Fast Closing and Slow Repairs

So you just negotiated for some repairs on the house you are buying, and we managed to get the Seller to agree to recoat the roof. You can’t wait to move into your new home in 2 weeks.

But hold on - that roofer? He’s booked until next month.

So now what? No one wants to wait a month to close escrow on this thing, and even if you know what an escrow hold-back account is, your lender probably won’t allow it.

Luckily, we can solve this one.

Since the Seller has agreed to pay for the roof, the invoice from the roofing company should be placed into escrow, and escrow will cut a check directly to the roofing company at closing. And then you can hold on to that check for the roofer until they’ve completed the job. Voila!

Couple warnings:

One - don’t lose the check for the repair company.
Two - the payment to the repair person should be recorded on the settlement statement. No one is passing money around under the table.
Three - this may not be advisable for major repairs. You only get the amount of money specified on the invoice. If the repair person finds more damage, or has to do extra work to complete the job, that can raise the price of the repairs. You may have a huge fight on your hands to get any overage incurred paid by the Seller.