Selling: who does what, and what can go wrong

A sale is not a purchase run backwards. You make different decisions, you wait on different people, and the things that go wrong go wrong at different moments — mostly on the buyer's side, where you have no control and a great deal of exposure.

The companion to this is who does what when you are buying. If you are doing both at once, read that one too, because the order you do them in is itself a decision.

What you control, and what you do not

You control three things: the price, the condition, and which offer you accept. That is the whole list, and it is front-loaded — every one of those decisions is made before the contract is signed.

After that you are largely waiting on a buyer you have never met and a lender you are not a client of. Their appraisal can reprice your house. Their underwriting can end the sale in the last week. Neither is something you can hurry.

Which is why the choice of offer matters more than the choice of price. Price is what you advertise; the offer is what actually closes.

Your agentBefore anything

Listing agreement and a price

You engage an agent, agree the commission and the term, and settle on an asking price from comparable sales rather than from what you need.

▸You are deciding what to ask

The market reads a price against the comps, not against your mortgage balance. Over-pricing costs the first two weeks, which are the weeks with the most attention — and a listing that has sat invites the offer a fresh one would not get.

▸You need to buy as well as sell

The order matters. Selling first means certainty and somewhere to be in between; buying first means a bridge or a contingent offer, which is weaker in a competitive market. Both are financeable and they are not equally easy.

YouBefore listing

Disclosure and preparation

Texas requires a seller's disclosure of what you know about the property's condition. What you fix beforehand is a judgement; what you disclose is not.

▸You know about a defect

Disclose it. A known problem found by an inspector costs you a negotiation; a known problem concealed is a different kind of exposure entirely, and it survives the closing.

▸You are wondering what to spend money on

Buyers discount visible condition harder than they credit upgrades. Paint, light and the state of the yard move perception; a renovated kitchen rarely returns what it cost at resale.

Your agentWeeks

Market, show, and take offers

Listed, photographed, shown. Your agent brings you offers and the terms attached to them.

▸An offer is below asking

Read the whole offer, not the number. A lower price with a full pre-approval, a short option period and no contingencies is frequently worth more than a higher one carrying a sale-of-home contingency and a buyer nobody has verified.

▸You have several offers

The question is which is most likely to close, and on time. A buyer's lender being reachable and specific about their file is a signal; a one-line pre-qualification letter is not.

YouDay 0

Contract executed

You accept. The buyer's earnest money and option fee go to the title company, and their clock starts.

▸You want to know when it is really yours to count on

Not at acceptance. The buyer can terminate for any reason during the option period, and their financing is not finished until underwriting clears. The two dates worth holding in your head are the option deadline and the financing deadline.

Now the buyer's side runs, and you wait on three things

YouOption period

Their inspection, your decision

The buyer inspects and comes back with a list. You decide what to repair, what to credit, and what to refuse.

▸They ask for a long list of repairs

A credit at closing is usually cleaner than doing the work: no contractor scheduling against a closing date, and no argument about quality. What matters is the expensive five — structure, roof, foundation, electrical, plumbing and HVAC. The rest is negotiation.

▸They terminate in the option period

They get their earnest money back and you are back on the market, having lost the time. It is the cost of the Texas option period and the reason a short one is worth something in an offer.

LenderParallel

Their appraisal and underwriting

The buyer's lender values the house and finishes their file. Neither is under your control and both can end the deal.

▸The appraisal comes in below your price

Their lender will lend against the appraised value. So: you reduce, they bring the difference in cash, you split it, or the contract gives them a way out. Knowing the comps before you price is the best defence against meeting this at all.

▸Their financing falls through

It happens, usually from something that changed on their side. Whether the earnest money is yours depends on which deadline had passed — another reason the financing deadline is worth tracking rather than assuming.

Title companyParallel

Title search and your payoff

They search the record on your property, and request the payoff figure from your lender.

▸The search turns up something on your title

It is yours to clear — an old loan never released, a contractor's lien, an estate never fully settled, a boundary matter on the survey. Most are routine and some take weeks, which is why it is better found in week one than in the closing week.

