Once a home seller has accepted an offer to purchase their property, the end of the home selling journey may feel close.
However, the mortgage lender of the homebuyer may appraise the property for a lower amount than the purchase price. If this happens, it’s vital to examine the terms of the appraisal contingency in the purchase contract.
Contingencies are put in place to protect both buyers and sellers in real estate exchanges. An appraisal contingency is very common to find on the buyer’s side of the purchase agreement. It protects homebuyers if their lender's appraisal comes back lower than the amount needed to purchase the home.
Dropping an appraisal contingency clause can be very beneficial to home sellers, as it increases the chances of the purchase decision going through.
This option can be tricky for homebuyers as it leaves them unprotected if the appraisal comes back lower than expected, but may make their offer more appealing in a competitive seller’s market.
If the appraised value of a home is less than the listing price, the seller has the option to back out of the deal if they feel they would end up losing money.
The seller doesn’t have to lower the price, however, if the homebuyer has an appraisal gap guarantee, they have agreed to cover the balance with their own funding if the appraisal comes back low.
Working with your real estate agent, home buyers and seller’s can create and examine the appraisal contingency to make sure it’s best fitting their home selling and buying standards.
I'm John Mahan, Sales Associate with William Raveis Real Estate, Harwich Port Office.
Throughout his childhood, John Mahan spent summers on Cape Cod at his parents’ home in Dennis Port. His intro to the Cape was, as he puts it, when his parents “carried me down the stairs at Sea Street Beach when I was a week old.” With a lifelong connection to Cape Cod, it seemed only natural for John and his wife, Mary, to move to Harwich – where they still reside – with their two young children in 1996.
Prior to moving to Cape Cod, John lived in the Worcester-Auburn area where he worked for Mass Electric for 10 years and was a member of the International Brotherhood of Utility Workers. When John and his family moved to the Cape, he worked at NSTAR for six years.
John began his career in real estate in 2002 when he joined Team Waystack Realty in Harwich Port. He has been a consistent top producing realtor in the Harwich area for the past 20 years. John’s approachable demeanor, combined with an integral understanding of the Cape Cod residential real estate market, have allowed him to build trusting, long-term relationships with his clients – both sellers and buyers.
