"The property is so cherry. The sellers used it as vacation rental so it’s totally tricked out and ready to go. My wife is ready to move-in. It’s great, the sellers want to leave all the furniture... the 50" flat screen is too good to be true! And it gets better. That new Jaguar they are willing to throw in really sealed the deal! The house is o.k and I can’t wait to turn the detached garage into my man cave! Who cares if it’s not permitted. Oh, and the lots on both sides are included so we’ll never have to worry about privacy. Just think, two extra lots means there’s one for each keiki. It’s such a find….. and it’s all just mortgage loan away."
Every market has its idiosyncrasies. With today’ s buyers wanting it all and sellers looking for creative ways to move their property, sometimes sales strategies just don’t square with reality. Including furniture can be touchy. While it’s possible to include a few pieces of furniture without raising a red flag with the lender, when it comes to including expensive furniture, lawn equipment, cars and the like, doing so has more to do with sellers needing to leave things behind than what the buyer wants. It makes perfect sense. Mortgages last basically for a lifetime, furniture does not. Lenders don’t want to finance furniture. In fact, it’s best if it’s not in the sales contract at all. Once personal property is included, the entire transaction will come under closer scrutiny. If the value of any personal property seems high, it may have to be removed from the contract. The lender may even require a declaration by the buyer and seller that there are no outside agreements regarding such matters. Bottom line is that even if a seller wants to include the Willy’s Jeep they can’t use in Beverly Hills, conveying it to a buyer may not be as simple as you think. By now, the intuitive among you have likely figured out that including additional parcels is next to impossible. While it may be possible to manipulate the purchase price of an adjacent residence and include a portion of the value of the lot, values in today’s market make the possibility unrealistic unless the owner has loads of equity in both. The seller might offer to carry paper on the adjacent lot but the lender will want to include the additional debt incurred with the lot purchase in the buyer’s debt ratio. Additional parcels should rarely be included in a residential purchase contract when a conventional mortgage is involved. Again, it makes perfect sense. Two TMK numbers on a mortgage complicate a future foreclosure. Of course, the last thing on the buyer’s mind is foreclosure but that’s exactly where an underwriter’s focus is. And then there’s the man cave. Permits are always a huge issue. The seller or your agent should always provide information on the status of all permits. Some loans will allow unpermitted areas (at less than full value) while others do not. REALTORS® understand the differences and generally know what will work and what won’t. So, as cherry as the property seems, there may be a huge disconnect between what a lender will allow and what the seller is willing to do. For now, sorry Charlie, the man cave and the chick magnet car will probably have to wait!