After 37 years in Center City real estate, the call I dread most is from a seller who accepted an offer — with another agent — and now the deal has just collapsed. Nine times out of ten, it wasn’t the price or the market. It was something buried in the building.
FHA certification determines whether a large segment of buyers can even obtain financing for your building. If your building doesn't qualify, you've eliminated every FHA and VA buyer before you've shown the unit once. Throw in a lender-flagged investor-to-owner ratio, and conventional financing gets even more difficult. Fewer financing options mean less competition, resulting in a smaller pool of buyers.
Special assessments are the other deal killer nobody mentions at the listing table. A pending roof replacement or facade repair either falls on the buyer or is carved out of your proceeds — and sometimes it kills the deal entirely when it surfaces during attorney review. I've watched sellers lose solid buyers simply because they didn't know about an assessment their own HOA had been discussing for months. The difference between a smooth closing and a collapsed deal comes down to whether your agent asked the right questions before the condo hit the MLS.
MARK WADE, Realtor®
37 Years of Center City Condo Experience
BHHS Fox and Roach Realtors
530 Walnut St. #480 | Philadelphia, PA 19106
Cell: 267-237-3404
Email: Mark@CenterCity.com
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