. The offer is less than what the house is 'worth'.

There is a saying that a home is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. That's often true, so a thorough analysis of the appraised value should be completed prior to putting the home on the market. WISHING for a higher price, or pricing a home to absorb all of your costs for improvements are going to stall your progress in actually getting it sold.  Don't be surprised if the first offer is at or below list price. Remember, in your negotiations, that while you want the highest price and best terms for the property, the buyer wants to pay the lowest price and best terms that you would be willing to sell it for. While many don't want to insult you (others don't care) they will offer as low as they think that can get away with.  The key for a seller is to obtain multiple offers. Because with multiple offers, you

respond to their original offer and ask for 'highest and best price'.  Once they've written an offer, and if they're truly in love with the home, their response will be more of an emotional price and they will be competing to win the chance to buy your home. Then YOU are in a great position to negotiate. 

4. The listing agent wants you to lower the price.

When a home has gotten stale on the market, then the only alternative is to change something. You can change the photos, paint some rooms or improve the front landscaping, but often the realtor will ask you to lower the price. As with any negotiations, it's a give and get. If you're lowering the price, the question is

what are they going to do to increase traffic back into the house as well?  In my experience, I only lower the price based on (reluctantly) pricing the home higher than value in the first place. I do this at an agreed timeframe (sometimes 21 days) automatically lowering it rather than having a discussion after. Sometimes sellers do not believe in my system and want to try it their way first. Pricing high

and then lowering it puts the seller at a disadvantage as some of the original excitement has worn off in the market. The plan needs to include more than just a lower price. There needs to be some extra marketing such as boosting posts to the internet, recontacting buyer's agents, and possible mailers if that was part of the original marketing plan. 

5. We had an accepted offer but the buyer canceled the contract. 

When accepting a buyer's contract offer, it's important that the buyer be evaluated.  What is their motivation for buying the home? Do they seem committed? Are they financially qualified to buy the home? Has your listing agent spoken with the lender and assured themselves of their financial qualifications as well as that they are responsive in getting the required documentation to their lender?  If the disclosures were well completed and presented at the time the offer was provided, then there shouldn't be surprises about the property condition. If the accepted offer has very clear concise deadlines for releasing contingencies then it's less likely that a buyer is going to cancel the contract, but it's always a good idea to still be monitoring what other properties have been coming on the market competing with your home.  Yes, sometimes their personal circumstances may change, like a loss of job, or other personal change in circumstances, but all other reasons can be anticipated before you've wasted a lot of time with your home off the market. 

6. We've had multiple buyers fall out of contract.

When you accept an offer, there is a defined earnest money deposit amount listed. That amount is supposed to show how 'committed' the buyer is to honoring the contract. However, if that money is never at risk, the only risk is the seller's home being off the market. For multiple buyers to cancel most often means the buyers contract is not holding any risk for them and is badly written to the detriment of the seller. One hole that is obvious is when the loan qualification, appraisal and loan funding commitments are released. The standard contract does not have the earnest money deposit at risk until the loan funds. Well, that's 30-45 days out when you're ready to close! Those contingency dates need to be

tightened up before the offer was accepted.  If the buyers are canceling, you'd hope that you at least got to keep their earnest money deposit.  And while you are in contract with one buyer, you should always be still looking for back up offers.  An experienced realtor has control over the escrow process minimizing a buyer falling out of contract. 

7. The home did not appraise for the price offered by the buyer.

Before even putting a home on the market, the realtor and seller should have a very good idea of what the home is worth and a detailed understanding of any homes that might be used as comparable properties. By viewing the competition, prior to going on the market, you can better understand what alternatives the buyer has to making an offer on your home. You can emphasize your strengths over your competition, and you can provide some detailed information to the appraiser when it comes time. By the time the appraiser is called in, those

competitive properties are most likely not available for them to view so your information could be valuable in supporting the offer price of your buyer. While an appraiser, by law, cannot be influenced to come to a specific price, they are al

lowed to accept market data that is relevant and that they can't gather on their own. So often the appraiser will come in with a price that is in line with you and your realtor's estimation.  In addition, if you have multiple offers, a buyer

could have made an offer without a contingency that the home appraise for the amount offered.  And last, if the appraisal is less than the offer price, the buyer may ask for the price to be lowered to the appraised value. However, the seller is not obligated to lower their price. The buyer can come in with the difference in price, the buyer can sometimes obtain a second appraisal, or the buyer can cancel. This is a point of negotiation and there is not just one answer.

