I have ran into those situations in the past. I will solve that "delay in closing" by putting in the contract or counter offer that if escrow does not close by "whatever day" then buyers will pay "x" amount until it closes. I will also make sure that time frames are met. Breach of contract means not hitting time frames and the seller could cancel and buyer could loose deposit. I make sure that I do send buyers a notice to perform that also goes to the broker of the other company to make him/her aware of the situation. If I can not get anywhere with the buyers agent, all communication goes through their broker and I try to do that via e-mail and phone calls so that I have copies of all conversations. I "CC" broker and myself so that I also get a copy time stamped of when it went out. Hope this helps. There are still alot of the "bandwagon" agents out there who got their license to get rich quick. Be the professional and make sure you do what you are suppose to by sending the proper forms and informing the seller of their rights. Do things right and "cover your own a@*. That agent will end up in court someday, make sure you are not at fault. Good luck and hope this helped.

Preaching to the choir over here, Jody.  Been there, done that, got the bloody T shirt . . . LOL

The contract is king. And time's of the essence.

I feel sorry for clients of slacker agents. And if I have to pick up the slack for the sake of my client, I sure will.

I agree with what Rob has done and will incorporate some of his suggestions in my business when I'm the listing agent.

However, although in this case it sounds like the buyer's agent is too laid-back about the whole thing, my frustration has always been with the mortgage officer and underwriter.  Because neither is party to the contract, they are not bound by it, and it seems to me that they don't have a care in the world about deadlines.  When I'm the buyer's agent, I try to stay on top of them and even push them when necessary, but sometimes they either can't or won't move any faster.  Then I feel trapped in the middle, between anxious buyers, anxious seller's agents and stubborn or overwhelmed lender personnel.  

The whole thing is so stressful that I usually resolve not to ever represent a buyer again--until the next time, lol.

BTW, always accept backup offers.  That way you don't have to put up with an extension if your sellers are also under the gun to perform.

Cheri

This is why I think all new Agents need more training in the nuts-and-bolts.  I was an assistant for several years before I got my license.  First, you get to know whether or not you're really cut out for this career.  Second, you get to learn the most basic details of a transaction and the ramifications of missed deadlines, commitments, etc.

Missed deadlines, in my opinion, are the result of laziness or lack of education.  I would let the Broker know.  If it's laziness, s/he needs to know.  If it's lack of education, s/he needs to be educated and that's the Broker's responsibility.  Maybe the Broker didn't do his/her job to the extent necessary?

I actually dealt with someone like this 2 years ago and when she put an offer on another one of my properties recently I had my client put into the counter offer that any delay in closing would add $250 to the cost. Their client agreed and we shall see what happens come closing day.

Todd

On the subject of doing the other agent's work, we had a listing where the sale was contingent on another property which itself was contingent upon a third property selling. The third was a VA loan and it was becoming increasingly clear that agent knew nothing about the VA process. We (my broker and I) drove 100+ miles stayed in a hotel and walked the paperwork through on that third deal so the other 2 would be able to close. Talk about earning your comission and their's! ;(

I agree with Cheri, the lender and underwriter do not feel the sense of urgency to get the deal done. Time is of the essence. In English, that means "time is of the essence". Doesn't loose anything in the translation from English to English.

Let's just do an addendum. Fine, let's put something in the addendum like this, "Due to the fact that the lender and underwriter do not understand that time is of the essence even though it is in the contract, all parties involved agree to set this out yet another week because seller doesn't need the money and buyer doesn't care when they get in."

Sorry, just venting. I am dealing with this very issue today. Oh, but now lender has sent the package to title company and title company cannot open the documents-huh? Why don't you just say the dog ate the homework? GADS People!! Where is Mike in his super hero suit when we need him?

Had an agent on a multiple offer house in the first place want to put in an extention because she was going on vacation. I said no, don't worry about it, we will just sell it to someone else. She had it done that day and chastised me because she might miss her plane. My contention was that if she could have it done in a matter of hours then why was it not done before dead line.

I personally hate extentions on my side or theirs.

I think that some agents don't need money and like to call themselves real estate agents at parties but aren't serious about the job.

