Your house has been on the market for a minute, and you’ve ultimately gotten a firm offer. The price is right, and things are seeming good. But be careful: The deal is far from done, and there are still situations that can stall the sale of your home.

While some of the speed bumps on the road to closing are relatively common, such as a failed inspection or financing falling through, some unforeseen things can delay the sale of your home in Denver.

Here are 4 things that can hold up the sale of your home in Denver, and how you can avoid them slowing down your move:

Past Due Utility Bills

In all the commotion of selling a home and keeping up with your daily life, small things can slip through the cracks. This can be especially the case if you’ve already moved into your new home.

For several homeowners, the items that slip through the cracks include utility bills. One specifically often neglected are water bills.

So what does an unpaid water bill have to do with the sale going through?

If you have unpaid water bills, these can prevent the title company from getting a clean lien from the city. Failure to get a clean lien means that a new mortgage can’t be issued as fast, delaying the sale of your home.

Prevent this from creating a snag in your sale, and make sure to stay on top of your bills.

However, as a stop-gap safety measure, think of opening an escrow account with your title company to cover any last second expenses. If the title company reveals an unpaid water bill, they can use the escrow account funds to pay that bill and receive the clean lien.

Have no fear: the title company will return any leftover money in your escrow account after closing back to you.

Last-Minute Damage

Finding damage in your home is never a good thing. Especially if you’re days from closing on a house, new, unexpected damage can be disastrous.

Unfortunately, regardless of how close to closing the damage occurs – even if it happens on the day of closing – it’s the seller’s responsibility to fix it.

Keeping a watchful eye on everything in and around the home is critical. Be sure that you or someone you know should check in daily on the property if you’ve already moved. Doing this is an easy way to be all over any damage that may turn up.

And no one wants to pay hefty repairs out-of-pocket, so make sure your homeowner’s insurance policy covers the property right up until closing. That way, you can claim the damage if needed.

Survey Issues

While it may seem that the house you’re buying smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood will be pretty straightforward, that isn’t always the case.

If you can’t produce documentation showing the property lines, especially when fences, driveways, or even sheds are involved, then it can delay the sale of your home. Property lines can be a relatively common problem in older neighborhoods or smaller towns where more extensive land sections were split into smaller plots, sometimes on a handshake.

Keep your home’s sale from running into boundary issues by getting an official survey done early in your sales process if you can’t find documents. Leaving this item until almost the end can indeed delay the sale of your home, possibly costing you the deal altogether.

Major Purchases

Buying a home is exciting, and some buyers get ahead of themselves by stocking up on new furniture or making other purchases before closing.

Even if they’ve been approved for a mortgage already, buyers’ credit is checked just before closing to ensure the safety of the loan company’s investment. If a significant purchase or late payments have been made, it could cause a drop in the buyers’ credit score, jeopardizing their funding.

Are you concerned that something unexpected will prevent the sale of your home in Denver? The Denver Real Estate Agent can help! Contact us today at 720-928-3231!