Didn't the buyers have a pre-approval from the lender?

It should not be a complicated process. Ours wasn't but that was 8 years ago. It would have been easier if we were in a city, but rural property and new (at that time) restrictions (in Calif) did take a day or so longer and a bit more paper work. We were in a high fire area, and quite close to earthquake fault lines. Buyer was pre approved and using her teacher's credit union. I do have compassion for those buying now.

Why does the house have to be taken off the market? You can still show for backup offers. Tell your agent you want the house to be shown until the buyers sign a contract (depending on how your state operates) or have a mortgage commitment.

regarding the pre-approval, we were told that's only a start. When the buyers actually get interested enough to make a solid offer, then the lender gets more details, and it becomes a longer procedure.. Pre-approval apparently just means a lender thinks the buyers can qualify for the loan, Doesn't mean they'll get it.

regarding taking the house off the market, I meant after we have accepted an offer. At that point, we wait for the above process to happen. Lenders have been known to wait until the day before projected closing, to pull the plug and deny the loan. They are in no hurry to get the job done. I assume that's where the earnest money comes in, if the lender doesn't seal the deal, with the buyer, we would be entitled to that money.

Definitely ask your agent about showing the house for backup offers---may not be the practice with all MLS regions, but where we live that's normal after you've accepted an offer but before you actually close---exactly where you are now in the process. Not everyone does it---it can be work to keep a house ready to show if you're still living in it--but the whole idea behind it is to have backup offers in case the loan isn't approved or something comes up in the inspection that the buyer doesn't like or what-have-you. If you think your buyers are iffy for some reason, it could be worth doing.

Also, assuming your buyers have inspection and loan contingencies in their offer (pretty normal), earnest money only goes to you if the buyer walks for reasons *other* than the loan not being approved or something coming up in the inspection. That is, if they get their financing and everything checks out but they still get cold feet and want to walk away---that's when you get the earnest money. If the bank doesn't approve the loan and they have a loan contingency, you're just back to square one. But remember, most lenders don't get paid if the loan falls through due to problems on their end. They want to perform or realtors will stop using them, and in my experience they're not going to do a lot of work on a loan if they think it will get denied at the end---in many cases, they'd have to refund the fees and walk away with nothing, and that's a bad deal for them. You're right that pre-approvals are preliminary, but that just means the buyers now have to submit documentation to prove to the lender that all the information they initially provided was true and accurate. Assuming they weren't exaggerating income or withholding information, the loan will most likely move forward. So think positively---the lender really does want your deal to close as much as you do! Good luck!

You have a signed contract to sell your house and you are complaining????? Talk about looking at the glass as half empty! I would be cracking open a bottle of bubbly and sighing in relief that I no longer have to keep the house clean for sudden showings.

Whoops, OK, obviously I have not conveyed the situation correctly. I read over my OP, and see how I totally did not get the point across.
Buy signing our house away, I meant, we put it on the market yesterday. What I was stating in the post is what our realtor told us. (re: offers, earnest money, etc.) The last time we sold a house was 29 years ago!
The pictures will be taken Friday, and the sign goes up Saturday.

Does the house continue to be shown even after the earnest money is put in escrow? There was so much talk going on yesterday, I don't remember if we had a answer to that or not.

graywings, don't worry, I've got the bottle waiting for when that day comes! I won't be bemoaning a contract! LOL
But, I DO have to keep it cleaned up for showings. (I hope there are some!) Thanks everyone, for your advice.

in my area a listing is pulled from MLS as soon as contracts are signed. which is seperate from when an offer is made.

pretty much you could take a back up offer at that point, but realistically all showing of the house stops after the contracts are signed, unless it falls out of contract

One thing you could have done (I wonder how good your realtor is) is to stipulate to the realtor, on paper, that you would only accept offers from people who are pre-approved.

Here, the MLS status has to be changed to reflect "pending" or "active with an option" or "pending contingent on financing" once a contract is executed.

Pending means there are no contingencies (usually used with cash contracts).

Active with option means that the seller & buyer have executed the contract, & the buyer has an option to cancel the contract within an agree-upon number of days;
buyer can cancel for any reason (maybe the world's most perfect house goes on the market!), but the real purpose is to give the buyer time to have the house inspected & present the seller with the terms under which s/he/they will waive the option.

While the contract is in this position, the house still can be shown, but most buyers & their agents don't like to take the risk;
they'll look at homes that can be bought without added complications.

Pending/contingent means that there's an executed contract, but it's contingent on something, usually on financing.

Sometimes a seller will request "no more showings" if their contract looks solid, & sometimes a buyer will make it a stipulation of the contract that the seller is not to show the house for back-up offers while their contract is in effect.

That's pretty rare these days, because sellers are leary of financing & don't want to take the house off the market until they close.

The executed contract means that the sellers cannot unilaterally terminate the contract, for instance if they receive a better offer, but it doesn't keep them from executing a back-up offer.

Buyers sometimes don't like back-up contracts because they weaken the buyer's negotiating position with regard to repair requests (depending on the date of the execution of the back-up contract) & extentions of closing date.

Thanks for the info. Another thing we are dealing with is, the house we are moving to, out of state, is scheduled to be ready for closing the first week in March. (we only decided to do this whole move, in October.)
The cost of the moving company's storage is over $3000.00. If a miracle happens, and we sell the house before March 1st, we put in the contract that we would "prefer" to delay closing until the first week in March. I know that's not a positive, and it will take the right set of circumstances to make it work.

