Miami Real Estate Dilemma
Talk about a real Miami Real Estate Dilemma! – I have to tell you about this current situation with a real estate customer and we would like your opinion on this matter. Who do you think dropped the ball?
We have a seller that accepted an offer from a more than qualified buyer and everything seemed to be going perfectly…..until……let me tell you the sequence of events so you can know the facts.
The buyer came in with a very strong contract:
- 20% down in escrow
- pre-qual letter for a loan amount in excess of purchase price
- inspections were done
- appraisal was perfect
- condo approval completed
- commitment letter from lender received
- closing date verified
It does not get stronger than this, but then we got a call from the title company the day before the closing stating that the bank package had not arrived for the next day morning closing. We proceeded to contact the bank where the loan officer informed us that the underwriter requested an updated work permit or green card for the buyer.
You need to realize that when you work the Miami Real Estate Industry, you deal with a lot of foreigners on a daily basis. We had never encountered these types of problems with someone who had filled taxes, had a social security number and worked for a major corporation. You would also assume that a large corporation would not have employees that are not legal in the US. Now we had to have the seller sign an addendum extending the closing date until this is resolved. The buyer is in limbo, the seller is in limbo and so is everyone involved in this transaction.
Should we begin asking for current work permits from all our customers? We definitely feel partly responsible for assuming he was current with his immigration status and have learned a valuable lesson. Let’s hope it is resolved quickly so we can finalize the transaction and make everyone happy.