Pace of international sale....Frustrating!

[MFMont]

I made a bid on a BWV property on 2/25. Owner accepted the same day, but the broker has not recieved the signed contracts yet. Owner is in England and it is a divorce situation. I've been the husband is having a hard time with communication with the wife. I guess i will wait until monday or tuesday, but I am getting frustrated. I would think that when people have something to sell that they would have a little sense of urgency. There are 09' point that epire July 31st so that and 3/20 deadline and i am on the edge of my seat. Boy i hope i do not expirience this with the closing also. Anyways, i just thought i would vent.

 

[disneydenisel]

Sorry to hear about the delay in getting the sellers to return the paperwork on your purchase. Hopefully, you will hear back early this coming week and then you can start the ROFR wait?! It's a good sign that they accepted the offer so quickly, maybe?

Good luck and I hope the paperwork is back soon. Otherwise, are you looking at backup contracts?

 

[JimMIA]

I made a bid on a BWV property on 2/25. Owner accepted the same day, but the broker has not recieved the signed contracts yet. Owner is in England and it is a divorce situation. I've been the husband is having a hard time with communication with the wife. I guess i will wait until monday or tuesday, but I am getting frustrated. I would think that when people have something to sell that they would have a little sense of urgency. There are 09' point that epire July 31st so that and 3/20 deadline and i am on the edge of my seat. Boy i hope i do not expirience this with the closing also. Anyways, i just thought i would vent.

I find the explanation you're being given a bit odd, based on my experiences buying and selling via resale.

First of all, the listing documents. When I've listed DVC contracts for sale (through The Timeshare Store), ALL owners have been required to sign the listing documents. Our DVC is held in a family trust, so that means 3 signatures for us. I would certainly expect that the wife would have needed to approve listing the property as well.

Second, at least with TTS, there are very clear questions asked regarding whether the contract is subject to divorce or bankruptcy proceedings. IMHO, that is just common sense and normal due diligence for a broker to require that information -- and I would have expected them to provide that info to you up front prior to you making your offer.

The verbal acceptance of your offer means nothing if the wife won't sign on the dotted line on both the sales contract and the closing documents. If the DVC contract is jointly-held, which it appears to be, BOTH parties have to sign and no one party can sell the property alone.

I'd give the seller a very short drop-dead deadline. While they're hashing out their personal problems, other contracts that would work for you are flying off the shelves of the resale brokerages.

Just agreeing on a price is only the start of a resale purchase. You need a reliable business partner to actually complete the transaction.

 

[cvjw]

I would be looking at alternative contracts if I were you. We had a very bad experience with a resale that was part of an estate. One heir was on the ball about all of the paperwork, one heir was not. We should have bailed after it took a week for the contract to be signed. We didn't, we stuck it out, only to have to cancel 7 weeks later (4 weeks after passing ROFR), and that same heir wouldn't get a deed that was needed to close. It was my experience that someone who needs alot of time to sign the first contract isn't going to be on the ball with the whole selling process. You throw into your mix that your sellers are international and there are expiring points, and it could be a bad situation! I will add that not all international sales are harder - we bought one contract from a seller in England, and he got his signed contract in before we did! They were so motivated to sell, that it was the fastest closing of our 4 resale contracts, the other 3 sellers being in the states!

 

[dbs1228]

We put in an offer last week and after 48 hours had not heard back so I called agent and said I want an answer there are 3 other contracts I would be happy with. She explained it was a divorce situation and they were trying to hash out who would pay off the balance of the loan if they sold it for what I was willing to pay. No thank you, I gave them 20 minutes to answer and then I was moving on. They did not get back to us and I moved on! I had a bad feeling about it and the contract also had 2009 points which would expire. Remember not only do the sellers have to sign closing documents but they also have to be notorized!

The next contract I put an offer in on my 1st question was "Is this a divorce or stressed situation?" It is not so keeping my fingers crossed that everything will go through quickly!

 

[Sandisw]

I am sorry that you are going through this. IMO, however, I would move on. If you put in the offer well over a week ago, that is plenty of time to get contracts signed and sent back.

And, if they are having this much trouble getting just the agreement signed, can you imagine how long it is going to take when it comes to actually signing the final ones?

Unless this is the perfect contract and you are in no rush to be a DVC member (like not for months), I would look for something else.

 

[JimMIA]

We put in an offer last week and after 48 hours had not heard back so I called agent and said I want an answer there are 3 other contracts I would be happy with. She explained it was a divorce situation and they were trying to hash out who would pay off the balance of the loan if they sold it for what I was willing to pay. No thank you, I gave them 20 minutes to answer and then I was moving on. They did not get back to us and I moved on!

Good job! You gave them 20 minutes longer than I would have, but you did the right thing.

[ETA: I'm also disappointed that your broker didn't let you know going in that there was a divorce situation involved.]

