Some tips for buyers

By Shawn Lackie

Many years ago I was talking to a buddy and he passed along some interesting advice. Never buy a car which was built on a Friday or Monday. Obviously the next question was “Why Is That?” Well, came the reply, because Friday everyone wants to get out of the plant and are all ready for the weekend. Monday, well; let’s just say it’s the start of another week. So your best bet is a car built on a Wednesday. That’s when everyone is at peak efficiency.

I never had a chance to check that theory out but it sounds reasonable. The same could be applied to the Real Estate business, for some of the similar and some not so similar reasons. Banks and mortgage brokers, who work in banks, pretty much shut it down on weekends. So, if you buy on a Friday and you have a five day conditional clause, well it’s likely they won’t deal with it until Monday or Tuesday.

I had one instance, many years ago, where the mortgage person at the bank went on a long weekend vacation and didn’t pass the file on to a colleague. So, when he finally came back on the Tuesday and found it was not approved, let’s just say, it didn’t turn out so well. It was strange because the man asking for the mortgage had a home (fully paid off) in Old Oakville. Hello? Isn’t that money in the bank? At any rate, old Bill jumped in his van and drove to Woodbridge to see a lender and was approved on the spot.

A Second Tip (a big one) is, NEVER, and I mean NEVER close a house at the end of June. Your lawyer will hate you forever, with good reason. There has long been a tradition of closing deals at the end of the school year, so the little ones can close out their year and move over the summer. It seems great, except everyone else has the same idea, so the lawyers closing the deal are deluged with a pile of deals to be dealt with all at once.

In that same vein, never close a deal on a Friday. Lawyer’s offices are closed over the weekend. What happens if you have a deal closing on a Friday and someone “forgot” to file some paperwork? Next door neighbours to us, in Whitby, had that happen and they had to keep furniture and all their belongings in the mover’s truck over the weekend. Yes, they were upset, and rightfully so, it’s just common sense.

It's best to close on a Thursday. If there’s a hitch you can sort it out on the Friday. Most of this is just pretty obvious. Of course, there can be extenuating circumstances which can’t be avoided but try to avoid them at all cost.

The next item is to get EVERYTHING in writing. I have said this before and will repeat it here. How many times has someone said “Oh, don’t worry, we will deal with that on closing.” Then they don’t and you have egg on your face and quite possibly a lawsuit, if the situation is serious enough.

Like they always say, there are no shortcuts in life and that rings true here, big time. Take the extra time to do it right. You will be glad you did.