Often, what actually ends a real estate deal isn’t a dramatic surprise — it’s expectations that should have been discussed before anyone signed an offer. After years of representing buyers and sellers throughout Marin County, I’ve found that the transactions that come apart usually do so for reasons that were foreseeable from the start.
That’s why I spend real time educating buyers before we ever get into contract. Walking through the process upfront helps prevent surprises and that dreaded “Nobody told me.” It matters even more for buyers coming from other markets, where the way a transaction works can differ significantly from the Bay Area — from how disclosures are handled to how quickly decisions have to be made.
Why Do Deals Fall Apart in the First Place?
Most deal-killers aren’t bad luck. They tend to come from a handful of predictable places — a disclosure issue that wasn’t factored into the offer, a deadline that slips, a contingency waived without fully weighing the risk, or an insurance cost that catches a buyer off guard. Nearly all of them can be anticipated and planned for.
That matters especially in a high-cost market like Marin, where the dollar amounts are large and the margin for error is small. Preparation, not luck, is usually what carries a transaction through to closing.
How Do You Prevent Surprises Before You Write an Offer?
The single most effective safeguard is doing the work before the offer, not after. I review disclosures carefully with my buyers, and we factor known issues into the offer itself rather than assume we can renegotiate them later. Writing an offer now and hoping to claw back concessions mid-contract is one of the most common ways a deal starts to come undone.
Before we write, we also talk through the practical mechanics that can derail transactions: having deposit funds liquid and ready, meeting every deadline in the contract, and understanding exactly what it means to waive a contingency.
Waiving a contingency can make an offer more competitive, but it shifts real risk onto the buyer. That trade-off should be a deliberate decision made with full information — not a reflex to win. When buyers understand in advance what they’re agreeing to, they’re far less likely to feel blindsided once they’re in contract.
Why Does Insurance Matter Before You Make an Offer?
Insurance belongs on the pre-offer checklist, not the post-contract one. We check insurance availability and cost before making an offer, so a buyer isn’t caught off guard once they’re already committed.
In a market like Marin, confirming both early — while there’s still time to factor them into the offer or the plan — keeps coverage from turning into a late complication.
What Really Happens at the Final Walkthrough?
The final walkthrough confirms what was already agreed — it isn’t a second round of negotiation. We use it to verify the property’s condition and that any agreed-upon repairs were actually completed, rather than to reopen terms that were settled weeks earlier.
Buyers who understand that distinction going in tend to have the smoothest closings. Treated as a checkpoint rather than a fresh bargaining table, the walkthrough keeps both sides focused on getting to the close instead of relitigating a deal that’s nearly done.
Do Relationships Between Agents Affect Whether a Deal Closes?
More than most buyers realize. When offers compete — which still happens in Marin’s more sought-after neighborhoods — a listing agent is weighing certainty, not just price. A reputation for being prepared, responsive, and constructive can inspire real confidence that your buyer will actually close.
That’s the other piece of protecting a deal. An experienced agent looks after a client’s interests while still working with the other side toward a solution when something unexpected comes up. The agent across the table tends to be far more willing to problem-solve with someone they trust — and in a tight transaction, that willingness can be the difference between a deal that holds together and one that quietly falls apart.
The Goal Is a Buyer Who’s Ready for Whatever Comes
My goal is to prepare buyers for the decisions ahead and keep everyone moving toward closing when the unexpected happens — as it often does. Deals rarely come apart because something went wrong; they come apart because no one planned for it. Set expectations early, work through the disclosures, the money, the insurance, and the deadlines before any of them becomes an emergency, and most of what threatens a transaction can be managed well before it reaches the closing table.
After years of working with buyers and sellers throughout Marin, I’ve found the smoothest closings almost always trace back to decisions made early — before the pressure of a live contract, not during it.
Liz McCarthy was featured in the San Francisco Chronicle’s weekly Real Estate “Sound Off” on Sunday, October 18, 2026, to answer this question. The above is her longer answer.
