January 03, 2019
The Dismay of Delay—Reasons A Closing Might Get Postponed

If there’s one consistency through every type of real estate transaction, it’s that everybody on either side of the transaction wants a quick and easy closing.
People dislike complications, frustrations, and delays.
But, as straightforward as real estate may appear to some, we in the business know it’s actually quite rare for a closing to go through without a hitch or frustration of some kind. And some of those frustrations—twenty-six percent over the year ending May 2018, according to a recent Confidence Report released by the National Association of Realtors (click here)—were delays in closing.
Among these postponements of closing, issues with Title and Deed made up eleven percent of the issues. This made these issues the fourth most common reason for delay.
The Reasons for Delay:
Among those postponements where problems with conveyance were encountered in advance of closing, it stacks up like this, according to the Report:
- Issues related to obtaining financing: 33 percent.
- Appraisal issues: 22 percent.
- Home inspection/ environmental issues: 15 percent.
- Titling/deed issues: 11 percent.
- No problems encountered: 8 percent.
- Issues in buy/sell distressed property: 4 percent.
- Contingencies stated in the contract: 7 percent.
- Home/hazard/flood insurance issues: 2 percent.
- Other: 25 percent.
It’s Part of the Process
Important to understand is that issues with title aren’t necessarily the fault of someone who is part of the present transaction. Sometimes they are, but the vast majority of issues arise from either misunderstandings about who has ownership of the property or from defects in conveyance that occurred somewhere in the property’s past. Again, these are usually mistakes rather than acts of malfeasance on anyone’s part.
The best bet going into a real estate transaction is to ensure the buyers and sellers are mentally and emotionally prepared for the possibility of delay. Knowing it may happen can help to decrease the dismay that might be felt when a roadblock occurs.
Where problems with title are concerned, we at Topouzis & Associates, P.C. are experts at ferreting them out and disposing with them in advance of closing. We take pride in the great amount and quality of experience we bring to the closing table in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Florida. Contact us if you want a partner in your property closing—one who makes everyone involved feel like family.