Lisa

Hi Mario,

Very good question and you are correct, when escrow closes, the seller recieves the full amout of the offer price minus closing costs and any credits that have been negotiated. It is a very frustrating process right now for FHA buyers and the agents representing them.

Often times I find the biggest push back from sellers comes when there are multiple offers, or the property has various levels of deferred maintenance. It is true that escrows invovling FHA financing and even conventional financing can take longer to close. In a scenerio where there is an all cash buyer who can close in two weeks and there is not an appraisal requirement, this is hard to compete with.

In my opinion there is a little bit of a mis-conception from sellers that FHA financing is more difficult. There are specific lenders that are more difficult to deal with, but that being said there are a lot of successfully closed FHA loans.

When it comes to deferred maintenance, what many buyers and sellers do not actually know about is the option of utilizing 203K FHA financing which allows you to finance certain repairs, such as replacing a roof.

When working with FHA buyers I know that is can be more challeging to have an offer accepted. Letting my buyers know this upfront helps. I also provide the sellers with detailed information regarding my buyers, their motivation to purchase the home, as well as inforamtion regarding the lender I am using to help them make a decision that is not based solely on the initial reaction to automatically reject an FHA buyer.

It can be frusting at times for the buyers I know. With understanding how the sellers really look at offers as well as input from your Realtor, it may take a few tries, but in my opinion FHA financing is a viable option.

Good luck in your home search and I hope this helps!

Lisa Cartolano
Alain Pinel Realtors - Yesterday, 09:01