▸You are wondering what you will actually walk away with

The payoff is not your statement balance: it is principal, interest to the day of funding, and any fees. Deduct that, the commissions and your share of the closing costs, and that is the number. Your agent can estimate it before you ever accept an offer.

Title companyClosing day

Sign, and the proceeds

You sign, the loan funds, your mortgage is paid off from the proceeds and the balance comes to you.

▸You need time to move out

A leaseback — staying on after closing for an agreed period and rent — is a normal term and is negotiated in the contract, not afterwards. Ask for it while you still have something to trade for it.

▸You are buying on the same day

Back-to-back closings are routine and tight. The sale must fund before the purchase can, so the order and the hour matter, and everybody involved should know the plan a week ahead rather than on the morning.

Nothing here is advice about your situation or your price — both depend on the house and on the week. What a lender can tell you is the financing side: whether a buyer's letter means anything, and what your own next purchase would look like.

The six ways a sale comes apart

Almost all of them are one of these, and the first five are survivable.

They terminate in the option period. Texas gives a buyer an unrestricted right to walk for a negotiated few days. You get the option fee, they get the earnest money back, and you have lost two or three weeks of being fresh on the market. Nothing to be done about it except prefer offers with a short option period.

The inspection comes back long. Normal. Every house has a list. What matters is the expensive five — structure, roof, foundation, electrical, plumbing, HVAC. A credit at closing is usually cleaner than doing the work, because nobody is then arguing about the quality of a repair booked against a closing date.

The appraisal comes in under the price. The buyer's lender lends against the appraised value, not against what you agreed. Somebody has to cover the gap: you reduce, they bring cash, you split it, or the contract lets them leave. This is the one most improved by pricing against real comparables at the start.

Their financing falls apart. Usually something changed on their side — a job, a new debt, a deposit nobody could source. Whether the earnest money is yours depends on which deadline had passed, which is why the financing deadline is worth tracking rather than assuming.

Something turns up on your title. An old loan never released, a contractor's lien, an estate never fully settled, a boundary question on the survey. Routine, mostly, and yours to clear. Found in the first week it is paperwork; found in the closing week it is a delay.

You cannot find anywhere to go. The one that is actually about you. A leaseback is the normal answer — you stay on after closing for an agreed period and rent — and it is negotiated into the contract, not asked for afterwards.

Reading an offer properly

The number at the top is one term among many. What decides whether a sale closes on time is underneath it.

• How is it financed? Cash, conventional, FHA or VA each carry different appraisal behaviour and different timelines.
• What is the pre-approval worth? A full underwritten approval and a one-line pre-qualification letter look alike on paper and are not remotely the same. Your agent can ask their lender directly; a lender who answers specifically is a good sign.
• How long is the option period? Shorter is worth real money to you, because it is the window in which they can leave for nothing.
• How much earnest money? It is a measure of how committed they are, not just a deposit.
• Are there contingencies? A sale-of-home contingency means your closing depends on a transaction you cannot see.
• When do they want to close, and can they move? Flexibility on the date is worth something if your own next step is uncertain.

If you are selling and buying

The order is a financing question before it is anything else, and it is worth having the conversation before you list rather than after you accept.

Selling first gives you certainty and a number, and leaves you needing somewhere to be in between. Buying first means carrying both or writing an offer contingent on your sale — which is a weaker offer in a competitive market, and North Dallas is frequently competitive even when the headline figures say the market has cooled.

There are financing structures for both. They are not equally easy, and which one fits depends on your equity, your income and how much uncertainty you can carry. That is a conversation rather than a guide.

The thing worth remembering

A buyer worries about whether they can get the house. A seller worries about whether the deal will hold — and the deal holds or fails mostly on the strength of the buyer's financing, which is the one part of it you are allowed to ask about before you accept.

So ask. Your agent can request the buyer's lender's details with the offer, and any lender worth the letter will take that call.