Random: Why would a house.......

say "in contract" or "sold" and then be back on the market again within weeks?

There is a house in my neighborhood that has been for sale since we bought back in 2007. But constantly I see "in contract" and once recently I even saw "sold" and now the for sale is up again.

I am guessing there is probably something majorly wrong with it that the bank is not approving a mortgage?

From the outside it looks like it does need some work. It is also across the street from a canal so maybe water damage or mold?

Re: Random: Why would a house.......

the people who were in contract could have backed out, or maybe didnt qualify for a mortgage??
are there people living in the house now?

Re: Random: Why would a house.......

Most of the time, from what I've heard, a house falls through once in the contract stage because a mortgage was not approved. This can happen either because the buyers themselves couldn't get approved or because the house isn't passing appraisal by the bank - it's possible that this house is overpriced, somehow they are getting offers close to asking but the bank doesn't assess at the same value and the sellers won't come down in price....maybe they're hoping that eventually a bank will assess where they want to be?

Re: Random: Why would a house.......

it could also be an issue with the title, or the seller is underwater on their mortgage, or quite a few other reasons

it also could have been a flip...although i'm sure they would have fixed it up if it was a flip

Re: Random: Why would a house.......

When fil put up his house even though they were in contract the sign still said sold. So maybe they were in contract and it fell through..

Re: Random: Why would a house.......

Maybe the buyers couldn't get approved for the mortgage, or maybe when they had the house inspected they found a major problem with the house that made them change their minds about buying it.

Re: Random: Why would a house.......

Realtors used to put "sold" signs up once the house went into contract, but now most of the time realtors put up an "under contract" sign -- it's more accurate.

An inspection is likely not the issue -- it's customary in this area for buyers to have their home inspection PRIOR to going to contract.

Once a house is in contract, the sale usually closes. If it does not, it's usually because of a contingency in the contract. The biggest contingency is the buyer's ability to get financing, but there be other things... for example, sometimes a buyer is selilng another property and needs to close that sale before closing on the new house. In that case, the contract may state that it is contingent on the buyer's first sale closing. But 99% of the time, the issue is that the buyer can't get financing (it's probably not an appraisal issue -- if a house doesn't appraise, the parties usually will renegotiate to make the deal work).

It also could have been a short sale -- esp. if the house doesn't look well-maintained. In that case, the contract could have been "pending bank approval" and ultimately the bank didn't approve the sale.

I wouldn't make the assumption that there is something wrong with the house that prevented the deal from going through.

If you really want to know, you can FM me the address and I can look it up to see if I can discern what the deal is!