8. The buyer is asking for a whole list of repairs. 

IF the buyer is in love with the home. IF there were multiple offers on the home, then the seller is in a better negotiation position to decline any request for repairs.  A buyer can always ask for any change in the contract. The seller can always accept or decline. The decision is often based on motivations of both the buyer and seller in closing the transaction.

9. The buyer's lender has asked for an extension to the contract. They can't get the loan funded in time. 

New legislation has forced additional time in disclosures and hold times such that some lenders cannot complete the loan process as quickly as they did before October 1, 2015. It has always been difficult to predict when a loan can close, an

d it's also difficult to predict the quality of individual lenders unless you've have years of experience working with them. In other words, this is a pretty common occurrence, but with every negotiation, I would suggest a give and get to the negotiations. If they are asking for a delay in the contract, I would ask for the surrender of the earnest money deposit directly to the seller at the time the seller accepts an extension.  

10. The buyer, or their agent, or their lender has asked for a SECOND extension of the contract

A second request for extension should come with a good explanation as to why they can't seem to control their own process and what reason a second extension is required. Again, with give and get negotiations, I might request $100/day for every day that they are late.  Often, this is paid by the lender themselves rather than the buyer/borrower, but I can't understand why the

seller should be penalized for these delays.  Negotiations are ongoing until the final recording of the sale. Until that time, monitoring the progress, and ensuring compliance with the contract is a major responsibility of the realtors on both sides. 

11. The buyer wants to move in early, HAS moved in prior to closing the contract, or started painting your home before the sale is finished. 

This may sound like a silly circumstance but you'd be surprised how often it happens. The buyer has now created a situation whereby they have become a 'tenant at will'.  Maybe the buyer's lender delayed and they had their contractors all lined up to start a remodel or painting and didn't want to wait because of the contractor's schedule. If the home is damaged, who's insurance is covering it?  What if the sale does not complete?  The first violation was in the buyer's agent providing access directly to the buyer. That is in violation of their fiduciary responsibility to the seller. If, say, the home didn't close on time and it's Christmas eve, a seller may take pity on the buyer and allow them to move i

n, but it should be under a rental agreement of some kind. The typical purchase agreement does not define occupancy prior to the recording of the sale. Only under rare circumstances would I recommend allowing a buyer to make any changes to the home that is still owned by the seller. 

12. The buyer loses their funding because they bought lots of furniture and upset their loan qualification. 

Most buyer's agents warn clients about upsetting their finance circumstances. Lenders do too, but every once in a while a buyer gets excited and does something to totally upend their financial qualifications such that they are no longer qualified on their loan. And it normally happens about 3 days before closing. While the seller should be (if the purchase contract was structured fairly to protect the seller) be eligible to keep the earnest money deposit, they could look at a couple of other options to negotiate. They could cancel the contract and accept one of the back up offers, go back on the market, possibly have the buyer find another lender with more flexible qualification requirements (requiring an extension to the contract) or consider a rent to own contract until such time that the buyer qualifies. I have another article on the pros and cons for a seller in entering a rent to own contract. It could yield more proceeds for the seller in the long run.  It's only one of many options and might save the original sale. 

In summary, these are some of the more common things that might happen. For a seller, the best insurance that a transaction goes smoothly is to hire a realtor who anticipates situations before they happen, focuses on trying to get multiple offers so their seller always has attractive alternatives, and is diligent on tracking contract deadlines.