30 day condition of financing?

[Sittinginthesun]

Just selling my vacation home in Florida and surprised the offers all seem to come in with a very long condition of financing. 30-45 days seems to be the norm? In Canada you usually get 5 business days and the bank will have an appraiser out within 24-48 hours and then an answer the day after that.

So I have accepted an offer with a 30 day condition that won't expire until after Christmas! Seems crazy and now the showings have stopped as its conditionally sold. Basically ties the property up for a month.

From your experience should we be stressed about it or is this just the normal process? Buyers had a letter of preapproval from their bank and are older folks looking for a winter home. Hopefully it doesn't fall apart!

[Big_Hitter]

since 2008, it's been tough to borrow money in the US; so yes, I think 30-45 days is normal, I'll have to look at my last re contract though

[pb4uski]

Yes, I don't think that is too long a timeframe if the buyer is getting financing.

While it is probably too late if you have signed the contract, I wonder if you could have reserved the right to continue to show/market the property and if you receive a no financing offer then the buyer would have 48 hours to waive the financing contingency... if they do then you proceed to close with them... if they do not then they get their deposit back and you sell it to the buyer with no financing contingency. While we have done that for a home sale contingency in the past I'm not sure if it can be done with a financing contingency, but I don't see why not especially if you would be willing to reimburse them for their out-of-pocket costs to get a quicker close.

Alternatively, you could reserve the right to continue to show/market the property for a back-up contract in the event that your buyer's financing fails... I see that sometimes down here in Florida in property ads.