$3000????

Maybe you could rent your furniture a hotel room!

LOL! we thought it was a type-o when the representative told us the cost of storing the rest of our stuff, in what would be their facility. Some is in a storage unit now, that we are renting, and the remainder would go to the moving company's place. So over and above the actual moving cost, we do not want to have to move before closing on the new house. It's not an unreasonable request, but, the right buyer will have to come along to make it work. We hate to put a stipulation like that in the contract, but it's just too costly, both financially and wear to the furniture and boxes being moved around more than once.

foggyj, if necessary, compare $3000 to the cost of not selling the house for another month--or 3. What is the additional mortgage payment? What is the risk of not getting another seller before you move and ending up paying two mortgages?

Ideally, it'll all "work out". But if you have to choose between $3000 in storage fees and the risk of not getting another offer--well, I'd be open to the possibility.

You can also put into any contract presented that the purchaser has 'x days to remove ALL contingencies if another offer is received' (or words to that affect).

This is often referred to as a 'kick out' clause, and is pretty common if an offer contains a contingency for the buyer to sell their house.

They are given a short time to remove the contingencies or the contract is terminated and a new buyer steps into their place.

You might consider having your attorney review offers if you are not experienced in selling.
RE agents are not supposed to give legal advice, though some are willing to try and explain what portions of the contract mean.
Even 'standard' contracts can have some hole in them.

A problem in the Virginia standard 'Realtor' contract is defining the condition of the property on date of conveyance.
It is supposed to be the same condition as on date of contract acceptance, but the wording is very poor and refers to 'normal operating condition' instead of simply requiring 'same condition as.'

Don't get the cart before the horse.

Honestly, I really wouldn't worry about the closing date. If you're just going on the market now, you would have to get an offer within a week or so to be in any danger of closing before the first week of March, since it typically takes about a month (sometimes longer) for the inspections and paperwork, and February's a short month with a holiday to boot. It happens, but it's rare---even in healthy neighborhoods in our market, the norm is to stay on for two weeks and accept offers at the end of that period so that you can have two open houses and give buyers time to look. Most houses seem to take 2-3 months to sell these days, if not longer (though that's very regional).

You can keep showing the house while you're in escrow if you want to---your realtor just changes the MLS listing to reflect that there's an active offer and only backup offers are being accepted. A lot of people (me included!) don't look at houses that are already pending, though---you might fall in love and then not have a chance at it. So I might not bother unless you think there's some risk with the buyers. (I know people who did this b/c the buyers had an FHA loan, and the feds are notorious for pulling those loans for inane reasons if they don't like something in the inspection or the appraisal, but that's less of an issue with conventional loans.) The earnest money is largely symbolic so that you have some assurance that the buyers aren't just going to walk if they see something they like better.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pulling for you and hope it all comes together the way you want BUT, in this market and climate of house sales I would be a nervous wreck!! Plus, you are moving out of state and already have found a house? Are you prepared to make 2 house payments? I'm sure you have been all through this otherwise you wouldn't be doing it, right?
Good Luck!

The story is, we are retired, and moving to an over 55 community. The present house is paid for. We're not contingent on selling immediately. We do not want to leave this house empty. The sign was put up outside, today.

Thanks for all your advice and hints. We thought about the time it will take to actually complete things, once an offer is made. So you're right, it may not be an issue.
Our house is one of the nicest in our subdivision, with a large yard. (per agent and photographer, and neighbors)
I admit, I got a little choked up, when he put that sign in the yard!

Best of luck to you! See, I get so caught up in the "times we live in" I just assume everyone HAS to sell in this horrible market and get stuck with 2 mortgages! So sorry to "assume":(

foggy~~ (from one phoggie to another)~~

I think we are in the "same boat"...we put our house on the market 6 months ago, and so far, nothing but one very low-ball offer that we couldn't take. My DH and the RE decided on a price, which at the time I thought was too much for the market, we did lower it $22,000 about a month ago.

Like you, our home is paid for, we are getting older (69 & 79) and want to either build a smaller home (one level) or go to a Sr. complex, where they are building new duplexes. We don't have to move, but want to get to someplace where the taxes are not nearly as much and taking care of this big house is too much for me to do anymore...4090 SF....economy is very bad here...and so is the housing market.

We will not leave this house empty...and don't want to even consider renting it out. It is just too good of a house and we also live in the most desirable part of this city....HOA.

I'll keep watching your progress....and I hope they BOTH sell soon~~~

phoggie, thanks. Good luck to you.
We would not consider renting either. There are too many horror stories, and being 300 miles away, is not a good thing. We are on the southeast coast, and the banks say things are picking up, slowly. Short sales and foreclosures are rampant though.

Never say never, foggy. Your sign's only been up one day.

LOL...I know. This whole "adventure", plays with your mind, and can drive us to drink! We're not young wippersnappers any more. Patience is the key!

"Don't get the cart before the horse."

Unless you have talked it over with your RE agent ahead of time (or have done a number of sales) after a offer is made is NOT a good time to be making quick decisions about kick out clauses.

It should at least be discussed with your agent when the listing agreement is signed, along with things like staying over, etc.

The more things you have thought through and discussed between the sellers and their agent the less likely something will be missed.