A new national report finds that in June, 15% of home sales fell apart before both sides could agree on the terms of a purchase. It seems that coming to terms with the finer points of the sale is the most contentious part of both selling and buying a home.
Local real estate expert Arthur Sterbcow spoke to WWL’s Dave Cohen about the current state of the real estate market both nationally and here in the New Orleans area.
He noted that financial disagreements have increased in recent years as both sides are increasingly cash-strapped and unwilling to take on any additional repair costs that might be incurred as part of the inspection process.
“Many times, the lower-priced range homes in some areas haven’t been maintained as much. Home inspections now are pretty much a requirement for buying a home, both for litigation and safety purposes in today’s world,” noted Sterbcow. “Sometimes that property will need very obvious renovations and repairs, and that’s why it’s being sold AS IS,” he adds.
Sterbcow explains how, increasingly, buyers are simply unwilling or unable to foot that bill. That’s causing a great deal of home sales to falter.
While Sterbcow noted to listeners that Louisiana’s numbers are not as dire as the national average when it came to the amount of home sales falling through, the area does face unique challenges.
“In Louisiana, we have a bigger problem than the rest of the country because of our insurance issues. That has increased our failure rate, but not to the 15% level they’re reporting in that particular article. We’re probably around 8% to 12% unless you look specifically at lower-priced homes,” added Sterbcow.