The main two reasons for a home falling out of escrow are 1.) The Buyer failing to qualify and 2.) The property not meeting a Buyer's expectations at the time of a physical inspection. A clever Seller can avoid both occurrences by talking an assertive stance before entering escrow.

At this point, most Seller's are insisting on a pre-qualification letter for the Buyer, but few Sellers are providing adequate information to a Buyer regarding the physical condition of their home. What often ends up happening 10 days into escrow, is the introduction of "new information" based on the Buyer's physical inspection. Sellers argue, "Why pay $300 out of their pocket for an inspection in advance when the Buyer is going to do that anyway?" The answer is short and simple. By providing the Buyer with a copy of the Seller's physical inspection report during the negotiation, the Buyer can be asked to agree to the items contained in the report remaining, "as is", without either the Buyer or Seller having unrealistic expectations. Even though the Buyer will likely still have their own inspection, it is doubtful that there will be anything so different come up, that it will cause a loss of the escrow or any major adjustment to the price or terms of the transaction.

An "inspection in advance" is a small price to pay for the security it provides. Falling out of escrow can be costly and inconvenient. It is also a negative incident remembered by Real Estate agents that might cause reasons for concern and perhaps may even impact the desirability of the property and the frequency of Broker showings. A "back on the market" label always call for additional questions and concerns. Also please note that an enthusiastic prospective Buyer is generally much more forgiving during the negotiating process than later when the often, typical remorse thoughts come to mind.

~~ This precautionary suggestion is made compliments of Ron Wynn - 9/2000 ~~