Concurrent sales require excellent communication and attention to details
Dec 21, 2022By Pat Kapowich | Published: December 9, 2022 | For the Bay Area News Group and its flagships The Mercury News and East Bay Times
Q: Last week, we bought a house contingent upon the sale of our condo. For this reason, we listed our condo for sale on Friday and sold it Monday.
Our seller’s agent opened an escrow account on Monday afternoon and ordered a preliminary title report, seller’s presell inspections, and the Natural Hazards Disclosure Statement. They also bought the required homeowner association documents online from the homeowner association (HOA) management company.
We need this condo sale to buy the house, and the buyers have short deadlines for removing all their condo purchase contingencies. It’s only a 30-day escrow period. What steps or actions have we missed that could jeopardize our concurrent property transactions?
A: High-quality communication skills are the most crucial aspect of simultaneously buying and selling residential property.
You rushed your condo to the market and sold it. As a result, expect delays with turnaround times for deliverables, including inspections, reports and HOA documents. The buyer’s agent needs to understand the causes, ramifications and solutions to timeline interruptions, as does the seller’s agent of the single-family home you are buying. For this reason, insist that your agent takes the lead as the competent facilitator of information between the linked transactions. Accordingly, agents in each transaction must cooperate to manage their client’s expectations and deftly align new timelines.
Ideally, a condo seller will prepare for weeks before listing their property. Consequently, condo sellers and buyers should be aware that HOA documents can take 10 days to produce. The hundreds of HOA documents have surprises that can strengthen or weaken a condo sale. It is essential that the condo owner/seller be prepared to explain the HOA’s plans of action to satisfy the requirement in SB 326. This transformational California SB 326 Balcony Bill calls for your team to:
- Contact your HOA manager and ask what steps are underway to comply with the January 1, 2025, inspection deadline of elevated wood structures in your condo community as mandated by California SB 326.
- Be prepared to present your HOA’s SB 326 plan of action should the condo buyers have questions. Then view my interview with an HOA expert discussing California SB 326 to better understand the process.
- Tackle the condo balcony issue head on by having your termite and property inspector generate stand-alone reports on your condo’s balcony.
Sellers can control surprises, and surprises control homebuyers, so the success of these transactions is in your leadership.
Questions? Or are you or someone you know navigating life’s transitions? Let lauded negotiator Pat Kapowich make your next move easy. Visit Kapowich’s website for free area housing data, insights and trends. Or put his artful blend of specialized credentials, decades of experience and endorsed skill set to work for you. Kapowich instills confidence when buying, selling, relocating or resizing homes. Do not just make a move — make the best move. Contact him today, Realtor Pat Kapowich, a career-long consumer-protection advocate.
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