Story Time: The Tree that Stopped an Escrow

What is better, a short escrow or long escrow? When you're selling your home, you get to choose whether or not you have a quick 30-day escrow, or if you want to stretch it out and have a long 60-70 day escrow. Does it matter? Every escrow is different of course but here is a story that happened some years back. I had listed a home in Silver Lake and my seller opted for a nice 60-day escrow, she wanted to take her time, and on the 58 day, a tree fell on her house.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, but the house certainly was. The buyer did not want to close escrow in two days on a home that was newly damaged by the tree that had just fallen on it. We had to get this fixed. This meant visits from insurance agents and contractors. It was a big deal. We ultimately got it resolved but it extended the escrow more than a month. So the moral of the story, close the escrow quickly as you are able to because you can’t predict the future.