Lost 4,250 on a double close that never closed. The seasoning rule was in writing.

Three bed ranch in a working class suburb, contract at 118,000, end buyer signed at 139,500. Spread 21,500 and I had it under contract for 21 days.

End buyer was using a DSCR lender he'd closed with twice before. I asked him whether his lender was fine with a back-to-back closing and he said yes, he'd done it. I took that. I did not ask for anything from the lender directly and I did not ask which of his previous deals had actually been a same-day double close.

Nine days out I signed a term sheet with a transactional funder. 1% flat with a 1,250 minimum, and a 500 commitment fee due on acceptance, non-refundable, which I read and accepted because I was confident.

Two days before closing the DSCR underwriter came back requiring 90 days of title seasoning and an appraisal that reconciled to my 118,000 purchase. That guideline was in their published matrix. Nobody on my side had looked at it. The end buyer couldn't move lenders in 48 hours, my seller wouldn't extend past a week without another 2,000 in earnest money, I paid it, the buyer still couldn't close, and the seller relisted.

Costs: 500 commitment fee, 1,100 in title work already performed on the A-B file, 2,000 in non-refundable extension money, 650 to my attorney for the contract work. 4,250 out, nothing in.

What I'd do differently. Get the end buyer's lender's written position on back-to-back closings and title seasoning before I sign anything with a funder, from the lender, not from the buyer. Negotiate the commitment fee to be refundable when the second leg dies for reasons on the end buyer's side. And price a financed end buyer differently from a cash one, because the funding was never at risk here, the payoff source was. Seasoning rules differ by lender and some of it interacts with state and program requirements, so the only version that counts is the one their underwriter puts in writing.