What to Do When the Other Agent Won't Keep Up and the HOA Is Stalling Your Deal (2026)

If the other agent keeps missing dates and the condo association is sitting on documents, the problem isn't that you're working with slow people. Nobody owns the calendar. Every deadline in the contract lives in somebody else's inbox, everybody assumes someone else is tracking the rest, and you find out about each miss after it happens. The HOA delay usually starts on your side of the table, too. In Illinois a condo association has 10 business days from a written request to hand over the resale package (Condominium Property Act, Section 22.1), but under the standard contract the seller has up to 10 business days to ask. That's four weeks of the deal gone before the buyer reads a page. Send every party one dated schedule on day one. Start the HOA request when you list, not when you go under contract. Escalate every missed date the same way, in the same order, before a contingency runs out.

By D.J. Paris, president of sales and marketing at Kale Realty and host of the Keeping It Real Podcast. The fix is below. If you want to talk it through, there's a 10-minute option right after it.

The real problem: nobody owns the calendar

Here's how this story usually goes when an agent tells it to me. The deal was fine. Then the other agent went quiet for four days. The lender needed something from the association and nobody knew who to ask. The condo documents showed up late, the buyer's review window started late, and by the time everybody caught up, a date had passed and the deal was gone. The agent did everything they could, and it still fell apart.

I believe them. And almost every time, there's one thing missing from the story: a single schedule that every person on the deal was looking at.

A residential contract is a stack of deadlines owned by different people. Attorney review belongs to the attorneys. The inspection belongs to the buyer's side. The mortgage commitment belongs to the lender. The condo documents belong to the seller and the association. Each of those people is tracking their own dates, in their own system, on their own twenty other files. Nobody is tracking all of them, so everybody assumes somebody else is.

The HOA is the same problem with a longer fuse. An association isn't slow at random. Illinois gives a condo association 10 business days from a written request to produce the resale disclosures: the declaration and bylaws, unpaid assessments, the latest financial statement, reserves and planned capital spending, pending lawsuits, the insurance, and the rest of the package. Most deals don't send that request until after the contract is signed, and the contract gives the seller up to 10 business days to send it. Meanwhile the lender wants its own condo questionnaire and the title company wants a paid assessment letter, and those often go through the same management office, which is working on everyone else's files too.

You can't make anybody else care about your closing date. You can be the one person on the deal who knows every date, sends it to everyone, and starts the slow clocks early.

Move 1: send the date sheet on day one

Within 24 hours of acceptance, send one email to the other agent, both attorneys, and the lender. Put the property address and "every date in this deal" in the subject line. Leave the management company off this thread. They don't need your inspection or mortgage dates, and they shouldn't be on a reply-all that shows who's running late. On a condo, the listing side sends the manager a separate note with only the association dates.

Here's every date in this contract and who I have down as owning it. If I have anything wrong, reply today. I'll send a short update every Monday until we close. The day-one date sheet email

Under that, a plain list. Every deadline from the contract, written as a calendar date instead of "five business days after," with a name next to it. Attorney review. Inspection. Condo documents requested, received, and the buyer's review window. Mortgage commitment. Appraisal. Final walkthrough. Closing.

"Who I have down as owning it" is the part that does the work. A date with no name next to it is a date two people can each assume the other one has. Putting a name next to every line forces that question on day one, while it's cheap, instead of on day fifteen, when it isn't.

"If I have anything wrong, reply today" gets the corrections out of the way now. The attorneys will fix your math. Let them. Better on day one than on the deadline.

Then send the Monday update. Four columns: done, open, who owns it, and when it's due. Keep it on reply-all. You never have to call anyone out, because nobody wants to be the only open line in front of everyone else on the deal. The other agent who was going to get to it Thursday tends to get to it Monday afternoon.

This isn't a new job. If you use a transaction coordinator, this is the first thing to hand them. If you don't, it's one email and a weekly copy-and-edit. It takes less time than the phone calls you'd otherwise spend finding out where things stand.

