Lew Sichelman
Buying a house is always a taxing experience. But when you are expecting a child, it turns into a “high-stakes, emotionally charged and biologically timed sprint,” said California real estate agent America Foy.
A 20-year veteran of the industry, Foy has worked with a number of pregnant buyers. In a series for RealtyTimes.com, Foy writes that the experience has taught him more about real estate than any seminar or licensing course.
“If you’re expecting and looking to buy, you’re not just competing with other buyers,” he writes. “You’re racing against your own due date.”
For Foy’s clients, the second trimester “seems to be a sweet spot” for striking a deal: “If we can get into contract during the second trimester, things usually go smoothly.”
Clients don’t find the third trimester quite so sweet, he writes: “Every showing becomes an endurance test. Every flight of stairs feels like a mountain. The phrase ‘appraisal contingency’ can trigger a wave of nausea that has nothing to do with the baby.”
Urgency Can Sabotage Rationality
A mother’s “nesting instinct,” Foy has learned, can be both a help and a hindrance
“It sharpens your focus on what truly matters,” he writes. “You stop caring about the open-concept layout for entertaining and start measuring bedrooms for cribs and calculating how many steps it is from the master bedroom to the kitchen for 2 a.m. feedings.”
But pregnant clients can be vulnerable to unscrupulous agents and sellers who can sense the buyer’s urgency.
“They know a pregnant buyer might waive contingencies or stretch their budget to secure the nest,” Foy writes.
Sometimes, the nesting instinct can actually turn dangerous. Foy writes that one expecting client, driven by the “biological imperative to secure a safe space,” floated the idea of skipping the inspection just to get into the house quicker.
Whatever the cause, impatience “can turn rational buyers into deal saboteurs,” he writes. Inspections are important tools for finding a house’s problems before the buyer – pregnant or not – is committed to the place.
Sometimes, inspections find things that can pose serious health risks: mold, lead and animal feces, to name a few. These hazards aren’t necessarily deal-breakers – not if you find them early. Rather, they can be used to negotiate price reductions, repairs or other concessions.
“Health hazards are expensive to fix, which means they’re powerful leverage points if you find them before closing,” Foy writes.
In short, he said, “Your nesting instinct is powerful, but pair it with necessary additional inspections, and you get both the haven you crave and the financial protection you need.”
Maternal Leave vs. Mortgage App
Now, the third trimester, Foy writes, is when “pregnancy brain meets mortgage bureaucracy.” Juggling pregnancy’s many challenges while also comparing loan offers, reviewing contracts and negotiating contingencies can add up to what Foy calls “a perfect storm for decision fatigue and costly mistakes.”
Some soon-to-be moms don’t realize that their upcoming maternity leave is “a ticking time bomb in your loan file.” Even when the buyer has been preapproved, an underwriter sometimes panics about the looming income interruption.
“I learned this lesson the hard way, with multiple clients who got ambushed by lenders who suddenly decided unpaid leave was a ‘material change’ to their financial situation,” Foy writes.
Here, Foy advises pregnant borrowers to disclose their situations to the lender from day one and to provide the following: a letter from HR detailing their company’s leave policy, including documentation of paid leave benefits (if any); a return-to-work commitment letter; and bank statements that show enough savings to cover the upcoming gap.
The real pressure cooker comes toward the end of the pregnancy. Things can really pile up. Picture Foy’s list of hypothetical stressors: “Your rate lock expires in 45 days. Your baby is due in eight weeks. The appraisal is delayed because the appraiser got COVID. The title company found an easement issue. Your doctor just put you on bed rest.
“This is why front-loading the loan process matters,” he writes. “Every day of delay (during this period) adds exponential stress to an already maxed-out system.”
He suggests creating buffer zones and cushions into every part of the process. For instance, lock in your mortgage rate for 60 days, not 45. Collect your loan documentation papers immediately. Schedule closing at least four weeks before your due date, and implement as many backup plans as possible.
Lew Sichelman has been covering real estate for more than 50 years. He is a regular contributor to numerous shelter magazines and housing and housing-finance industry publications. Readers can contact him at lsichelman@aol.com.