Most of the time, problems like this can be avoided if you can get the buyer to use a lender that you know, trust and can deliver. What I've found is that a lot of buyers think they can get a better deal on their loan through an "internet lender" and then you're stuck dealing with someone that may not even be in the same time zone. I had a closing last year that was delayed multiple times (6 weeks total) because the lender had not received verification of rental history from the buyer's land lord. This took all of one phone call to get it done once the problem was made known. Unfortunately, the loan officer would always give me some excuse about the papers being tied up in underwriting or processing and never would tell me what the hold up was. I finally tracked down the processor and we got it done in the end. The seller had gone on vacation, but fortunately, I had been in constant communication with the listing agent and she had gotten a power of attorney from the seller so that we could close the deal. I was lucky that both the seller and her agent were kind and understanding and wanted to see my buyer get the property. If nothing else, this gives me a good story to pass on to buyers when they're thinking of shopping their mortgage.

As a Buyer's Agent, I make sure that I meet all deadlines. I will of course scrutinize the contract before signing to make sure deadlines can be met, and change it if I feel timeframes are too limited.

Tthe most oft missed the deadline is the mortgage commitment date. I have found that many agents don't understand that it takes time to get a commitment from some entities, but not others.

For example, in NJ, mortgage BANKERS are free to issue commitments without an appraiser, but mortgage BROKERS are not. Thus, a BANKER can have all the paperwork submitted to any underwriter long before an appraisal is done. A BROKER has to wait for the appraisal before he can submit the application package to underwriting.

If I can't meet a deadline for whatever VALID reason, I make sure I'm on the phone to the listing agent to advise him or her of the situation. Usually, the contract allows for leeway just in case you can't make the deadline.

When I'm representing the Sellers, I maek sure to remind the Buyer's agent that there is a provision that states "time is of the essence," which means before the ink is dry on the contract, you better be lining up the inspectors, oredering title and survey, and applying for that mortgage.  If the Buyer and Buyer's Agent are missing deadlines with no communication, I simply advise them they're out of contract, and the house will again be marketed for sale. See how fast some of them move when you tell them that.

I have had the same problems.  I think I will incorporate a few of the suggestions I have read.  However, to make my client happy and my payday on time, I will work both ends to make sure it happens.

Where is that BAT?

Agent in need of bat...

I've been using it today Matt!!!!

Was stood up TWICE today by two different buyers???  Grrrr....I could use that bat right about now!

We seem to have very few of these problems in Canada. Our standard offer to purchase allows the seller to void the agreement if the "buyer fails to complete any required conveyance or make any required cash payment" in a timely manner. Out of hundreds of closings I can't think of more than a few that didn't close on possession date. Must be frustrating.

 New Ga. contracts have shifted a lot of the burden to buyers.  It is much more difficult for buyers to get Earnest Money returned.  Due dilligence rules. Buyers if you don' have your financing together be ready lose some money.

I am both a Broker Associate Realtor and a Loan Originator.  I will say that on the lending side, I do care about the timeframes.  Obviously, nothing closes and nobody gets paid until it closes.  That's not to say that all lenders do.  I have had buyers who went with some of the more well-known online lenders who were "approved" for financing until the night before closing, when they decided not to provide financing - not because there was any new information, but because the file was audited prior to closing and the processor had not done her job properly to begin with.  It is always best to go with local lenders - quite frankly, these lender who "compete for your business" don't make sure that it is a good loan at the onset - many times, they don't really scrutinize the file until it comes time to put their money on the line.  I would be weary of taking any offer with financing provided by an out of state and especially online lender.

As a Broker Associate Realtor, I am currently dealing with an extension caused by the Realtor team who brought in the offer to purchase.  Their offer to purchase from their buyer (Mrs. Brown) had May 26 as the closing date, which is a Saturday (in my state, most closing companies don't close transactions on weekends), they then wanted to close on the 28th (which is Memorial Day).  We finally agreed on the 25th, which is what we put on our contract to purchase the new home to which my clints would be moving.  When it came down to it, both of these transactions involving my clients were contingent upon the closing of another property being sold by Mrs. Brown and that contract was contractually scheduled to close on the 29th.  It is up to us as the real estate professionals to take the closing date seriously when we are writing up the offer and explaining to our clients what their contractual obligations are.  As Jody indicates in her post, the buyers had not even made application for their loan until the closing date was nearing.  In my state, there are a certain number of days allowed to make loan aplication - their failure to do so and close by the agreed upon date constitutes a breach of contract on their part and the potential loss of earnest money should the seller decide not to extend the closing date.  At any rate, any of the terms could be renegotiated along with the extension.