Move 2: start the HOA clock at listing, not at contract

The association's 10 business days start when somebody asks in writing. The standard contract gives the seller up to 10 business days after acceptance to ask. Add those up and a buyer can be four weeks into the deal before they see the financials, and their review window only opens then. Ask when you list and the package is in hand when the offer comes in. If you're already under contract and behind, the association can turn it around in 72 hours for a rush fee, which is a cheap way to save a deal.

If you're listing a condo or a home in an association, have your seller send the association a written request for the resale disclosures the week the listing goes live. Then ask the property manager these questions, and write the answers into your listing file:

• Who fills out the lender's condo questionnaire, what does it cost, and how long does it take?
• How do we order the paid assessment letter, and what's the turnaround?
• Who issues the insurance certificate the buyer's lender will ask for, and how fast?
• Does the declaration have a right of first refusal, or does the board want to meet the buyer? How is each handled?
• Are there any special assessments proposed or under discussion?

Ask the last one first. Under the Multi-Board 8.0 form, a special assessment proposed after acceptance gives both sides 3 business days to agree on who pays, and if they can't, either one can cancel. Find out at listing, not in week three.

The package ages, too. The statement of unpaid assessments is a snapshot, so plan on the title company wanting a current paid assessment letter close to closing. Put that order date on the Move 1 sheet.

One more check: if the property is a townhome or single-family HOA rather than a condo, a different Illinois law, the Common Interest Community Association Act, may apply, and the timing can differ. Ask the manager what they need and how long it takes, and have the seller's attorney confirm.

If you represent the buyer, you can't start the association's clock yourself, but you can find out whether anyone has. On the first day under contract, call the listing agent:

When was the association package requested, and who's the management contact? I want our lender talking to them today. The buyer's agent's day-one question

Then connect the lender with the manager, the same day, through the listing agent. When a lender's condo questionnaire stalls, it's rarely because anyone refused. It's usually sitting in a general inbox with nobody following up.

The contract has its own clock layered on top of the statute. The Multi-Board 8.0 form most Chicago-area deals use gives the seller 10 business days to apply for the condo documents and gives the buyer 5 business days after receipt to cancel over them. A right of first refusal has to be waived for the deal to go forward. Check the version you actually signed, and put every one of those dates on the Move 1 sheet.

Move 3: escalate on a schedule, not a mood

Most agents escalate by feel. They wait, they get frustrated, they send a sharp email, and the sharp email makes the other agent defensive right when you need them moving. Pick the steps in advance and use the same ones every time.

First missed date: call that day. A call, not a text. Then email a recap within the hour.

Per our call, you'll have [item] to me by [day] at noon. If that won't work, tell me today so the attorneys can extend in writing before the deadline passes. The recap email after a missed date

The recap turns a vague "I'll get to it" into a written commitment with a time on it. It also puts the extension question on the table early, which is the part that actually protects your client.

Second missed date: call their managing broker. Not to complain. To ask for help: "I've got a closing on [date] and I can't get [item]. Is there someone in your office who can help me get it done?" Managing brokers don't want their agents losing deals either. Most will make a call.

For the association, the same ladder works, run through the seller. The seller made the request, so the association's duty runs to them. If the manager has gone quiet past the 10 business days, have the seller or the seller's attorney email the board president, copy the manager, and cite the date of the written request and Section 22.1.

Never let a contingency date pass on a promise. The contract says time is of the essence, and a deadline that slides by can cost your client a right they were counting on. In Illinois the attorneys paper the extensions. Ask your client's attorney to get one signed before the date, not after it.

Keep your own client in the loop the whole time. A client who heard about the late item from you on Monday stays calm. A client who hears about it at the closing table doesn't.

One escalation is off the table no matter how frustrated you are: going around the other agent to their client. If you're a Realtor, the Code of Ethics (Article 16) rules that out, and your office policy likely does too. If the other agent has fully disappeared, that's a managing broker conversation, and your own managing broker should know about it too.

Do this today

The deal you save is the one where everyone could see the dates

Nothing on this page makes the other agent more responsible or the management company faster. It makes their delays visible early, while there's still time to do something about them. That's usually the difference between a deal that slipped a week and a deal that fell apart.

Who this works for, and who should read something else

Frequently asked questions

Still stuck on this one? Book 10 minutes with D.J. I'll call you, and I won't bring up Kale unless you do.