7-day contract limit. Bad form to use it?

[HereIGo]

So I have a DVC resale offer accepted by myself and a seller. I have received a contract which I have signed and returned.
It's been over 7 days and I don't yet know if the seller has returned their paperwork (no, I don't expect next-day service from seller, I understand their paperwork is more of a burden than mine).
When we initially decided on this contract, it had a slight edge over a few other options that we thought would be really nice choices too (another home resort, also like the idea of initially purchasing a use-every-2-years and adding on later rather than just a big contract now), but we really think any of these would be great options (how can you go wrong with DVC!!!)

So my question: Assuming the seller has not returned their docs within the 7-day period, is it bad form to tell the agent that I want to pursue a different contract at this point. Anyone have any experience with this?

THANKS!!!

 

[ELMC]

I have had a seller take 14 days to return the initial contracts. Although the transaction did eventually go through, it was a sign of things to come. He was difficult to work with every step of the way and the entire process took over 3 months. In the end it was too good of a deal to walk away from, so I stuck it out.

You are well within your legal right to back out of the seller hasn't returned the contacts. It's up to you to figure out if you feel comfortable doing so. If the deal wasn't that great and you're not in that big of a rush, I would walk and try to find something better. But that's just me. Go with your gut.

Good luck!

 

[DizBub]

I think I would contact your broker and try to determine what the heck is going on. Like is this a divorce situation where the co-owners aren't living together or an estate in probate or foreign sellers. Is something else holding things up like a vacation or an illness? You deserve to be aware of any legitimate reason. If this is just a case of sellers dragging their feet then I certainly would consider moving along.

 

[JaimeA]

I had a slow seller and when it was the day before the 7 day limit I called the broker and asked what was going on. I explained that if she couldn't get in touch with the seller to please cancel the contract once it passed that date. There were other contracts out there that were identical and i wasn't going to wait. ( My first contract went a week passed that date and ended up dying an ROFR death-so I wasn't waiting any longer) So I found out the seller was away on business so he rushed to get the contract over. I was fine with that as long as I knew what was going on. You do have the right to cancel or to wait. Good Luck!!

 

[JimMIA]

Don't worry about "style points" on your purchasing technique!

Contact the broker and find out what is going on. If you are not comfortable with the answers you get -- or you don't get any answers -- I'd cancel and never look back.

The specific issues DisBub listed above are real danger signs. So are complications like estate sales and bankruptcy. If you get any of those things involved, I'd walk in a heartbeat.

I assume the transaction (the broker) is located in Florida, and if so, you have a 10-day recision period from the date you signed your copy of the contract. That's not some touchy-feely "best practice;" that's Florida law and the law is designed to protect all parties in these types of transactions.

 

[HereIGo]

I do know the seller has a certain payoff amount (so they have reason to move this along) and they were quite responsive in the negotiation stage (they banked the points I asked and we reached an agreement in about 24 hours).
I talked with the agent a few minutes ago and the seller said they would submit the contract today. Assuming this happens I will be happy, since I figure as long as the contract is submitted to DVD this week it will not make a difference for which Tuesday I hear back about ROFR.

 

[HereIGo]

Thanks for all of the advice!
It makes me feel much better and knowing that I can easily walk if I'm not happy (I will likely walk in the morning if the contract doesn't get in by the end-of-business today), I feel much more reassured. So far my agent has been quite responsive and it doesn't seem there are any red flags (no estate sales or divorce or anything), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[disneynutz]

Thanks for all of the advice!
It makes me feel much better and knowing that I can easily walk if I'm not happy (I will likely walk in the morning if the contract doesn't get in by the end-of-business today), I feel much more reassured. So far my agent has been quite responsive and it doesn't seem there are any red flags (no estate sales or divorce or anything), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

If you are frustrated buying, just wait until you try to book a reservation or get different answers from MS.

Contact your Escrow agent and see what's going on.

Bill

 

[JimMIA]

I do know the seller has a certain payoff amount (so they have reason to move this along)

Not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean they have a loan they have to pay off with the proceeds?

If so, you need to know how much it is and whether it is MORE than their proceeds will be. If it is, they will have to pay IN to close. If they can't pay the loan off...they won't be able to close and this could get delayed further.

and they were quite responsive in the negotiation stage (they banked the points I asked and we reached an agreement in about 24 hours).
I talked with the agent a few minutes ago and the seller said they would submit the contract today.

If the money part above is okay, the seller has been responsive, and the agent is giving you good service, I'd have enough comfort to go almost up to the ten-day recision period.

 

[HereIGo]

If you are frustrated buying, just wait until you try to book a reservation or get different answers from MS.

Not frustrated, just anxious?

Not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean they have a loan they have to pay off with the proceeds?

Yes, they have a current loan on their contract. My understanding from the agent is that the agreed-upon offer was enough to payoff the seller's loan. And the seller accepted the offer within an hour, so that's positive.

If the money part above is okay, the seller has been responsive, and the agent is giving you good service, I'd have enough comfort to go almost up to the ten-day recision period.

I don't see any of the red-flags mentioned above so I will stay in contact with the agent. My rescission period gives me today and tomorrow, so I am still hopeful!

 

[JimMIA]

Yes, they have a current loan on their contract. My understanding from the agent is that the agreed-upon offer was enough to payoff the seller's loan. And the seller accepted the offer within an hour, so that's positive.

The broker should have done their due diligence, and therefore should know exactly what the situation is with the loan payoff.

The seller should have had a general ballpark idea when they accepted your offer. They definitely know ALL of the details now because they would have received the "Good Faith Estimate" which shows all of the exact numbers of the transaction, including the broker's commission, loan payoff, additional fees incurred, and net proceeds (if any) to the seller.

Without that exact breakdown, sellers sometimes have unrealistic expectations, and when they get the real numbers they sometimes get cold feet -- either because their net is less than they expected, or because they find they have to pay IN to close and they can't, or don't want to, do that.

What you're telling us sounds encouraging, but I would not push my luck past the recision deadline.

 

[HereIGo]

Just got call from agent. Seller submitted contracts and they're going out for ROFR today!

It's an AKV contract so no worries, just waiting.

Thanks everyone for the support!!