Who's Buying Houses for Cash?

Cash Buyers at Extremes of Market

No, I don't have any hard data backing me up.

But anecdotally, at least, it seems like the two likeliest kinds of houses to be bought for cash these days are:

One. Bank-owned foreclosures selling for bargain-basement prices -- and in such tough condition no lender would accept them as collateral; and

Two. Upper, upper bracket homes, where the Buyers' balance sheets are so large that they are effectively immune from "the recent unpleasantness."

As a practical matter, the only way to flag a cash purchase -- at least that I'm aware of -- is to look for sales where the house's "off market" date and closing date are separated by only a few days.

Or, they're the same date.

By contrast, when the Buyer requires a mortgage, the interval is typically at least 15 business days.

That allows time for the appraisal, underwriting, re-visiting the appraisal, etc.

Changing the Closing Date

Closing Date: Fixed, or Flexible?

It's almost guaranteed that at some point in every real estate transaction, at least one of the parties will want to change the closing date.

Can they?

A real estate purchase agreement is ultimately just a type of contract, and anything the two parties agree to change, can be.

But therein lies the rub.

If the Buyer is planning a major renovation, and has lined up a series of contractors immediately after closing . . . they're probably not going to be thrilled about pushing back the closing.

And contractually, they don't have to.

Ditto if the Buyer's moving van is arriving from out-of-state on a particular date, and is expecting to pull up to an empty house that the Buyer in fact owns.

Sugar to Make the Medicine Go Down

Sometimes, financial or other inducements can persuade an otherwise reluctant Buyer or Seller to change the closing date.

So, in one deal where I was the Buyer's Agent, my client agreed to push back the closing date once the Seller agreed to pick up the fee to extend my client's loan commitment (like milk, loan commitments have a shelf life; typically, they expire within a few days of the original closing date).

But a Buyer or Seller should never assume that the other party will agree to a change -- and therefore, it goes without saying, pick the date carefully.

So what's the best indicator of whether a new closing date is in the cards?

If the closing date was a key, intensely contested term in the original negotiation, both parties should expect to honor it.