For any sale to work, you have to have parties on both sides who are committed and able to meet their responsibilities. The last thing a resale buyer wants to become is a pawn in a divorce settlement.

 

[FindingFigment]

If that 3/20 deadline is important to you, I'd move on, NOW. If the deadline isn't important, you got a great deal and I would hold onto it.

 

[lilpooh108]

I would move on. I made a "full" offer on a reasonably listed contract, and the sales agent could not get a return phone call from the seller for days. Then the seller said she had to check the deal with her husband even though we made a full offer. This was 3 weeks ago. We found another great resale in the meantime, and I checked the listings 2 days ago and this same resale is still "on the market." If you're having problems now getting them to sign the contract, you may likely have problems later closing.

 

[bristodr]

I made a bid on a BWV property on 2/25. Owner accepted the same day, but the broker has not recieved the signed contracts yet. Owner is in England and it is a divorce situation. I've been the husband is having a hard time with communication with the wife. I guess i will wait until monday or tuesday, but I am getting frustrated. I would think that when people have something to sell that they would have a little sense of urgency. There are 09' point that epire July 31st so that and 3/20 deadline and i am on the edge of my seat. Boy i hope i do not expirience this with the closing also. Anyways, i just thought i would vent.

MFMont - Hang in there, as long as the lawyers don't sidetrack it, it will work out. Best of luck!

 

[LouisianaDisneyFan]

I would walk and look for another contract that meets your needs. We had a similar situation last summer. We made a full-price offer via Fidelity, but then our agent could not get paperwork back from the sellers. This went on for almost a week, when I finally pulled the plug and rescinded the offer. The contract that we did end up getting that time was also through Fidelity, and so I did ask later what had eventually happened with that first contract. Our agent told us that after the same scenario had happened a second time (owner not sending back paperwork), Fidelity had discontinued the listing.

Based on the fact that this seller hasn't responded to you since 2/25, I would not want to continue forward in a business relationship with this inconsiderate seller.

 

[JimMIA]

I would walk and look for another contract that meets your needs.

Yep!

Based on the fact that this seller hasn't responded to you since 2/25, I would not want to continue forward in a business relationship with this inconsiderate seller.

To me, the question is whether or not this seller has the ability to complete the transaction. I don't think he does, and I would not go forward with a business realtionship with an unreliable partner.

IMHO, to hope "it will work out" in the face of the fact that nothing has 'worked out" so far is foolhardy.

Save that for Tink's flight in Wishes.

 

[MFMont]

We have not hit the ten business day mark, so i guess i will give them until tuesday per the contract. The reason why i will give it another two days is this contract is fully loaded with all 09,10,11 points and the price is $52 per. The 09' will be useless if i dont get this thing done by June 1 though as they expire July 31st. URRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! I may see if i can find something similar though. To be fair, the husband has answered when the broker called, they just don't seem in nearly the rush that i am. Tuesday will be the hard fast deadline.

 

[JimMIA]

You actually have two deadlines that are important, with the expiration of the '09 points being the less important.

The other deadline - and it's a biggie - is that your banking deadline for the 2010 points is this March 31. If the 2010 points are not already banked, they will also expire on July 31 if you don't bank them.

[ETA: You won't close in time to bank the 2010 points, so if you are going through with this deal, have the owner bank them for you so you don't lose them.]

Just remember that points are no good unless you can use them.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

 

[dbs1228]

Just 1 more thing, if you offered a full price offer I am even more confused, since we listed a contract serveral weeks ago, the phone call I got from TSS is "we sold your contract we will be faxing you the contract we need you to sign the contract and fax it back in 7 days"
My question to TSS was "what was the offer?" TSS - "They are paying you what you were asking so make sure you sign everything and get it to us as soon as possible." We were at the airport leaving for BLT for 7 nights and still managed to get the contract printed, signed and faxed back. Be cautious, and maybe add in the contract that closing documents need to be signed and returned in a certain amount of time, state a deadline!

 

[McCrae]

Agree with previous comments made...the delay seems to have nothing to do with it being international. It's more do to with a pending divorce.

In the UK there is a good chance that the assets are frozen until the divorce settlement is worked out...

 

[JimMIA]

Agree with previous comments made...the delay seems to have nothing to do with it being international. It's more do to with a pending divorce.

Sure, and what a perfect opportunity for the other side's attorney to play games --

"Oh, we don't have to respond right away...let's let him twist slowly in the wind for a week or two and see what concessions we can wring out of him using the DVC sale as leverage!"

That's what I meant above by this guy's ability to make the closing happen.

If she wants to be difficult, he can't make it happen. He is at the mercy of his wife (hardly a hopeful sign at this point) and her attorney (who has a vested financial interest in playing "Let's you and him fight!")